Communication is really complex and beyond the verbal communication, it involves the transmission of abstract and concrete information using both verbal and nonverbal symbols. In June-July 2017 we performed a systematic search in the electronic database PubMed in order to better understand the impact of “emoji” in the scientific community. We considered eligible for the systematic review original articles, letters, brief reports, short communications web articles (written in English, French, Italian or Spanish) without any temporal limit and using the keyword “emoji” The literature search yielded 5 publications. The studies were published between 2015 and 2017. Two authors tried to associate emoji to specific feelings. Huesch et al. analyzed 1.7 million unique interactions and stories associated with breast cancer screening keywords generated on Facebook. Skiba in his short communication describes the history of emoji and proposed to develop a set of emoji that could be used to improve the management of their patients’ health. Bourzac in her short communication, says that at the first-ever Emojicon in California, a group of science enthusiasts and designers worked on proposals for several new science-themed emoji, in order to better express themselves. Although the scientific literature about emoji is very few, their psychological and emotional significance is very fascinating, and they could have an interesting application in public health to improve the physician–patient interaction.

A unique standardized national dataset on adolescent girls (21 regions) participating in the Italian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) was used to investigate the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and age at menarche. Two independent nationally representative survey datasets: one on 15-year-olds (n = 6907, in 21 regions, year 2013/2014) and one on 11-year-olds (n = 10,128, in 20 regions, year 2009/2010) were analysed. The survey instrument was a self-report questionnaire. Median age at menarche and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by means of Kaplan–Meier analysis. Hierarchical models were used to assess the relationship between BMI and age at menarche (months). “Region-level obesity” was measured as the prevalence of overweight/obesity (%) in each region. Region-level median age at menarche ranged between 12 years/3 months and 13 years/4 months. Region-level prevalence of overweight among 15-year-old girls ranged between 4 and 19%. Age at menarche was inversely associated with individual BMI (unstandardized regression coefficient beta = − 0.70; 95% CI, − 0.84 to − 0.56). Individual- and class-level measures of BMI accounted for 50% of the region-level variance in age at menarche. The results show that overweight in childhood is in relation with the early puberty in girls. Future surveys may take into account this report to clarify if overweight is the cause or consequence of early menarche.

Background: On 14 May 2013, Angelina Jolie (AJ), revealed herself to be the carrier of a BReast CAncer 1 (BRCA1) gene mutation and announced her decision to undergo a prophylactic mastectomy, followed by a laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. This review explores the impact of the ‘Angelina Jolie Effect’ in order to reveal whether her announcement led to a change in the attitude of patients, and in decisions regarding healthcare options focusing especially on referrals, on genetic tests and on prophylactic mastectomies. Methods: Between January–February 2017, we performed a systematic search in PubMed using the key search term ‘Angelina Jolie’. We searched for studies published between 2013 and 2017, reporting data on number of BRCA1/2 tests, number of referrals for breast or ovarian cancer and number of performed mastectomies, before and after AJ’s disclosure. We considered eligible for inclusion all cross-sectional, retrospective, prospective studies written in English. Results: The literature search yielded 27 publications. After the analysis of title, abstracts and full text, we identified eight manuscripts for inclusion in the review. The studies were conducted from 2011 to 2015 in the USA, Austria, Australia, Canada and the UK. The announcement generated an increase of referrals for breast/ovarian cancer with peaks of +285%, an increase of BRCA tests with a peak of +80%, but did not lead to a significant increase of prophylactic mastectomies. Patients with a lower level of education asked for information about cancer, and most patients became more aware of breast reconstruction post-mastectomy. Conclusion: Celebrity disclosures, such as AJ’s revelation of her BRCA status and her decision for a prophylactic mastectomy, can influence patients’ behaviour leading to important effects on attitudes towards screening. Organisations should assist patients appropriately, but at the same time should consider the available resources, and should interface with journalists and the social media in order to guarantee the validity of the information.

Interest in measuring the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of the immigrants increased in recent years in Italy as in other countries. Our purpose was to evaluate the HRQoL of refugees welcomed in Tuscany using the SF-36 questionnaire. We collected 114 questionnaires from 2011 to 2015. Our samples was constituted by 98 males and 16 females, coming from different regions of the world; the mean age was 27.4. Statistical analysis showed that gender, length of stay and educational qualification are not associated with a poorer HRQoL. Instead, elderly refugees showed lower scores; refugees from African region reported a better HRQoL than the others, and there are also differences between refugees welcomed in different cities of Tuscany. Our purpose is to continue this study enlarging the sample size and the geographical coverage, in order to have a more interesting description of the health perception of refugees welcomed in Italy.