Vaccine Hesitancy, Knowledge, and COVID-19 Vaccination in a Sample of Italian and Albanian Healthcare Students Attending an University in Albania.

BACKGROUND: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) has increased over the past decade with large geographical variations between countries, posing a threat to global public health. This phenomenon is growing in the general population as well as among healthcare workers (HCWs), who are the most reliable source of vaccine-related information for patients. Special attention must therefore be paid to medical students, who are the future HCWs. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study (November 2022-January 2023) on all the Albanian and Italian students attending medical science courses at the Catholic University "Our Lady of Good Counsel" (Tirane, Albania) to investigate VH and the factors contributing to it (using the Vaccination Attitude Examination Scale-VAX), including COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccine knowledge was assessed using the Zingg and Siegrist Scale. Students were asked to voluntarily answer an anonymous questionnaire. RESULTS: 689 questionnaires were collected (58.8% Albanians, 72.3% female; 70.4% aged 20-25 years; 70.4% attending the Medicine and Surgery course). Generally, students showed low VH, especially Italians (p < 0.001); however, some hesitancy was observed regarding the potential long-term effects of vaccines, especially among Albanians (p < 0.05). The results also showed a significant difference in vaccine knowledge scores between different course years (χ2 = 90.058; df = 40; p = < 0.001) and different degree courses (χ2 = 89.932; df = 40; p = < 0.001). With regard to COVID-19 vaccination, being of Albanian origin significantly increases the risk of not being vaccinated (OR = 7.215; 95%CI 3.816-13.640, p < 0.001), highlighting possible differences in vaccine coverage and policy between the two countries. CONCLUSION: Vaccine hesitancy should be addressed at early stages during medical sciences courses, in order to protect future healthcare workers, to preserve essential health services, and reduce the risk of further pandemics.

Curcumin potentiates the ErbB receptors inhibitor Afatinib for enhanced antitumor activity in malignant mesothelioma.

Several attempts have been made to develop targeted therapies for malignant mesothelioma (MM), an aggressive tumour with a poor prognosis. In this study we evaluated whether Curcumin (CUR) potentiated the antitumor activity of the ErbB receptors inhibitor Afatinib (AFA) on MM, employing cell lines cultured in vitro and mice bearing intraperitoneally transplanted, syngeneic MM cells. The rationale behind this hypothesis was that CUR could counteract mechanisms of acquired resistance to AFA. We analysed CUR and AFA effects on MM cell growth, cell cycle, autophagy, and on the modulation of tumour-supporting signalling pathways.This study demonstrated that, as compared to the individual compounds, the combination of AFA + CUR had a stronger effect on MM progression which can be ascribed either to increased tumour cell growth inhibition or to an enhanced pro-apoptotic effect. These results warrant future studies aimed at further exploring the therapeutic potential of AFA + CUR-based combination regimens for MM treatment.

The Combination of Bioavailable Concentrations of Curcumin and Resveratrol Shapes Immune Responses While Retaining the Ability to Reduce Cancer Cell Survival.

The polyphenols Curcumin (CUR) and Resveratrol (RES) are widely described for their antitumoral effects. However, their low bioavailability is a drawback for their use in therapy. The aim of this study was to explore whether CUR and RES, used at a bioavailable concentration, could modulate immune responses while retaining antitumor activity and to determine whether CUR and RES effects on the immune responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and tumor growth inhibition could be improved by their combination. We demonstrate that the low-dose combination of CUR and RES reduced the survival of cancer cell lines but had no effect on the viability of PBMCs. Although following CUR + RES treatment T lymphocytes showed an enhanced activated state, RES counteracted the increased IFN-γ expression induced by CUR in T cells and the polyphenol combination increased IL-10 production by T regulatory cells. On the other hand, the combined treatment enhanced NK cell activity through the up- and downregulation of activating and inhibitory receptors and increased CD68 expression levels on monocytes/macrophages. Overall, our results indicate that the combination of CUR and RES at low doses differentially shapes immune cells while retaining antitumor activity, support the use of this polyphenol combinations in anticancer therapy and suggest its possible application as adjuvant for NK cell-based immunotherapies.