Analyses of consumers' preferences and of the correspondence between direct and indirect label claims and the fatty acid profile of milk in large retail chains in northern Italy.

Combined results from 2 survey studies were used to obtain information useful for the industries and retailers involved in the milk production and selling chain in North Italy. The first survey identified different clusters of fluid milk purchasers by examining their preferences and attitudes toward 12 intrinsic-extrinsic and credence milk attributes, by applying best-worst scaling methodology, whereas the second survey characterized the fatty acid (FA) profiles of commercial milk sold by large-scale retailers to verify the correspondence between the actual FA profile and the direct and indirect claims on the labels. To summarize information about the FA profile of milk, which may be considered an advanced attribute of milk quality, the milk FA index (MFAI) was calculated for each milk sample. A total of 130 milk samples (around 85% of the labels in northern Italy) and a total of 502 participants who answered a face-to-face questionnaire were considered in the 2 surveys. The milk samples were 13.1% organic, 9.2% certified as being of mountain origin, and over 50% noncertified but linked to cow grazing or to a mountain environment on their labels. The FA profiles showed a wide range of variation, with saturated FA ranging from 63.4 to 71.8, and polyunsaturated FA from 2.76 to 5.85. The FA profile and MFAI index of certified milk (organic or mountain-derived) were significantly different from the profiles of noncertified milk, whereas no correspondence was observed between the retail price and milk quality. When ranked on the basis of MFAI, which proved to be a good discriminating tool, the certified milks presented a bimodal distribution, indicating that certification does not always guarantee a real difference. The consumers chose milk considering the origin of the product, brand, expiration date, and process certification as the most important attributes, whereas they rated price and organic certification as the least important attributes. The study showed that about 20% of the consumers had a high propensity to buy milk on the basis of its quality. However, this attribute is often incorrectly indicated or not indicated at all on the milk label, with misleading images or claims that do not correspond to the actual FA quality of the milk. Having a clear index that offers information about the FA profile could thus be an interesting tool to improve the awareness of buyers and to valorize and differentiate milk products.

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation into Italian of the self-administered FLARE-RA questionnaire for rheumatoid arthritis.

The aim was to provide a translation into Italian with cross-cultural adaptation of the French FLARE-Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) questionnaire, and to test its acceptability, feasibility, reliability and construct validity in a single-centre cohort study. The French version of the FLARE-RA questionnaire was cross-culturally adapted and translated into Italian following an established forward-backward translation procedure, with independent translations and backtranslations. To validate the Italian version we tested the internal validity with Cronbach's alpha, test-retest reliability with the intraclass correlation coefficient, agreement between assessments with Bland-Altman plots and construct validity with Spearman's correlation coefficients. The questionnaire was tested on 283 consecutive RA outpatients (mean age 56.1±13.9 years, 226/283 females, median disease duration 12.6 years ranging from 0.2 to 70.6). For the global score (11 items) the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.94. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.76-0.96). The correlation of FLARE-RA global score was 0.59 (95% CI, 0.50-0.66) with the Disease Activity Score on 28 joints, 0.63 (95% CI, 0.55-0.71) with the Simplified Disease Activity Index, 0.77 (95% CI, 0.71-0.83) with the RA Impact of Disease and 0.67 (95% CI, 0.59-0.73) with the Health Assessment Questionnaire. The Italian version of the FLARE-RA is feasible, brief and easy to administer. The translated and cross-cultural adapted showed accordingly to be valid and reliable. This questionnaire has some practical advantages, such as clarity, comprehensiveness, simplicity, and a minimum filling time. The development of cross-cultural adapted questionnaires in different languages is of pivotal importance to obtain standardized and comparable data across countries.

Beef meat preferences of consumers from Northwest Italy: Analysis of choice attributes.

In this research the importance of several choice attributes of beef for Piedmontese consumers was examined. The survey was conducted on a sample of consumers in sixteen meat stores in Piedmont, Northwest Italy. A choice experiment (Best-Worst scaling methodology) was used to identify consumer preferences and five clusters of purchaser. The responses were also analyzed on the basis of two variables, the frequency of meat consumption and the place of purchase. Piedmontese consumers considered "price" as the most important factor in meat purchasing, but "animal welfare" considerations played some part too.

Epidermolysis bullosa junctionalis associated with urinary bladder exstrophy: a case report.

We report the second infant of nonconsanguineous parents with epidermolysis bullosa junctionalis associated with urinary bladder exstrophy, epispadias, anteriorized anus, and bilateral inguinal hernias. The family history also included the death of a maternal cousin due to epidermolysis bullosa. Our diagnosis was based on electron microscopy and immunofluorescence evidence. This patient is reported because of the rarity of this constellation of findings.