The integrated assessment of nutritional status and presence of sarcopenia would help improve clinical outcomes of in-hospital aged patients. We compared three common nutritional screening tools with the new Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) diagnostic criteria among hospitalized older patients. To this, 152 older patients were assessed consecutively at hospital admission by the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002). A 46% prevalence of malnutrition was reported according to GLIM. Sensitivity was 64%, 96% and 47%, and specificity was 82%, 15% and 76% with the MUST, SGA, and NRS-2002, respectively. The concordance with GLIM criteria was 89%, 53% and 62% for the MUST, SGA, and NRS-2002, respectively. All the screening tools had a moderate value to diagnose malnutrition. Moreover, patients at high nutritional risk by MUST were more likely to present with sarcopenia than those at low risk (OR 2.5, CI 1.3-3.6). To conclude, MUST is better than SGA and NRS-2002 at detecting malnutrition in hospitalized older patients diagnosed by the new GLIM criteria. Furthermore, hospitalized older patients at high risk of malnutrition according to MUST are at high risk of presenting with sarcopenia. Nutritional status should be determined by MUST in older patients at hospital admission, followed by both GLIM and the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2) assessment.

There are many discrepancies among the results of studies on the genotoxicity of lead. The aim of the study was to explore lead-induced DNA damage, including oxidative damage, in relation to oxidative stress intensity parameters and the antioxidant defense system in human leukocytes. The study population consisted of 100 male workers exposed to lead. According to the blood lead (PbB) levels, they were divided into the following three subgroups: a group with PbB of 20–35 μg/dL (low exposure to lead (LE) group), a group with a PbB of 35–50 µg/dL (medium exposure to lead (ME) group), and a group with a PbB of >50 μg/dL (high exposure to lead (HE) group). The control group consisted of 42 healthy males environmentally exposed to lead (PbB < 10 μg/dL). A comet assay was used to measure the DNA damage in leukocytes. We measured the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione reductase (GR), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) as well as the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), and the value of the total antioxidant capacity. The level of PbB was significantly higher in the examined subgroups than in the control group. The percentage of DNA in the tail was significantly higher in the LE, ME, and HE subgroups than in the control group by 10% (p = 0.001), 15% (p < 0.001), and 20% (p < 0.001), respectively. The activity of GR was significantly lower in the LE and ME subgroups than in the control group by 25% (p = 0.007) and 17% (p = 0.028), respectively. The activity of G6PD was significantly lower in the ME subgroup by 25% (p = 0.022), whereas the activity of GST was significantly higher in the HE subgroup by 101% (p = 0.001) than in the control group. Similarly, the activity of SOD was significantly higher in the LE and ME subgroups by 48% (p = 0.026) and 34% (p = 0.002), respectively. The concentration of MDA was significantly higher in the LE, ME, and HE subgroups than in the control group by 43% (p = 0.016), 57% (p < 0.001), and 108% (p < 0.001), respectively. Occupational lead exposure induces DNA damage, including oxidative damage, in human leukocytes. The increase in DNA damage was accompanied by an elevated intensity of oxidative stress.

Safety of healthcare workers in hospitals is a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being exposed for several working hours per day to infected patients, nurses dealing with COVID-19 face several issues that lead to physical/psychological breakdown. This study focused on burnout and its associated factors in nurses working in an Italian University Hospital during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. We designed a web-based cross-sectional study addressed to nurses working at the University Hospital in Foggia, Italy. The online questionnaire was organized in sections aimed at collecting demographic and occupational variables, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OBI). Two hundred and ninety-three nurses agreed to participate. According to MBI, we reported moderate/high emotional exhaustion in 76.5%, depersonalization in 50.2%, and personal gratification in 54.6% of participants. COVID-19-related burnout measured by OBI resulted medium/high in 89.1% of participants. Among demographic and occupational factors, a multivariate regression analysis identified emotional support, consideration of leaving job, and workload as predictive of burnout in nurses. In conclusion, this study suggests that the improvement of employer and family support to nurses, as well as reduction of workload and job-related stress, would contribute to reducing burnout in nurses during COVID-19 pandemics.

The study objective was to evaluate the effect of occupational lead exposure on blood concentrations of zinc, iron, copper, selenium and proteins related to them, such as transferrin, caeruloplasmin and haptoglobin. The examined group consisted of 192 healthy male employees of zinc–lead works. By the degree of lead exposure, the exposed group was subdivided into three subgroups. The control group was composed of 73 healthy male administrative workers. The markers of lead exposure (blood levels of lead and zinc protoporphyrin) were significantly elevated in the exposed group compared with the control group. Additionally, concentrations of copper and caeruloplasmin were raised. The significant increase in haptoglobin level was observed only in the low exposure group. Selenium levels were significantly decreased, whereas iron, zinc and transferrin levels were unchanged in the exposed group compared with the control group. There were positive correlations between the lead toxicity parameters and the copper and caeruloplasmin levels. In conclusion, the effect of occupational exposure to lead on the metabolism of trace metals appears to be limited. However, significant associations between lead exposure and levels of copper and selenium were shown. Changed levels of positive acute-phase proteins, such as caeruloplasmin and haptoglobin, were also observed.