Is entrepreneurship a key factor in the development of European countries? A proposal for an innovation readiness environment (IRE) index.

This study investigates the complex interplay among innovation, research and development (R&D), and entrepreneurship within the context of European nations. The focus of the study is also on the contributory role of tertiary educational institutions in nurturing entrepreneurial activities. To deepen the understanding of these multifaceted relationships and their subsequent impact on regional economies, the research introduces a novel metric termed the Innovation Readiness Environment (IRE) index. This index combines various indicators such as R&D expenditure, patenting rates, firm size, and educational levels, thereby providing a framework for evaluating the innovative capabilities and entrepreneurial success of firms in a given region. Utilization of this index offers policymakers and stakeholders a nuanced understanding of the regional innovation ecosystem, facilitating the identification of both strengths and deficiencies. This, in turn, enables the formulation of targeted policy interventions to enhance both innovation and entrepreneurship. One salient conclusion drawn from this study is the pivotal role of tertiary education in catalysing entrepreneurial ventures. The findings posit that higher levels of entrepreneurial education significantly supplement an individual's likelihood of entrepreneurial success by imparting the requisite skills and knowledge indispensable in a competitive business milieu. Higher education institutions, by fostering an environment conducive to innovation, emerge as critical agents in the cultivation of entrepreneurial acumen and the stimulation of economic expansion. The study further incorporates a spatial analytical framework to elucidate the regional specificities of innovation at the pan-European scale.

The present research examines the interconnected roles of innovation, research and development, and entrepreneurship in European countries, particularly emphasising how higher education contributes to entrepreneurial activity. Through the introduction of the Innovation Readiness Environment (IRE) index, the study provides a structured way to measure various aspects like research spending, patent rates, and educational levels in a region. The IRE index is intended to guide policymakers and other key stakeholders. The index is a tool for comprehensively assessing regional strengths and weaknesses in innovation and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the study underscores the crucial role of higher education in fostering entrepreneurial skills, thereby enhancing the probability of entrepreneurial success. As a result, it appears that universities are not just places for acquiring knowledge; they serve as incubators for new ideas and start-ups, contributing to broader economic growth.

Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections in EU-JAMRAI: The One-Health Response from Italy.

INTRODUCTION: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious health threat, and it has high priority among the European public health agenda. The development and implementation of the National Action Plans (NAPs) with a One-Health perspective to fight AMR was supported in 2017 by the European Union (EU) through a Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections (EU-JAMRAI). The Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), supported by the University of Udine, and the University of Foggia were among the 44 partners involved. This paper describes the results of EU-JAMRAI relevant to Italy and its impact on national policies. METHODS: The activities involved national and international experts who worked in groups, either in virtual or face-to-face meetings. Country-to-country visits were organized to assess and compare the national strategies to counteract AMR and to exchange best practices. In addition, qualitative research methods, particularly focus groups (FGs) and structured interviews, were carried out to collect information and opinions from the experts. RESULTS: The Italian team of experts from the Ministry of Health and the University of Foggia visited the Netherlands and hosted the Polish expert team in Italy. In two FG, stakeholders' opinions from different organizations were collected and analyzed to identify critical areas and provide recommendations to ensure implementation of the NAP and effective One-Health integration. In addition, attitudes of medical professionals toward antimicrobial stewardship were evaluated in a medium/large Italian hospital. Strengths were identified in the multidisciplinary approach and the hospital management's proactive involvement. As for the veterinary sector, Italy was among the 10 EU countries that did not have any national AMR surveillance in place for animal bacterial pathogens. Consequently, a European surveillance system was proposed with the adhesion of Italy. Regarding research and innovation to fight AMR and healthcare-associated infection, Italy worked with the other European partners to identify national research gaps and opportunities. As a result, recommendations were issued to the authorities to promote research and innovation with a One-Health approach. CONCLUSIONS: The Italian participation in the EU JAMRAI provided experience and examples to the Italian government for implementing the NAP and planning the roadmap to fight AMR and helped point out the system's criticalities. It also supported the promotion of the One-Health integrated vision that was included in the updated NAP.

Scoping Review on Barriers and Challenges to Pediatric Immunization Uptake among Migrants: Health Inequalities in Italy, 2003 to Mid-2023.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, asylum seekers, refugees, and foreign-born migrants are more likely to suffer from physical, mental, and socioeconomic consequences owing to their existing vulnerabilities and worsening conditions in refugee camps around the world. In this scenario, the education of migrants and newcomers about immunization is critical to achieving health equity worldwide. Globally, it is unclear whether government vaccination policies are prioritizing the health information needs of migrants. We searched for studies investigating the vaccination uptake of migrant children settled in Italy that were published between January 2003 and 25 June 2023. Following Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage method for scoping reviews, all potentially relevant literature published in English was retrieved from SciSearch, Medline, and Embase. This search resulted in 88 research articles, 25 of which met our inclusion criteria. Our findings indicate unequal access to vaccination due to a lack of available information in the native language of the immigrants' country of origin, vaccine safety concerns or lack of awareness, logistical difficulties, and fear of legal consequences. The findings strongly encourage further government and political discourse to ensure migrants have fair, equitable, ethical, and timely access to essential medicines.

Where we are in the fight against Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections. The opinion of the stakeholders of the European Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections (EU-JAMRAI).

During the second European Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Healthcare-Associated Infections (HCI) (EU-JAMRAI) annual meeting, the Evaluation Team elicited stakeholders' opinions regarding the implementation of the National Strategies and Action Plans to fight AMR and HCI, the One Health integration and the EU-JAMRAI support to the national and EU authorities in two Focus Groups. This qualitative exercise contributed to identify criticalities and possible improvements in aspects such as political priorities, legislation/legal requirements, human and financial resources, and supervision in many health sectors to ensure effective implementation of the action plans. Stakeholders pointed out at the different speed of EU member states, in particular concerning the One Health integration in the plans. Finally, the Stakeholders strongly asked the EU-JAMRAI to reinforce the integration and dissemination of the best practices and results, to help policymakers at national and European levels in defining and implementing harmonized policies and actions against AMR and HCI.

Training competencies in adult metabolic medicine: A survey of working adult metabolic medicine physicians.

The rapid expansion of the number of adult patients with inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs) has created demand for physicians with expertise in the field of adult metabolic medicine (AMM). Unfortunately, existing accredited training programs in this field are rare, and training programs in pediatric metabolic medicine cannot fully meet the needs of AMM physicians as the types of patients and the problems they face are different in the adult setting. We surveyed a group of working practitioners in AMM for input on what medical expert competencies they feel should be included as part of training programs in AMM. Through a modified Delphi process, 66 physicians from six continents reached consensus on a comprehensive list of training competencies in AMM. This list includes competencies from the fields of adult internal medicine, neurology, medical genetics, and pediatric metabolic medicine but also includes competencies not found in any of those programs, leading to the conclusion that the training needs for specialists in AMM cannot be met from any of these existing programs. We propose that AMM be considered a subspecialty separate from pediatric metabolic medicine and that accredited training programs in AMM be created using these medical expert competencies as part of a broader program design.

Online-Learning due to COVID-19 Improved Mental Health Among Medical Students.

In reference to the announcement of the pandemic of the new coronavirus 2019-(nCoV), all educational institutions in the Republic of Kazakhstan have switched to online learning (OL). The purpose of this study was to investigate the mental state of the medical students switching to OL in comparison with the mental state of the students who had traditional learning (TL). A repeated questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students ranging from 1st year to 5th year at Astana Medical University in the 2019-2020 academic year. The first study was conducted during the TL (October-November 2019, N = 619), and the second study was conducted during the OL period (April 2020, N = 798). Burnout syndrome, depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, and satisfaction with academic performance have been studied. The findings revealed that prevalence of the burnout syndrome, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms decreased after transitioning from TL to OL. However, during the OL period, the prevalence of colleague-related burnout increased, which tells us about the negative impact of OL on students' communication and interpersonal relationships. The most common depression and anxiety symptoms, dissatisfaction with academic performance were among students who indicated a decrease in academic performance during OL. Students who lived alone during the quarantine were more prone to depression during OL. In conclusion, during the quarantine period after the transition from TL to OL, the mental health state of medical students improved, despite the severe conditions of the pandemic. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-020-01165-y.

Epidemiological and Economic Evaluation of a Pilot Prostate Cancer Screening Program.

Background. Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the sixth most common killer among men worldwide (Aubry et al., 2013). This research was motivated by the fact that PCa screening continues to be a controversial topic in the Kazakh medical community. This study aimed at description of how newly diagnosed PCa patients are managed in Pavlodar region of the Kazakhstan Republic and at presentation of a budget impact analysis (BIA) for PCa screening program. Also, we aimed to provide a comparative analysis of pricing system on medical services applied in both private and public healthcare sectors of the Kazakhstan Republic. Methods. New cases of PCa have been retrospectively analyzed for the period from January 2013 to December 2017 based on the information obtained from information system "Policlinic" maintained by the Pavlodar regional branch of the Republican Center for Electronic Health and from Cancer Registry of Pavlodar Regional Oncology Center. All data were analyzed with the help of SPSS 20.0 software. Results. The mean age of PCa patients was 68.34 years (SD = 8.559). The government of Kazakhstan invested 20,437,000 KZT (Kazakhstani tenge) in 2017 equivalently 61,188 USD-to fund a pilot study for examination of 9638 men. From 2013 to 2017, out of 49,334 men residing in Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan 1,248 men were diagnosed with prostate diseases, including 130 PCa cases. The PCa detection rate was equal to two cases per month. Only 22.8% of all PCa cases identified in the region within specified time period were revealed as a result of the government-funded PCa screening program. The average prostate cancer detection rate among the target group of Pavlodar region within the period of 5 years was equal to 0.23%. Conclusion. Based on the fact that the PCa screening program failed to enable adequate detection of new PCa cases, we would not recommend to continue this type of screening unless it is undergone careful revision and replanning.

Education and training in adult metabolic medicine: Results of an international survey.

Adult metabolic medicine (AMM) is an expanding medical subspecialty, due to the increasing number of adult patients with inherited metabolic diseases (IMD). However, a formal training and postgraduate education in this field is not available in the majority of countries. Existing adult metabolic specialists (AMS) come from many different backgrounds. The aim of this survey was to assess the state of play as regards education and training in AMM worldwide. Members of the Society for the Study of Inborn Error of Metabolism adult metabolic group (n = 89) were asked to take part in this survey. Forty-two AMS (47.2%) from 18 different countries completed the questionnaire. The most common specialties were internal medicine (38.1%), endocrinology (26.2%), genetics (21.4%), and neurology (21.4%). Ninety-five percent of respondents considered that practical clinical experience had contributed importantly for their professional development, while only 27% felt the same for formal academic education. The current state of available education and training was judged as generally poor or fair (73% of the respondents). The most suggested ways of improving education and training in AMM were: to facilitate international internships; to implement courses on adult-IMD; and to create a formal academic education. The skills considered most important for AMS were: recognition of signs and symptoms of diseases, knowledge of the available treatments, and ability to perform a correct follow up. In conclusion, worldwide, current available education and training in AMM is considered inadequate. This survey emphasizes the need for development of new, formal training opportunities to improve knowledge, and competence in this rapidly expanding field.

Factors predicting influenza vaccination adherence among patients in dialysis: an Italian survey.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate knowledge and practices about influenza among patients on dialysis services of Italian hospitals at risk of severe influenza infection and vaccine and to identify predictive factors to vaccination adherence. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out from January 2017 to July 2017 after the 2016/2017 influenza vaccination campaign. The questionnaire was administered to all patients treated in seven large Italian dialysis services. It consisted of influenza vaccination coverage, knowledge about influenza and its vaccination, perceived risk of influenza complications, recommendations on influenza uptake received by general practitioner (GP) and nephrologist. Results: Response rate was 90% (703/781). Patients' knowledge about influenza infection and vaccine were detected by nine closed questions: 35.6% of responders answered correctly to ≥ 6 sentences, 47.5% of them reported that "influenza vaccine can cause influenza" and 45.7% believed that "antibiotics are a correct strategy to treat influenza". Levels of perceived risks of hospitalisation and death were low in 39.3% and 16.5% of patients respectively. The adherence to the last seasonal influenza vaccination was 57.5%. The multivariate predictors of influenza vaccination uptake resulted: age ≥65, male, consulting TV/radio, asking information to GP and/or nephrologist. Conclusions: The study reveals the low adherence to influenza vaccination and the subotpimal level of knowledge in dialysis patients. Different strategies, including a greater alliance among nephrologists and GPs to prevent influenza should be encouraged to improve the adherence to influenza vaccination in this at risk group.

An easy, prompt and reproducible methodology to manage an unexpected increase of incident reports in surgery theatres.

OBJECTIVES: Surgery is a high-risk hospital area for adverse events (AEs) occurrence. This study aims to develop an effectiveness and reactive methodology to manage an unexpected increase of AEs in the operating rooms (ORs) of a large Academic Hospital providing about 30 000 surgeries per year. METHODS: The study included three phases: 1. analysis of the AEs collected through the hospital incident reporting system from 2014 to 2015; 2. development of a programme to improve the surgical patient's safety and 3. application and evaluation of the programme effectiveness. RESULTS: In 2014, all hospital AEs were 825 (10.3% in ORs), while in the first 5 months of 2015, they were 645 (17.7% in ORs) [relative risk (RR) 2015 vs 2014=1.7; 95% CI=1.3 to 2.2; p<0.0001] with two sentinel events. Due to this increase, 177 real-time observations were planned in 12 ORs with external staff (n.25) during 1 week in June, July and November 2015 using a checklist with 14 items related to the patient's pathway (surgical site, time-out, medical records and sponges count). After the observations, the AEs decreased from 11.4×1000 surgeries (January-June 2015) to 8.6×1000 (July-December 2015) (RR=0.7, 95% CI=0.6 to 0.9, p<0.05). Compliance to the correct procedures applied by ORs staff has improved during the year for all items. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology of this study has been revealed effective to control an unexpected increase in AEs and to improve the healthcare workers' adherence to correct procedures and it could be translated in other patients' safety settings.

First or Second Drop of Blood in Capillary Glucose Monitoring: Findings from a Quantitative Study.

UNLABELLED: For clinical nurses, especially those working in emergency departments, it is crucial to measure blood glucose (BG) in an accurate, timely, and safe manner. Many differences in practice exist with regard to use of the first or second drop of blood for testing, and no consistent guidelines are available for capillary BG testing at home or in ED settings. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the BG differences between the first and second drop of capillary blood collected from the same site in patients with type 1 diabetes. METHODS: A consecutive sample of 195 persons with type 1 diabetes who had washed their hands and were not suspected of having hypoglycemia were included in the study. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis for non-normal distributed variables was performed. RESULTS: A strong correlation emerged between the BG reported in the first and the second drops (Spearman's rho test [rs] 0.979, P < .001; Pearson r 0.978, P < .001). The average BG values obtained from the first and second drops were 184.30 mg/dL (median, 166) and 187.6 mg/dL (median, 172), respectively, and thus the second drop showed higher glucose values compared with the first drop. However, BG values of the second drop were not higher in all occasions: whereas some evaluations reported higher BG values in the second drop capillary sample (n = 123), others reported higher values in the first drop (n = 65), and still others reported identical measurements in the first and second drops (n = 7). Five outliers were present with a BG difference from -39 to -53 mg/dL in the first drop compared with the second drop, and 3 outliers were present with a BG difference from +46 to +57 mg/dL in the first drop compared with the second drop. However, the differences that emerged were not affected by glucose concentration (P = .221). DISCUSSION: Using the first drop of blood in a patient with clean hands allows emergency nurses to perform the test more quickly, resulting in immediate information. Findings indicate that the first drop of blood is adequate for clinical decision making, but the clinician should use judgment if using protocols in which small values (eg, 6 mg/dL) are important, because the first drop is more likely to have a slightly lower value.

Interest propagation for knowledge extraction and representation.

Due to the increasing number of available biomedical data repositories, providing a comprehensive and intuitive access to information is still a demanding task for Information Retrieval systems. In this work we present an interactive data exploration system that retrieves relevant information by propagating the user's interest within a network. The developed techniques have been applied to two different retrieval tasks useful for biomedical research: the prioritization of proteins related to a disease of interest and the search of publications in the literature. The method relies on a network of biomedical entities, scoring of entities of interest by the user, and score propagation. The assessment of the relevance of the retrieved information confirmed a high accuracy of the presented algorithms for both the domains considered.

Uselessness of anti-actin antibody in celiac disease screening.

BACKGROUND: Serum anti-actin IgA antibodies (AAA) were identified in patients with celiac disease (CD), and a close correlation emerged between the presence of AAA and mucosa damage, but test for AAA found in celiacs have a wide range of sensitivity and specificity values. AIM: To compare 1) the sensitivity and specificity of untreated, calcium-chelated and heated sera from 102 celiacs, 52 sick patients and 103 healthy controls in the determination of AAA, and 2) the reliability of AAA with anti-transglutaminase antibodies (anti-tTG) in diagnosing celiac disease and in predicting intestinal damage. The intestinal derived AAA was isolated by using the phage-display library technique. RESULTS: Treated sera was significantly more sensitive than untreated (p=0.0001), and showed a significant correlation between AAA and the three degrees (3a, 3b, 3c) of intestinal damage (p=0.01). Sensitivity and specificity values of anti-tTG assay were higher than the AAA assay, and anti-tTG serum-concentration was only significantly correlated with more severe (3b and 3c) intestinal damage degrees. AAA isolated by phage display showed similar results of serum AAA in immunofluorescence assay. CONCLUSIONS: Notwithstanding correlation between AAA and celiac disease, AAA assay, also after treatments, has little to offer in screening for CD compared to the well-established anti-transglutaminase assay.

Heterozygous nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-2 mutations affect monocyte maturation in Crohn's disease.

AIM: To investigate the function of monocytes in Crohn's disease (CD) patients and to correlate this with disease-associated nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-2 (NOD2) gene variants. METHODS: Monocytes from 47 consecutively referred CD patients and 9 healthy blood donors were cultured with interleukin (IL)-4 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or muramyldipeptide (MDP), the putative ligand of NOD2. RESULTS: We found that monocytes from CD patients differentiated in vitro to mature dendritic cells (DCs), as determined by immunophenotype and morphology. NOD2 genotype was assessed in all subjects, and we observed high CD86 expression on immature and LPS-stimulated DCs in NOD2 mutated CD patients, as compared with wtNOD2 CD patients and controls. By contrast, CD86 expression levels of DCs induced to maturity with MDP derived from NOD2-mutated subjects were comparable to those of normal subjects. The amount of IL-12p70 in patient-cell cultures was larger than in controls after LPS treatment, but not after treatment with MDP. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that DCs obtained from patients with mutations in the NOD2 gene display an activated phenotype characterized by high CD86 expression, but have a diminished response to MDP when compared to the terminal differentiation phase. We speculate that the altered differentiation of monocytes might lead to an imbalance between inflammation and the killing ability of monocytes, and may be relevant to the pathogenesis of CD.