Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2020 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
The aim of this work is to evaluate the attitudes, behaviours, and knowledge of health\nworkers employed at an Italian University Hospital on the topic of vaccinations and in regard to flu\nvaccination. To this end, the study provided for the articulation of a computerised questionnaire on\nthe digital platform EUSurvey which was administered online via e-mail to a sample of 457 health\nworkers, in the period between November 2018 and March 2019. The data were subjected to\ndescriptive and inferential statistical analysis. In particular, a logistic regression analysis was carried\nout in order to evaluate the relationship between the variables collected and the dichotomous\noutcome (vaccinated/unvaccinated subjects in the 20180-2019 season). The results, in line with what\nhas been reported by the literature, highlighted that vaccine hesitancy is prevalent also among\nhealth workers. Furthermore, according to our study, only 30.6% of the health care workers had the\nflu vaccination. The survey points out the need to plan educational and informative interventions\naimed at changing the attitudes, behaviours, and knowledge of health workers in the field of flu\nvaccination, for the purpose of protecting the health of healthcare personnel and their patients....
The effects of intravenous immunoglobulin G replacement on perceived health and infection susceptibility\nof patients suffering from immunoglobulin G (IgG) deficiencies should be evaluated in a prospective analysis.\nMethods: Patients with symptomatic primary or secondary IgG deficiencies were interviewed prior to the first IgG\ninfusion (t0) and over the course of their treatment (t1 - t6). The respondents rated their current health using a 100 point\nscale (EQ-5D-5L), ranging from 0 (â??worst imaginable healthâ??) to 100 (â??best imaginable healthâ??). The patients also provided\ninformation on the frequency of infections and of infections requiring antibiotics in the past 8 weeks. A healthy control\ngroup (CG) without oncologic diseases answered the questions once.\nResults: One hundred six patients with a median age of 65 years (21-85 years) were investigated. The median serum IgG\nconcentration changed from 500mg/dl (t0) to 772 mg/dl (t6). The mean number of infections and of infections requiring\nantibiotics decreased during IgG replacement significantly. Current health according to EQ-5D-5L improved from 57 (t0) to\n68 (t6), compared to 73 in the CG.\nConclusion: During the course of IgG replacement patients reported fewer and less severe infections. Their health\nassessment improved but still was inferior to the healthy CG....
Often, patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID), which are marked by the absence or loss of\nfunctional antibodies, require lifelong treatment with immunoglobulin (IG) replacement therapy administered either\nintravenously (intravenous immunoglobulin [IVIG]) or subcutaneously (subcutaneous immunoglobulin [SCIG]). In patients\nwith PID, the 20% SCIG product, Ig20Gly, was shown to be efficacious and well tolerated in 2 phase 2/3 trials conducted\nin North America and Europe. This analysis evaluated patient satisfaction with Ig20Gly therapy and treatment preferences.\nMethods: This prespecified post hoc analysis showed combined data from 2 Ig20Gly pivotal trials. Treatment satisfaction................
Background: The virulence of coronavirus diseases due to viruses like SARS-CoV or\nMERS-CoV decreases in humid and hot weather. The putative temperature dependence of\ninfectivity by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 or covid-19 has a high predictive medical interest.\n(2) Methods: External temperature and new covid-19 cases in 21 countries and in the French\nadministrative regions were collected from public data. Associations between epidemiological\nparameters of the new case dynamics and temperature were examined using an ARIMA model. (3)\nResults: We show that, in the first stages of the epidemic, the velocity of contagion decreases with\ncountry- or region-wise temperature. (4) Conclusions: Results indicate that high temperatures\ndiminish initial contagion rates, but seasonal temperature effects at later stages of the epidemy\nremain questionable. Confinement policies and other eviction rules should account for\nclimatological heterogeneities, in order to adapt the public health decisions to possible geographic\nor seasonal gradients....
The article discusses a new version of the fight against viral infections. The\nuse of certain bacterial enzymes that can possibly be used to destroy viral\nRNA and DNA is discussed. The proposed hypothesis is based on the available\ndata regarding the struggle of bacteria with their viruses that infect themselves.\nSince opportunistic bacteria are capable of producing certain enzymes,\nin particular staphylococcal DNase and other bacterial restriction enzymes,\nthey can cope with their own viruses, and may also be used to fight viruses\nthat infect the human body....
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