Background: In spite of the World Health Organization's recommendations to maintain caesarean delivery (CD) between 5% and 15% of total births, the rates of CD continue to rise in countries with routine access to medical services. As in Italy CD rate reached 38% in 2008, the highest at EU level, we evaluated socioeconomic and clinical correlates of "elective" and "non programmed" CD in the Country

There are many situations in society and life in which the body is expected to play an important role for the acquisition of particular skills. This article reports on a study of such a situation, namely when information about first aid and how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CRP) is mediated to nonmedical professionals. The aim of the article is to tease out how different modes of infor

Objective: The aim of the analysis is to assess the impact of privately employed migrant care workers (MCWs) on the burden of Italian family members who care for a disabled older person. Methods: EUROFAMCARE is a one-year prospective survey carried out to provide evidence on the availability and use of support services by family carers of older people in Europe. In Italy, 990 family caregivers wer

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are an increasingly relevant issue for healthcare systems as they are associated with poorer health outcomes and avoidable misuse of resources. The rates of ADEs are higher in the elderly population, as many older patients have comorbidities, multiple drug prescriptions and deteriorated physical and cognitive functioning. The occurrence of ADEs can lead to a perceived la

This article reviews recent international literature on the opportunities and restrictions experienced by older people to act as volunteers in civil society organizations. Our aim was to develop a conceptual framework applicable to the European ageing society. This aim was pursued through a computerized database search focused on studies analyzing the individual, organizational, and/or societal le

Introduction: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is attracting attention within the context of health care provision in western countries. Patterns of CAM use and related satisfaction were analysed in Italy according to socio-demographic and health variables. Materials and methods: 104,544 individuals (aged. >18) were interviewed by the cross-sectional ISTAT survey on " Health status of

Despite controversies, flu vaccine programs targeted to the older people are highly recommended and represent a common public health policy in industrialized Countries. Although demographic aging will increase the share of population at higher risk of influenza, today economic recession is putting public budgets under pressure. Underfunding of prevention is becoming a larger problem, as prevention

Purpose of review: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a high prevalence condition with a significant clinical and economic burden. In elderly people, COPD is often associated with other chronic comorbidities (i.e. cardiovascular diseases), determining clinical complications and requiring frequent acute healthcare interventions. The aim of this article is to review the economic studies

Background: The "Valentino" cross-sectional study is aimed at evaluating the prevalence and pattern of cigarette smoking according to occupational group in a representative sample of workers aged 18-35 years from Abruzzo, Italy. Methods: Randomly selected workers anonymously self-compiled a structured questionnaire containing validated items. Job type was coded according to the International Stand

Currently, more than one instrument has been found to be reliable and valid for the assessment of hospital admission appropriateness. However; data on the level of agreement among these methodologies are extremely scarce. The study was aimed at evaluating whether the percentages of organizational (in)appropriateness resulting from some of the most diffused instruments (Italian Appropriateness Eval

Objectives: Seasonal influenza represents a major threat to public health but vaccination campaigns are strongly recommended to reduce the risks of serious complications and mortality among community-dwelling elderly persons. We investigated on potential social predictors of influenza vaccination among older adults in Italy. Methods: Data analysis was based on the national survey "Health and use o

Background: Flu vaccination significantly reduces the risk of serious complications like hospitalization and death among community-dwelling older people, therefore vaccination programmes targeting this population group represent a common policy in developed Countries. Among the determinants of vaccine uptake in older age, a growing literature suggests that social relations can play a major role. M

Assistive Technologies offer the possibility to develop services aimed at improving the Quality of Life of patients and caregivers. Specifically, this work refers to the case of persons with dementia who can live in their homes but need to be assisted. This paper describes a monitoring kit that provides alarms to the caregiver in case of dangerous situations or unusual events detected by the senso

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of obesity among different types of employment status in the Italian working population, and to examine associated risk factors. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 36 814 people that declared to have been occupied with the same type of contract for at least 5 years was analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression models were built considering w

Using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we study the adsorption structure of NO on Pd(111) at pressures of up to 720 Torr. From atomically resolved STM images, we identify, at high pressures, only the (2 × 2)-3NO structure, which is identical with the highest NO-coverage structure found at low pressure and low temperature. DFT ca

In aromatic molecules characterised by extended π-systems valence and core excitons can have very similar binding energies. This is shown for a number of compounds, and in each case the core exciton binding energies are analysed in terms of the Coulomb screening and rehybridisation contributions. The latter semiquantitatively explain the binding energy differences between the valence and core exci

The reactivity of catalytic surfaces is often dominated by very reactive low-coordinated atoms such as step-edge sites1-11. However, very little knowledge exists concerning the influence of step edges on the selectivity in reactions involving multiple reaction pathways. Such detailed information could be very valuable in rational design of new catalysts with improved selectivity. Here we show, fro

High-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy was used to study the room-temperature adsorption of CO on a Pt(111) single-crystal surface in equilibrium with the gas phase. The coverage was found to vary continuously, and over the entire range from 10-6-760 Torr pressure-dependent moiré patterns were observed, characteristic of a hexagonal or nearly hexagonal CO overlayer. Two different pressure ran

Carbon monoxide adsorption on high area platinum fuel cell catalysts was investigated. Isotopic exchange experiments were performed to determine the exchange rate (k) of CO under different partial pressures of CO (p co) in argon. A linear dependence of In(k) with In(pco) was observed. This pressure dependence of the rate of exchange is explained by considering a change in surface coverage of CO wi

We show that Cr subcoatings in beamline optical elements can introduce an additional structure in C K-edge X-ray absorption measurements, which somewhat resembles the well-known losses produced by carbon contamination. The photon throughput variations induced by Cr and C require different treatments when correcting absorption spectra. The potential difficulties in unravelling the two effects could