The virologically confirmed cases of a new coronavirus disease in the world are rapidly increasing, leading epidemiologists and mathematicians to construct transmission models that aim to predict the future course of the current pandemic.The transmissibility of a virus is measured by the basic reproduction number (R 0 ), which measures the average number of new cases generated per typical infectious case. This review highlights the articles reporting rigorous estimates and determinants of COVID-19 R 0 for the most affected areas. Moreover, the mean of all estimated R 0 with median and interquartile range is calculated. According to these articles, the basic reproduction number of the virus epicentre Wuhan has now declined below the important threshold value of 1.0 since the disease emerged.Ongoing modelling will inform the transmission rates seen in the new epicentres outside of China, including Italy, Iran and South Korea.

Periodontal disease (PD) is an inflammatory condition of the tissues supporting the teeth, which is widespread among the adult population. Evidence shows a relationship between PD and vitamin D levels, which is involved in the regulation of bone metabolism, mineral homeostasis, and inflammatory response. This study aimed to perform a simultaneous evaluation of inflammatory mediators and vitamin D levels in saliva in periodontopathic patients to better understand their role in periodontal disease. In this observational study, clinical periodontal parameter examination was performed for each patient. Moreover, the saliva levels of 25(OH)D3, TGFβ, IL-35, IL-17A, and MMP9 were evaluated using an ELISA assay. An increase in TGFβ, IL-35, MMP9, and IL-17A salivary levels and a reduction in 25(OH)D3 levels were observed in periodontopathic patients with respect to the healthy controls. The present study revealed significant positive correlation between cytokines and highly negative correlation between 25(OH)D3 and salivary cytokine levels. Further studies are needed to better understand if salivary cytokines and vitamin D evaluation may represent a new approach for detection and prevention of progressive diseases, such as PD.

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Background: Recently, social networks have become a popular source of information on health topics. Particularly, in Italy, there is a lively discussion on the web regarding vaccines also because there is low vaccination coverage, vaccines hesitancy, and anti-vaccine movements. For these reasons, in 2017, Institutions have introduced a law to force children to make ten compulsory vaccines for school attendance and proposed a vaccination campaign. On social networks, this law has fostered a fierce discussion between pro-vaccinations and anti-vaccinations people. This paper aims to understand if and how the population's opinion has changed before the law and after the vaccination campaign using the titles of the videos uploaded on Youtube in these periods. Method: Using co-occurrence network (CON) and sentiment analysis, we analysed the topics of YouTube Italian videos on vaccines in 2017 and 2018. Results: The CON confirms that vaccinations were very disapproved before the law. Instead, after the communication campaign, people start to be less critical. The sentiment analysis shows that the intense vaccination campaign also promoted by medical doctors pushed the sentiment to change polarity from a prevailing negative opinion in 2017 (52% negative) to a positive one in 2018 (54% positive). Conclusion: At the population level, the potential misinformation of social networks could be significant and is a real risk for health. Our study highlights that vaccination campaigns on social networks could be an essential instrument of health policies and a sharp weapon to fight ignorance and misrepresentations of non-qualified people influencing individuals' decision-making.

Objective Capacitive and resistive electric transfer therapy (CARE) reduces pain and improves quality of life for many orthopaedic degenerative and inflammatory disorders. The research aim was to determine the effects of CARE on painful shoulder. The outcomes were pain reduction and recovery of shoulder function. Methods A retrospective, observational case-control study was conducted. Participants were 46 patients (22 in the CARE group and 24 in the SHAM group). Clinical data, pain (visual analogic scale, VAS) and functional scale scores (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand scale, and Constant–Murley Scale) were measured at baseline T0 (before treatment), T1 (after treatment) and follow-up T2 (2 months after the end of the treatment). Results VAS scores in the CARE group improved from 7.23 ± 1.11 at baseline to 2.68 ± 0.99 at follow-up. The SHAM group did not experience any improvement. Similarly, functional scale scores improved in the CARE group compared with the SHAM group. Conclusion Considering the small number of sessions needed, low cost and long-term benefits, CARE could be a useful therapeutic option for the conservative management of shoulder pain to restore pain-free and powerful movement to the shoulder joint.

Post-SARS-CoV-2 telogen effluvium has been described in case reports of COVID-19 patients. We evaluated the prevalence of post-SARS-CoV-2 telogen effluvium in patients from a single medical center, exploring any causal links with the infection. Our hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted with patient participants discharged with a diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia from 1 March to 4 April 2020. All patients were evaluated by the same senior dermatologist; a clinical/dermatoscopic evaluation was performed. Alopecia was assessed in 31.3% of patients, with a significant difference in sex (females 73%, males 26.7%). The average time detected from the onset of the first symptoms to alopecia was 68.43 days. Overall, there were no significant associations between alopecia and COVID-19-related features (length of hospitalization, virologic positivity, or duration of fever), treatment characteristics, or laboratory findings. In this paper, we report that post-infection acute telogen effluvium occurs in a significant number of COVID-19 patients. The burden of this condition may impair the quality of life, with a significant impact on individuals.

Studies directly evaluating the epidemiology of basosqua mous carcinoma have been few and small in size. Baso squamous carcinoma is more frequent than reported pre viously, with specific location, sex and age distributions. Dermatologists should be aware of these features in order to identify the best diagnostic and therapeutic approach for each patient. Basosquamous carcinoma is a rare clinical entity, which comprises 1.7-2.7% of all skin carcinomas. It is described as a basal cell carcinoma with features of squamous differentiation. To date, studies of the epi demiology of basosquamous carcinoma have been few and small in size. We report here the most extensive series of basosquamous carcinomas published to date, highlighting the differences between basosquamous carcinoma and other keratinizing tumours. Patients undergoing surgical excision for keratinizing tumours were enrolled in this study. Age, sex and tumour char acteristics were recorded. A total of 1,519 squamous cell carcinomas, 288 basosquamous carcinomas and 4,235 basal cell carcinomas were collected. Basosqua mous features were compared with those of basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. For basosquamous car cinomas, 70.5% were located on the head and neck, particularly on the nose, forehead and cheeks, and re presented almost 10% of the keratinizing tumours on the ears. Significant differences were found between basosquamous carcinoma and basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas. Basosquamous carcinoma should be considered a distinct type of keratinizing tumour with different anatomical, sex and age distributions.

Purpose: To report variation of choroidal thickness (CT) and choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in subjects with drusen and subjects with reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) compared with healthy individuals using the Spectral-domain (SD)-Optical Coherence Tomography with enhanced depth imaging (EDI) system. Design: A prospective, observational, cross-sectional study. Subjects: Eighty-four participants. Methods: The patients were imaged using the Heidelberg Spectralis device (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) with EDI mode. EDI-OCT images were exported and then imported into image analysis ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda) and a semiautomated algorithm was used for subsequent quantitative analysis. Main outcome measures: This study evaluated two choroidal parameters: (i) choroidal thickness (CT); (ii) choroidal vascularity index (CVI). Results: CT analysis was performed in three different regions: (i) foveal region, (ii) parafoveal region; (iii) perifoveal region. All the analyzed regions were significantly decreased in RPD pattern, as compared with both the drusen group ( p < .005) and healthy eyes ( p < .005). CVI was significantly decreased in the RPD pattern, as compared with healthy eyes ( p < 0.001). However, the drusenoid pattern did not have statistical significance in comparison with the control group suggesting the lower incidence of this pattern on choroidal vasculopathy. Conclusions: We report CT and CVI difference in RPD and drusen eyes. The RPD pattern seems to be a consequence of an alteration in the choroidal vascularity resulting in severe ischemia and excessive hypoxia inducing an increased risk of late AMD compared to the drusenoid pattern.