Voluntary termination of pregnancy: An opportunity for Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination in an Italian healthcare local unit.

In Italy, the National Plan for the Elimination of Measles and Congenital Rubella 2010-15 suggests offering Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination to susceptible women who underwent voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTP) In Rome, S. Eugenio Hospital is one of the structures where VTP is practised in an Operative Unit called "Family Planning" The primary goal of this study was to estimate the prevalence of susceptibility to rubella, using IgG and IgM immunoassays, among women accessing VTP and to offering MMR vaccination to susceptible women. Secondarily, this study evaluated acceptance of the vaccination offer From 2013 to 2015, data were collected from 1513 voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTP) cases The results show a significant increase of 5 percent in susceptibility prevalence in the target group from 13.6% in 2013 and 2014 to 18.4% in 2015 The association between rubella susceptibility and age was statistically significant (p<0.01) Throughout the entire period, acceptance of the vaccine proposal was 19% (45/232) among susceptible women; 58% (135/232) refused the vaccine and 23% (52/232) took time to think about it This study shows an increase of 5 percent in the prevalence of rubella susceptibility over two years. This result is worrying, even considering the short span of the data collection The rate of acceptance of vaccination is unsatisfactory considering the possibility of future pregnancies This issue deserves continued action, which, going forward, might transform a "project" into a shared strategy as part of a wider network with the goal of aligning Italy with international recommendations.

[Case in point: allergy, intolerance or pseudoallergy to chocolate?]. / Mise ou point: allergie, intolerance ou pseudo-allergie au chocolat?

Chocolate is traditionally considered as allergenic for predisposed subjects although many immunologic reactions are erroneously evaluated as allergic, due to misleading procedures. Therefore the term intolerance has been more properly employed. After summarizing the negative effects of chocolate, especially in children, we stress that the diagnosis of chocolate intolerance should be based upon reliable studies, including elimination/provocation tests in a double-blind fashion.

[Effect of acetylcholine "in vitro" on segments of isolated coronary arteries of calves]. / Effetto dell'acetilcolina "in vitro" su segmenti di arterie coronarie isolate di vitello.

The mechanical responses of coronary arteries to Ach were studied in vitro. Ach caused always a contraction of the preparation, which was prevented or abolished by Athropine but not by Exametonium. Therefore Ach seems to act through muscarinic receptors.

[Influence of variations of Ca++ on responses of segments of the isolated coronary artery to acetylcholine]. / Influenza di variazioni della [Ca++] sulle risposte di segmenti di arteria coronaria isolata all'acetilcolina.

The effect of external calcium concentration on the Ach-induced contraction of coronary arteries was studied in vitro. It resulted that the effect of Ach was enhanced by the increase, or reduced by the decrease of calcium concentration. It is concluded that, as it was known for the intestinal smooth muscle, also for the smooth muscle of the coronary arteries, the contractile effect of Ach is dependent on the calcium of the medium.