The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the lives of people all over the world. The perception of risk and people’s consequent behaviour during a pandemic are very complex and are affected by multiple cultural and psychological factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the change in risk perception, perceived self-efficacy and the perceived trust in the behaviour of others, the decisions of health authorities and government provisions, as well as the variation of self-restraint behaviours during the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy. We used a convenience sample of 707 university students (M_age = 22.99; SD = 4.01) from a central area of Italy. Participants freely joined the research by answering an online questionnaire between February and March 2020. Three time intervals defined by the progressive containment measures implemented by the Italian Government were considered. Main outcome measures were the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, the Risk Perception Index, the Index of Self-restraint Behaviours, and Institutional and Interpersonal Trust Measures. Results confirmed that significant changes in the time progression have occurred in the perception of risk, in the perception of individual self-efficacy, in the value attributed to social responsibility, in interpersonal trust and in trust in health authorities. The study also identified the participants’ personality traits and locus of control as predictors (positive and negative) of perceived self-efficacy and tested a mediation model of trust on the effect of risk perception on self-restraint intentions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools and universities to shift their activities online, influencing the adoption of health-related behaviours such as physical activity and healthy dietary habits. The present study investigates the changes in adherence to a healthy diet and regular physical activity in university students in Italy before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and understands the role of sociodemographic variables in creating the changes above. We conducted a repeated cross-sectional survey performing the same sampling strategy at the first data collection (T0) and second data collection (T1) with a combination of convenience and snowball sampling approaches. The sample is composed of a total of 2001 students, 60.2% women and 39.8% men, with an average age of 22.7 (±5.5 SD). At T1, 39.9% of the students reported regular physical activity. During the pandemic, however, many, especially male students, abandoned or reduced physical activity practice (T1 40%), with an increase in social media use (T0 52.1%; T1 90%). A direct association between very low frequency of physical activity and increased sedentary time (r = 0.2, p = 0.001) and between change in dietary style and increased Body Mass Index (BMI) value (r = 0.3, p = 0.002) was found. The multivariate analysis for the total sample showed that some sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, parents’ level of education, area of study, household type, and perception of one’s body influence eating behaviours and physical activity. Our findings suggest that universities should invest in the protection and promotion of the health of their students with specific awareness programmes, and further research should repeat the survey in the post-lockdown period to investigate the long-term effects on health-related behaviours.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, individuals and households had to responsibly manage the difficulties and problems caused by the restrictions on their mobility, such as the interruptions to work schedules, insecure food supplies, and the procurement of services and health care. The perceptions of risk as well as the fear of disease were strongly linked to worry, defined as a sequence of thoughts that evoke negative emotions and elevated levels of anxiety and distress. This study evaluated how different cognitive appraisals of an individual’s sources of worry could influence their perceived self-efficacy and directly or indirectly moderate their perceived general distress. A sample of 544 participants completed a survey that included questions based on the generalized self-efficacy scale, the sources of concern during the epidemic, the cognitive appraisal scale in emergency, and perceived discomfort. Subsequently, a structural-equation-modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to test the moderating role of cognitive appraisals and perceived self-efficacy on participants’ overall distress during a lockdown. Overall, the model reported acceptable fit values and confirmed the hypotheses of the study. An individual’s worries activated either a dysfunctional threat appraisal, which prompted a fear-and-closure response that then increased their overall state of distress; or two other functional appraisals (i.e., adaptive or supportive) that contributed to significantly improving the individual’s self-efficacy. Higher self-efficacy was shown to be associated with lower levels of perceived distress. For the purposes of prevention and distress containment, it would be appropriate to promote psycho-educational interventions that promote the adoption of appraisal strategies that are functional and beneficial for perceived self-efficacy.

(1) Background. Eye movement abnormalities are increasingly recognized as early biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease (PD), reflecting both motor and cognitive dysfunction. Advances in eye-tracking technology provide objective, quantifiable measures of saccadic impairments, fixation instability, smooth pursuit deficits, and pupillary changes. These advances offer new opportunities for early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and neurorehabilitation. (2) Objective. This narrative review explores the relationship between oculomotor dysfunction and PD pathophysiology, highlighting the potential applications of eye tracking in clinical and research settings. (3) Methods. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, focusing on peer-reviewed studies examining eye movement dysfunction in PD. Relevant publications were identified through PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, using key terms, such as “eye movements in Parkinson’s disease”, “saccadic control and neurodegeneration”, “fixation instability in PD”, and “eye-tracking for cognitive assessment”. Studies integrating machine learning (ML) models and VR-based interventions were also included. (4) Results. Patients with PD exhibit distinct saccadic abnormalities, including hypometric saccades, prolonged saccadic latency, and increased anti-saccade errors. These impairments correlate with executive dysfunction and disease progression. Fixation instability and altered pupillary responses further support the role of oculomotor metrics as non-invasive biomarkers. Emerging AI-driven eye-tracking models show promise for automated PD diagnosis and progression tracking. (5) Conclusions. Eye tracking provides a reliable, cost-effective tool for early PD detection, cognitive assessment, and rehabilitation. Future research should focus on standardizing clinical protocols, validating predictive AI models, and integrating eye tracking into multimodal treatment strategies.

Background. Recently, a growing interest has emerged in the role of attention and hypervigilance in the experience of pain. Shifting attention away from pain seems likely to reduce the perception of pain itself. Objectives. The present study has been designed to test the following overall hypotheses: (1) disposition to catastrophize, self-efficacy perceived in pain resistance (task self-efficacy), previous experiences concerning the tolerance of physical pain, and degree of impulsiveness are significant predictors of the decision to abandon a painful test such as the cold pressor test (CPT); (2) the manipulation of the attentive focus (internal or external) can influence the level of perceived pain. Methods. Effects of the manipulation of attentional focus (internal and external) on pain perception and response of trial abandonment were evaluated in a sample of university students (n = 246) subjected to the cold pressor test. Results. A significant effect (p < 0.05) was found through a test–retest comparison on the final level of perceived pain among subjects who had received instruction to externalize the focus of their attention (mixed factorial analysis of variance), but no significance was observed with respect to the decision to abandon the experiment. A general explanatory model of the abandonment behavior demonstrating overall good fit measurements was tested too. Conclusion. The abandonment of tests has been shown to be predicted mainly by catastrophic attitude. Attentive impulsiveness showed a further positive effect on catastrophic attitude. Perceived self-efficacy in the tolerance of pain limited learned helplessness, which in turn positively influenced catastrophizing.

Epidemiological studies on football (soccer) injuries are needed to assess both the magnitude of the problem and the effectiveness of preventive programmes. However, few data are available for Italy, which hosts one of the main football leagues in Europe. In this study, we aimed to describe the epidemiology of football injuries in the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons of the Italian Serie A. Information about injury location, type, date of occurrence and duration of absence was obtained from www.football-lineups.com, a free collaborative international database on football. Overall, 363 injuries occurred throughout the two seasons affecting 286 players. The most commonly reported injuries were thigh-strain and knee injury, which accounted for 42% and 19% of all injuries, respectively. Injury incidence increased with age and was particularly higher from August to October. Results suggest that injury prevention strategies should be introduced from the preseason to reduce the risk of injuries, especially muscle strains.