Alfonso Mele

Mele Alfonso. Rites d'initiation des jeunes et processus de libération : le cas des Brettii. In: Religion et anthropologie de l'esclavage et des formes de dépendance. Besançon 4-6 novembre 1993. Besançon : Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté, 1994. pp. 37-58. (Actes des colloques du Groupe de recherche sur l'esclavage dans l'antiquité, 20

SEIEVA (Sistema Epidemiologico Integrato dell'Epatite Virale Acuta: Integrated Epidemiological System of Acute Viral Hepatitis) was created in 1985 at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and started its full activity in 1986. This report is published on the ...

Background and Aims The natural history of ADPKD has been defined in numerous studies in various countries and in various genetic and environmental contexts but the problem has not yet been studied in sufficiently large studies in the Italian population. We have studied the evolution of ADPKD in a cohort of 445 incident patients enrolled in a time span between 2012 and 2016 in 28 nephrological centers in 3 regions of central Italy. The main demographic and clinical characteristics of this cohort are reported below. [GRAPHICS] Method The analysis was carried out on a sample of 296 patients with at least 2 creatinine measurements prior to ESKD and with eGFR at onset ≥45 ml/min/1.73m2. The median follow-up was 15 years (range 1-42 years). The analysis of the data was carried out with the Joint model, an approach that allows the simultaneous modeling of longitudinal (repeated over time) and time to event ESKD or GFR<45 ml/min/1.73m2 data. This approach produces two sub-models: a long...

So far, only three small outdated studies have investigated hepatitis C virus (HCV) incidence and risk factors among illicit drug users (DUs) in Italy. Thus, during 2007-2010, we conducted a prospective cohort study among DUs attending 17 Italian rehabilitation centers serving urban areas. Two hundred eighty-four HCV-uninfected DUs were prospectively followed by interview and anti-HCV antibody and RNA testing every 6 months. Incidence was calculated using the person-years method. Infection predictors were assessed by time-dependent Cox analysis. Participants were mostly male (83.4%), under opioid substitution therapy (OST) (78.9%), non-injecting DUs (67.9%), and with a mean age of 30.8. Ninety-one of 224 DUs initially under OST interrupted treatment during the follow-up. Overall HCV incidence was 5.83/100 person-years at risk (PYAR) [95% confidence intervals (CI), 3.63-9.38]. The incidence did not significantly differ according the participants' sociodemographic characteristics ...

The prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases was investigated in an adult population of the city of Cittanova, Southern Italy. The study was conducted among 992 randomly selected adults aged 18-75 years, between April 2009 and January 2011. Prevalence rates of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), overweight, obesity, and metabolic syndrome (MS) were 24.8%, 41.5%, 27.1%, and 34.4%, respectively. For the components of MS, prevalence of central obesity was 47.4%, impaired fasting glucose (IFG) 34.7%; hypertension 53.7%, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol 34.2%, and hypertriglyceridemia 27.2%. Hypertension, central obesity, IFG, low HDL cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia, MS, and increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) were significantly associated with NAFLD after adjustment for age and sex. With additional adjustment for body mass index (BMI), IMT and MS (depending on the prevalence ratio that was investigated), the positive a...

We analyzed the clinicobiological features and treatment outcome of a series of acute promyelocytic leukemias (APLs) occurring as a second tumor (APL-st's, n = 51) and compared these with a large group of de novo APL cases (n = 641), both observed by the Italian cooperative group GIMEMA. In the APL-st group, 37 patients had received radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for their primary malignancy (PM), while 14 had been treated by surgery alone. Compared with de novo APL patients, APL-st patients were characterized by a predominance of females (P <.003), higher median age (P <.05), and worse performance status (P <.005). The median time elapsed between PM and APL-st was 36 months, with a longer latency for patients treated with surgery alone. No significant differences were found with regard to karyotypic lesions or type of promyelocytic leukemia/retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML/RARalpha) fusion in the 2 cohorts. A high prevalence of PMs of the reproductive system was observed among the female APL-st population (24 [71%] of 34 patients in this group had suffered from breast, uterine, or ovarian cancer). Thirty-one APL-st and 641 de novo APL patients received homogeneous APL therapy according to the all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and idarubicin regimen (the AIDA regimen). The complete remission (CR), 4-year event-free survival (EFS), and 4-year overall survival (OS) rates were 97% and 93%, 65% and 68%, and 85% and 78% in the APL-st and de novo APL groups, respectively. In spite of important clinical differences (older age and poorer performance status), the APL-st group responded as well as the de novo APL group to upfront ATRA plus chemotherapy, probably reflecting genetic similarity.

A Consensus Conference on Specific Learning Disorders has been promoted by the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS). The Consensus Conference consisted in a systematic review of the international literature addressing the issues of diagnosis, risk factors and prognosis, treatment, service delivery and organizational models for Specific Learning Disorders (reading, spelling/writing, calculation). Selected papers were examined by a group of Evaluators and then discussed by a Scientific and Technical Committee, whose conclusions were examined and approved by a Jury Panel. The part on diagnostic issues is presented here, encompassing a systematic discussion of the use and appropriateness of diagnostic criteria, parameters, tasks and psychometric indexes as illustrated in the literature, and providing recommendations for clinical practice. Special attention has been devoted to the collection, analysis and discussion of published data concerning languag...

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with type II mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC), a lymphoproliferative disorder which, in some patients, evolves into overt B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL). Recently, also the association between HCV infection and B-NHL, which had long been controversial, was confirmed in a large case-control study. Little knowledge is, however, available on possible associations between HCV infection and other lymphoid or myeloid malignancies. The present study was set up in order to investigate this aspect. The study was conducted in hematology departments of ten hospitals in different Italian cities. The cases consisted of consecutive patients with a new diagnosis of T-NHL, Hodgkin's disease (HD), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), multiple myeloma (MM), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The controls were patients in other departments of the same hospitals. HCV infectio...

To determine whether an outbreak of hepatitis A that occurred in 52 Italian hemophiliacs was acquired through the infusion of contaminated factor VIII or through environmental enteric transmission, a case-control study of the first 29 infected patients was carried out. Case patients were neither more nor less likely than controls (hemophiliacs without HAV infection) to have traveled to high-risk countries, consumed raw shellfish or had contact with persons with jaundice. The case patients, however, were more likely than controls to have received a factor VIII concentrate treated with solvent-detergent and to have had larger infusions of the concentrate during the presumed HAV incubation period. In the PCR analysis of HAV sequences from implicated lots of factor VIII, HAV sequences were found in 5 of 12 lots of factor VIII implicated in the outbreak. Three different strains of HAV were recovered, suggesting that lots were not contaminated from the same plasmapheresis donor. To obtain molecular evidence that the HAV detected in the factor VIII preparations was responsible for transmission of HAV, serial serum samples from two patients were tested for HAV gene sequences and compared with those of the implicated lots. The genomic sequences of HAV obtained for two matched sets of factor VIII and recipient serum samples were identical within each set, but different for the two sets.

ABSTRACT A Consensus Conference was convened by the Italian National Institute of Health on May 5-6, 2005, to address the issue of the screening for hepatitis C virus infection in adults in Italy. It was concluded that a mass screening for hepatitis C virus infection is inappropriate. It was recommended that the following high-risk groups be tested for hepatitis C virus infection, particularly if they are potentially eligible for antiviral treatment: subjects with history of intravenous drug use; haemodialysis patients; subjects who received blood coagulation factors before 1987; subjects who received blood transfusions or organ transplantation before 1992; households of hepatitis C virus-infected individuals; subjects with multiple sexual partners which have or have had a sexually transmitted disease. A screening for hepatitis C virus infection was considered unjustified for persons who are scheduled for an invasive procedure (e.g. surgery, endoscopy) and during pregnancy. (c) 2006 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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