Objectives: The study aimed to assess and compare the global development in six-month-old infants before and during the pandemic restrictive social distancing measures.Methods: This cross-sectional nested study involved infants assessed through the Griffiths Scales of Child Development (GSCD) between September 2019 and April 2021. Infants were classified in a pre-COVID or a COVID group, considering the evaluation date and the restrictive measures in place. GSCD subscales and General Development Scores (GDS) were calculated and compared.Results: One hundred and four healthy term-born infants were evaluated. GDS in the COVID group (n:70; median: 94; IQR: 90–100) appeared significantly lower than in the pre-COVID group (n:34; median: 98; IQR: 97–103; p < 0.001). Language and personal-social-emotional subareas scores appeared the most affected. A decreasing trend of GDS along with the severity of restriction was observed.Conclusion: A reduction in infant development scores was observed during pandemic social distancing. Further studies are needed to systematize these findings and to address effective public health policies for infants and families during long-term forced isolation periods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into a severe psychosocial crisis affecting patients, their relatives, friends, and healthcare professionals. In Italy, public health residents (PHRs) remain essential to the national response to the pandemic. To assess their mental sphere, the “Public Mental Health” working group of the medical residents’ Assembly of the Italian Society of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine has designed the Public Health Residents’ Anonymous Survey in Italy (PHRASI). This is a nation-wide cross-sectional study based on an 88-item self-administered voluntary survey that evaluates how sociodemographic variables are associated with mental issues, including wellness, eating disorders, sleeplessness, alcohol misuse, depression, and anxiety. Data will be gathered by disseminating a Google Forms link across the Assembly network of medical residents. All PHRs enrolled in a four-year program in one of the Italian postgraduate schools of public health will be qualified as participants. PHRASI aims to draw a comprehensive and detailed picture of the mental health state of Italian PHRs. PHRs are a significant group of healthcare professionals that may serve as a future benchmark for developing and enacting regulations intended to support the mental health of healthcare professionals.

Introduction: The past few years have faced unprecedented communication problems in healthcare as public health professionals were insufficiently prepared to spread trustworthy information during a global pandemic. We held a workshop during the 17th World Public Health Conference 2023, aiming...

Background: Premenopausal women with breast cancer (BC) experience early onset of treatment-induced menopausal syndrome with adjuvant hormone therapy (HT). Isoflavones in the red clover (RC) are biologically active agents providing a source of rapidly available phytoestrogens acting as natural selective estrogen receptor modulators. Aims of the study are: to improve quality of life reducing menopausal symptoms from HT in BC premenopausal women and preventing weight gain and metabolic syndrome with personal lifestyle intervention; to evaluate in vitro safety profile of RC used in combination with adjuvant anti-estrogenic HT.

Background and objective: Parenting can be a stressful experience and in the context of a pandemic it can represent a challenge for many families. The aim of this study was to investigate socio-demographic factors related to parenting stress before and after the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Italian...