Ricerc@Sapienza

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread increases in mental health problems, including anxiety and de- pression. The development of these and other psychiatric disorders may be related to changes in immune, endocrine, autonomic, cognitive, and affective processes induced by a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Interestingly, many of these same changes can be triggered by psychosocial stressors such as social isolation and rejection, which have become increasingly common due to public policies aimed at reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 has rapidly become a pandemic emergency, distressing health systems in each affected country. COVID-19 determines the need for healthcare in a large number of people in an extremely short time and, like a tsunami wave, overruns emergency, infectious diseases, and pneumology departments as well as intensive care units, choking healthcare services. Rehabilitation services are also affected by this epidemic which forces radical changes both in the organization and in the operating methods.

Introduction. Since February 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy has forced the health care system to undergo profound rearrangements in its services and facilities, especially in the worst-hit areas in Northern Italy. In this setting, inpatient and outpatient services had to rethink and reorganize their activities to meet the needs of patients during the “lockdown”.

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Sex-disaggregated data confirm serum ferritin as an independent predictor of disease severity both in male and female COVID-19 patients.

The present study aimed at identifying psychological and psychosocial variables that might predict weight gain during the COVID-19 lockdown in patients affected by overweight/obesity with and without a psychiatric diagnosis. An online survey was administered between 25 April and 10 May 2020, to investigate participants’ changes in dietary habits during the lockdown period. 110 participants were recruited and allocated to two groups, 63 patients had no psychiatric diagnosis; there were 47 patients with psychiatric diagnosis.

It's a frightening time due to COVID-19, but the great elderly/centenarians, apparently with more frailty, seem to have a better response to the pandemic. “The South Italy” lifestyle seems an “effective strategy” promoting the well-being embedded in a holistic solution: healthy diet, less exposure to PM10 pollution, protected environment, and moderate physical activity. The European FP7 Project RISTOMED results, since 2010, have shown that dietary intervention improved a heathy status in the elderly people.

We think that thalassemia is not necessarily a cause of aggravation of the clinical
course in COVID-19; however, certain key factors must be considered, such as the
anemic condition, the likely pathogenic role of the virus on hemoglobin, and the
hypercoagulable state to prevent any complications.

Background: The detection of a low amount of viral RNA is crucial to identify a SARS-CoV-2 positive individual harboring a low level of virus, especially during the convalescent period. However, the detection of one gene at high Cycle threshold (Ct) has to be interpreted with caution. In this study we address this specific issue and report our real-life experience. Study design: A total of 1639 nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) were analyzed with Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2.

Introduction: Patients with cancer may be more susceptible to and have higher morbidity and mortality rates from COVID-19 than the general population, while epidemiologic data specifically addressed to hematologic patients are limited. To investigate whether patients with hematologic diseases undergoing therapy are at increased risk for acquiring SARS CoV-2 infection compared to the general population, a retrospective study was carried out at a referral hematologic center in Rome, Italy, during the period of the greatest epidemic spread (March 8 to May 14, 2020).