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Biomedical subjects

G Damiani

Publications and source records attributed to G Damiani.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Assessment of the adequacy of health services in day hospital care: experience of an endocrine surgery day care unit at a university polyclinic].

The aim of the study was to assess the appropriateness of the provision of surgical treatment in the day hospital setting and at the same time to evaluate the efficacy of the service provided. The study was conducted on admissions to a day care unit operating in conjunction with the surgery division of a university hospital. The evaluation of appropriateness was carried out using explicit criteria, based on regional regulations and on guidelines drawn up by the Agency for Regional Health Services. The criteria related to the hospital bed equivalent Rotation Index and to the types of DRGs treated and services provided. Efficacy was assessed using the following para-meters: number of US-guided fine needle aspiration biopsies; techniques used; age, sex and nodule size; patient distribution by results of diagnostic examination; cytological classification; percentage of patients with complications. We also evaluated the possibility of transferring short-term (2-3 days) surgical admissions from ordinary regimens to the day care setting. The results of this study yield useful synthetic indicators for assessing the appropriateness both of the day care function as a whole and of individual operating units, providing both administrative and medical staff with a useful frame of reference for the planning of health-care management.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Is the patient's charter a tool for the implementation of health policies promoting health care quality? Results of a survey on Italian local health units over the period 1995-98].

Patient's Charter was introduced in Italy in the last decade with the aim of increasing community participation to the quality of health care. The Charter with reference to primary care services, should include information about the admission and standards of service that people can expect to receive. The purpose of the study was to assess, on the basis of a series of indicators, the presence of differences among different organisational model of Local Health Unit Districts. As regards Prevention Department, the association between quality indicators and geographic location was studied. We evaluated 112 Charters, 49.3% on the total amount of Italian Local Health Unit (LHU) that were issued during the period 1996-1998, using a data form with multiple choice questions. 104 out of 112 Charters showed quality items for Districts and Prevention Departments. Significant differences among the different groups of district organization model were shown for three indicators (waiting time, administrative details and chief in charge) respectively in General Practitioner area and in Psychiatric one. As regards Prevention Departments, no association was shown between geographic area and frequency of quality indicators, although a trend of higher frequence was found in Northern Area versus Central Area and Southern one. This study emphasizes the fact that data drawn from Patient's Charter can show the impact of different organisational and geographic conditions on quality of healthcare.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Water perception and utilization in a sample of students in the province of Viterbo].

Nowadays water quality is certainly one of the issues of major concern. Control on waterway considerably involves public hygiene services and represents a prevention activity and a measure of public health safety, which often is unknown to the population. For this reason the Public Hygiene Service of Viterbo L.H.U. (Local Health Unit) in collaboration with the Institute of Hygiene of the Catholic University of Rome carried out a survey to evaluate perception towards tap water quality in a sample of students. During the last decade tap and mineral water consumption habits turned out to be constant. The great majority of students reported to use widely mineral water at home; mineral water consumption was high regardless of social class. Since our investigation found a large use of mineral water in this town, the L.H.U. could intervene to modify these attitudes, starting up with an education campaign of the population: tap water is indeed subject to quality controls with a higher frequency compared to mineral water.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Primary health care appropriateness evaluation: the general practitioner case].

Even if the importance of the primary care has been stated both by WHO and our National Health System (in the meaning of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation), only recently it seems to deserve a more structured evaluation. The paper aims to deeply analyse the meaning of primary health care system within the clinical governance practice, to identify - using national and international data - the role of its appropriateness in reaching the best outcomes in terms of health and economical results and to supply the readers with some operative methods for the evaluation. According to the most recent literature and the data gathered from Italian experiences, some suggestions are given in order to improve appropriateness and quality of this first and fundamental level of the national system of care.

Family Practice↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Hospital at home: assessment of early discharge in terms of patients mortality and satisfaction].

New organizational models are essentials for European Hospitals because of restraining budget and ageing of population. Hospital at home is an alternative to inpatient care, effective both in clinical and economic ground. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of Hospital at Home in terms of decreased mortality and patient satisfaction. We carried out a meta-analysis of the literature about hospital at home interventions. We searched Medline (to December 2002), the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (to October 2002) and other bibliographical databases, with a supplementary handsearching of literature. We used the following keywords: hospital at home, home hospitalization, mortality, patient satisfaction, cost, acute hospital care, conventional hospitalization. We included studies respecting the following criteria: analytical or experimental studies aimed at compare early discharge to hospital at home and continued care in an acute hospital. Review Manager 4.2 software was used to collect data and perform statistical analysis. We found 2420 articles searching for the chosen keywords. Twelve studies (2048 patients) were included for death outcome and six studies (1382 patients) were included for satisfaction outcome. The selected studies indicated a greater effect size of patient satisfaction in home patients than hospitalized ones (Odds Ratio: 1.58 95% CI: 1.25, 2.00) and showed no difference in terms of mortality (Risk Difference: -0.01 95% CI: -0.03, 0.02). Our results underline the effectiveness of this organizational model, as an alternative to continued care in an acute hospital. Further useful considerations could be drawn by economic evaluation studies carried out on field.

Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

["Initiative" in primary care: survey on hypertension prevalence and definition of cardiovascular risk profile in ASL 3 of Lagonegro (PZ)].

The objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence of not-diagnosed hypertension and to determine 10-year risk of coronary heart disease in a random sample of individuals in ASL 3 of Lagonegro (PZ). The sample was based on the whole population assisted by 21 General Practitioners. All General Practitioners filled a form for each patient containing social-demographic, anthropometric and clinical data. The study included only patients aged 35 to 74 years, without a previous diagnosis of myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and that were not taking antihypertensive drugs (N=335). The directly standardized prevalence of prehypertension was 0.54 (IC95%: 0.47-0.59) and that of hypertension was 0.33 (IC95%: 0.28-0.38). The prevalence of both, prehypertension and hypertension was higher in males than in females, as well as in old compared to young adults. Cardiovascular risk factors as Body Mass Index (BMI), diabetes, a family history of dyslipidemia and diabetes were more frequent among prehypertensive and hypertensive individuals, than in normotensive ones. We also estimated the risk of an acute coronary event in patients whit blood pressure higher than 140/90 mmHg. The calculation, carried out through Framingham algorithm, showed that 1 out of 10 hypertensive subject had a 10-years risk of developing coronary heart disease and that males had a higher risk compared to females. Our study highlights the fundamental role of General Practitioners may play in earlier diagnosis prehypertension and hypertension in the general population, thus adopting practices oriented to healthy promotion and prevention.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Computer program recognition of a cDNA sequence specifying signal peptides].

An application of a computational analysis of cDNA sequences is presented in this paper. The goal is the identification of functional domains on sequence data. The results show the capability of this technique to identify a zone of DNA associated with the signal peptide coding region, whose biological function at DNA or RNA level is still unknown.

Base Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

First trimester fetal blood sampling.

The authors report 8 diagnostic cordocentesis performed at the end of the first trimester. The indication was thalassemia (5 cases) and karyotyping (3 cases). The technique requires that the operator holds both the probe and the needle (25 G X 90 mm); the fetal blood sample ranged between 0.25 and 0.35 cc, sufficient in all cases for the diagnosis. 1 pregnancy was terminated on the basis of the diagnostic result; no complications reported at a 3-weeks follow-up in the remaining 7 patients. The first trimester cordocentesis offers several advantages if compared to CVS, especially for thalassemia prenatal diagnosis; furthermore it opens new perspectives for intrauterine transplantations. More experience is required to assess the safety of the procedure.

Blood Specimen Collection↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical results and fetal biochemical data in 140 early second trimester diagnostic cordocenteses.

The authors report their experience on 140 diagnostic cordocenteses performed in the early trimester of pregnancy (technique, indications and complications). Furthermore the Authors report preliminary data concerning various fetal blood biochemical parameters (22) obtained by cordocentesis at 18-19 weeks of pregnancy (42 cases). Fetal and maternal values are compared.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A new approach to the biochemical mechanisms of macrophages: continuous human macrophage cell lines.

Macrophages are biologically complex cells that play a fundamental role in host defense from micro-organisms and tumor cells. Most of the biochemical mechanisms underlying their functions are still unknown. One of the macrophage functions that should be studied and understood at the molecular level is cytotoxicity toward tumor cells. Macrophage-like continuous cell lines of human origin cultured in vitro begin to be developed, and represent a new and possibly fruitful approach to the study of biochemical reactions at the basis of macrophage behaviour.

Cell Line↗