Mariano Martini

• University of Genoa

Background: Emergency and elective surgeries are vital for saving lives and enhancing patient wellbeing. However, COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the provision of surgical services in Iranian hospitals and globally. Aim: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency and elective surgical care in Iranian hospitals. Methods: Using an i...

Background Brucellosis remains a persistent public health challenge in Iran, particularly in rural regions such as Lorestan province, due to systemic, economic, and cultural barriers. Effective disease control requires multisectoral collaboration among stakeholders. This study aimed to map the stakeholder network involved in brucellosis prevention...

Even today, healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) remain the most frequent and serious complications in healthcare, with a significant clinical and economic impact. The authors of this manuscript address the causes and conditions that determine this situation and describe them in comparison with the situation in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany more t...

Background Breast cancer is a significant global health challenge, affecting millions annually and imposing a considerable burden on healthcare systems and economies worldwide. This cross-sectional study aims to determine the economic impact of breast cancer in Lorestan Province, western Iran. Methods A retrospective cost-of-illness analysis utili...

The scientific museology highlights the importance of the specialized museum collections of anatomy as tools for teaching and scientific communication. The cultural heritage, deriving from research and study activities, have been preserved over the centuries They are not simple goods to be exhibited, but are dissemination means of scientific cultur...

Background Equity in health service delivery ensures that resources are distributed based on need, minimizing barriers to access and reducing health disparities. Hospital beds are a critical healthcare resource, essential for providing timely and effective medical care. This study aims to evaluate the equity in the distribution of hospital beds in...

Background Family physicians play a crucial role in healthcare delivery systems worldwide. In Iran, the family physician program has been introduced in only two provinces, with its expansion to other regions currently stalled due to various challenges. This study aims to identify the barriers and challenges hindering the effective implementation of...

The present article reviews the major historical plague epidemics that characterised human history by combining data derived from historical sources and biomedical evidence emerged in recent years thanks to advancements of palaeogenetics and palaeopathology. Notes are offered on the Plague of Athens, the Antonine Plague, the Plague of Cyprian, the...

Background Ensuring uninterrupted and free access to health services highlights the critical need for sustainable health financing. Given that tax revenues are essential for achieving universal health coverage, this study, conducted in 2024, aims to identify strategies for generating sustainable financial resources through taxation. Methods This q...

Health is a precious asset, essential for both individuals and communities. The wars that have affected various parts of the world in recent years have had a detrimental impact on health, leading to malnutrition and an increased vulnerability to epidemic diseases among the population, especially the poorest. Hospitals and healthcare facilities them...

Even today Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) remain the most frequent and serious complications in healthcare, with a significant clinical and economic impact. The authors address the causes and conditions that determine this situation and describe them in a comparison with the situation in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany more than two centuries...

Mycobacterium chimaera (MC), a member of the Mycobacterium avium complex, can cause infections in patients after open-heart surgery due to contaminated heater­–cooler units (HCUs). The transmission route of HCU-related MC infection is non-inhalational, and infection can occur in patients without previously known immune deficiency. Patients may deve...

Background Health Technology Assessment (HTA) plays a crucial role in informing health policy and ensuring the effective allocation of resources. In Iran, the development and implementation of HTA involve various key actors with differing levels of influence, interest, and support. Understanding the social networks and power dynamics among these ac...

Introduction The article aims to outline the features of the efforts for smallpox eradication within the pre-unitary context of the Kingdom of Sardinia, characterized by a long tradition in medical-health prevention. This tradition is partly inherited from the health magistracies of the Italian states during the ancient regime and partly adopted fr...

A hundred years ago, Achille Sclavo (1861-1930) published his book entitled “Per la Propaganda igienica. Scuola e Igiene” (The Propagation of Hygiene. Schools and Hygiene) which he dedicated “To elementary teachers, from whom Italy expects the most effective propaganda in favor of hygiene”. The words of the dedication were profoundly felt by Sclavo...

Trachoma is one of the oldest known causes of blindness in humans and it is caused by the intracellular Gram-negative bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis serovars A, B, Ba and C. Its transmission has historically been related to poorness, overcrowded housing and scarce hygiene. We have traced the history of trachoma in Italy in the 19th and 20th centur...

In recent years, diphtheria has re-emerged in areas with inadequate vaccination coverage, and Europe has not been spared with several cases among migrants. Diphtheria is a potentially fatal infection caused mainly by toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Due to the high mortality rate, especially among young children, the fight against...

Cancer is often wrongly considered to be a modern disease in many popular medical venues. Cancers have been known to humanity since ancient times. In fact, its antiquity can be identified through the application of palaeopathological methodologies. The present perspective demonstrates by means of a historical and palaeopathological analysis how onc...

In the spring of 1964, polio vaccination with the oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin began in Italy. Polio was feared in the world and in Italy. Thus, between 1957 and the beginning of 1958, Italian children began receiving the “Salk vaccine”, though the results were not particularly convincing. In July 1960, the international scientific commun...

Introduction One of the methods to promote pre-diabetic patients’ adherence to preventive behaviors and improving their lifestyle is to pay attention to their needs in the designed educational programs. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of identifying the needs of individuals with prediabetes. Methodology Three databases, including...

The present article offers a historical overview on pertussis (whooping cough) by analysing the ancient epidemic manifestations of the disease and the path towards the discovery of an effective vaccine against it. The original mentions of pertussis are examined with reference to Mediaeval Afghanistan and the famous AD 1578 Paris epidemic described...

Recent years have seen increasingly severe natural disasters, the consequences of which have been catastrophic. Clearly, our global environment is undergoing major changes. The climate is becoming deranged and pollution on a global scale afflicts air, water, and land. We are faced with an unprecedented shortage of cultivable land and fresh water fo...

Objectives The authors aim to show the possibility of stigma that hits affected Mpox patients because of the statements of society involving their sexual sphere. Introduction 23 July 2022, the Director-General of the WHO, Thedos Ghebreyesus, issued an international public health alert regarding cases of Mpox (formerly known as Monkeypox). Although...

The history of modern pandemics through the lens of cinema The 21 st century has been shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic , which impacted on social behaviour and artistic production. Cinema was not unaffected. The "pandemic movie" has become a genre of its own in the entertainment press. A review of the field conducted in the context of a film club co...

We describe the Italian contribution to the description and treatment of parkinsonism following encephalitis lethargica (EL): postencephalitic parkinsonism (PEP). Special attention is devoted to the description of postencephalitic symptoms by Giuseppe Panegrossi (1871-1953) and to the treatment based on Atropa belladonna introduced in Italy and ext...

The use of the term “irrational”, when interpreting ancient and contemporary medical systems, is generally based on a bipolar, perhaps two-party, ideological systematization. This is a perspective behind which there is a reifying ideology that defines medical knowledge based on divination and symbolic practices as “irrational”. Moreover, they are s...

Background Rational drug prescription (RDP) is one of the main components of the healthcare systems. Irrational prescribing can bring about numerous negative consequences for the patients and governmental agencies. This study aims to analyze the involvement of stakeholders in rational drug prescribing, their position (opponent or proponent), and th...

Background The history of the primary healthcare system in Iran portrays a journey of strategic development and implementation that has resulted in significant advancements in healthcare access and overall population well-being. Starting in the early 1980s, Iran embarked on a comprehensive approach to health care delivery prioritizing universal acc...

Introduction According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in the last year cholera has re-emerged in various areas of the planet, particularly in Africa. The resurgence of this disease is closely linked to poor hygiene, which is sometimes the result of wars or environmental disasters, as in Lebanon and Syria since autumn 2022 and tod...

Introduction: In 2022, the appearance of cases of Mpox outside the countries where the disease is endemic, and of some cases of human-to-human transmission, alerted the scientific community to a virus that is closely related to the smallpox virus. Mpox is a zoonosis and can be transmitted to humans. Following the eradication of smallpox in 1980 an...

Introduction: In the summer of 2022, a vaccination campaign for the prevention of poliomyelitis was launched and "The CDC recommend that all children be vaccinated against polio, or poliomyelitis". The scientific community is on the alert for new cases of polio, which is spreading. Although polio seemed to have been almost completely eradicated th...

Background: Measles, a highly contagious and dangerous disease that can cause disability or even death, remains endemic in Ukraine. This is a serious public health problem that absolutely needs to be monitored. Indeed, in the years 2017-2019, Ukraine was hit by a major measles epidemic, which caused serious problems for the population. The numerou...

Background: In 1922 the famous Italian novelist Giovanni Verga died in Catania (Italy). In Verga's works there are many suggestions to the world of medicine, in particular the diseases described in the poor society of southern Italy of that time. One of the most common diseases described by Verga was cholera. Methods: The authors researched and...

Introduction: War, hunger, and disease continue to decimate the populations of many countries in the world. Owing to conflicts, environmental instability and natural disasters, many people, especially the poorest, fall victim to epidemic diseases. One such disease, cholera, began to spread again in 2022, striking Lebanon and Syria, countries that...

Background: Health policy analysis as a multi-disciplinary approach to public policy illustrates the need for interventions that highlight and address important policy issues, improve the policy formulation and implementation process and lead to better health outcomes. Various theories and frameworks have been contributed as the foundation for the...

Since antiquity, with the growth of the human popula- tion and the expansion of nuclei of people (aggrega- tions), infectious diseases have been a constant presence which decisively changed the course of history. The word “lazaret”, meaning hospital for the hospitalization and treatment of plague victims and later, also leprosy, is Venetian. It was...

Vaccination is the most celebrated and denigrated achievement of medicine and public health - not only today, but since Edward Jenner's time (1798). In fact, the idea of injecting a mild form of "disease" into a healthy person was attacked even earlier than the discovery of vaccines. The forerunner of Jenner's vaccination with bovine lymph was the...

Introduction: With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the terms quarantine, contagion and infection have again become part of our everyday speech, prompting historians to reflect on the settings in which they were originally used and to make comparisons with the present time. How did people cope with epidemics in the past? What measures were taken? Ob...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a main challenge of the health system worldwide. Health policymakers in most countries attempt to help HBV patients by implementing support programs in addition to controlling HBV in their community so that the economic burden caused by HBV do not deprive the patients of accessing health services and reducing th...

Unlabelled: Winston Churchill statement promoting Gin and Tonic as a life saver during British Empire extension hides many truths. As a matter of fact, the modern cocktail is thought to be born in India where it was widely distributed by Royal Navy for its anti-malarial properties. The aim of the present work is to review and unveil the history of...

One of the most challenging issues with the sources of ancient medicine is to be able to identify the correspondence between the diseases we know today and those reported in ancient medical texts. Ancient diseases' definitions rarely help us, and the symptoms described often correspond to more than one disease. This is especially true about tubercu...

The Iliad, by the Greek poet Homer, is a precious mine of examples of war traumatology. In the specific case of spear wounds in the chest, the death of the Trojan warrior Alcathous is particularly interesting from the point of view of the history of medicine and the evolution of cardiology and knowledge of the heart during ancient Greek. In particu...

Over the centuries, the oldest universities have amassed an extraordinary patrimony of material and immaterial cultural assets, which have been created or acquired for the purposes of research or teaching. Now on display in museums, they testify to the evolution of knowledge and its diversification in various disciplines. In order to safeguard, con...

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by three poliovirus (PV) serotypes. The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis. In 1988, when the WHO registered 350,000 cases of poliomyelitis in the world and 70,000 which occurred in Africa alone, global poliomyelitis...

In the wake of the great anatomists, Paolo Mascagni introduced important innovations into the methods of studying anatomy, as revealed both by his writings and, especially, by his approach to the analysis of anatomical sciences. He devoted his whole life to the study of anatomy, which he considered a mainstay of medical education. Mascagni’s great...

Objective The current health emergency caused by COVID-19 disease shows several correspondences with well-known epidemics of the past. The knowledge of their management and overcoming could give us useful tools to face the present COVID-19 pandemic and future epidemics. Study Design On 1 March 1801, the first smallpox vaccinations were carried out...

The increasingly swift changes in the field of medicine require a reassessment of the skills necessary for the training of technically qualified doctors. Today’s physicians also need to be capable of managing the complex issue of personal relationships with patients. Recent pedagogical debates have focused on so-called “soft skills”, whose acquisit...

Background: Health policy can be defined as an agreement and consensus on a health-related program and set of actions taken to achieve the goals expected by programs in the area of policy. Policy analysis involves a wide range of methods, techniques, and tools in a way to reach awareness of the impacts of the developed and implemented policies. Wh...

The Italian neurologist Vincenzo Neri (1880-1960), a pupil of Joseph Babiński (1857-1932), greatly contributed to refining the semiotics of neurological examination and was a pioneer in medical cinematography. In 1909, Neri proposed a sign to diagnose leg paresis due to a pyramidal tract lesion. According to Neri, if a patient standing with the leg...

The current health emergency caused by COVID-19 disease shows several similarities with well-known epidemics of the past. The knowledge of their management and overcoming could give us useful tools to face the present COVID-19 pandemic. The Bourbon king Ferdinand I planned the first free large-scale mass vaccination programme conducted in Italy and...

Italy’s museums possess an enormous patrimony of historical scientific artefacts. This raises important questions regarding the conservation and safeguard of such materials and prompts reflection as to the utility of current modalities of popularising science. The collections housed in scientific museums were created in order to promote scientific...

Vittorio Maragliano was born in Genoa in 1878. Fascinated since childhood by all things electric, he succeeded in installing the first radiological apparatus in 1896, only one year after the discovery of “Röntgen rays”, and immediately began to make his first radioscopy observations. Having graduated from the University of Genoa in 1901 with a thes...

Using the case of the vaccine against smallpox as an example, this article explores how the attitude and the politics of the Vatican State towards vaccination changed between the 18th and 19th century. Despite some notable exceptions, the Catholic Church became progressively involved in supporting vaccination in Italy, exerting its temporal and spi...

This chapter was inadvertently published with the 3 figures missed to be included in the text of the published chapter. This has now been corrected and the 3 figures have been inserted in their correct positions in the text.

Zoonotic diseases are seen as a major public health concern. Routes of the rapid transmission of zoonotic diseases and the economic damage they cause to communities are all reasons why health institutions and systems need to pay more attention to these diseases. Strategic planning is one of the important tasks of policymakers in every organization...

World War I hit Italy from different perspectives. The one here described under an historical point of view regards the health of military and civil population, with a special focus on infective diseases. The 20th Century was the fuse of degeneration and eugenetics theories; which grew in the melée of war and technological innovation. Indeed, war i...

Franz Tappeiner (1816, Laas – 1902, Merano) was an Austrian physician and anthropologist. He studied at the universities of Prague, Padua and Vienna and in 1846 he moved to Merano. Tappeiner investigated the transmission of pulmonary tuberculosis in animal models and he dealt with public health. As an anatomist, he performed thousands of craniometr...

Franz Tappeiner (1816–1902) was an Austrian scientist: physician and anthropologist. He studied medicine at the universities of Prague and Padua, and completed his medical education receiving his doctorate in 1843 in Vienna. Tappeiner investigated the transmission of pulmonary tuberculosis in animal models and he dealt with public health, in partic...

Achille Sclavo was a scientist with a multifaceted personality; throughout his life, he steadfastly maintained his commitment to research and teaching, while also gaining precious experience as an educator, politician and entrepreneur. He carried forward these various activities with the aim of bringing relief to a country smitten by epidemic disea...

The intrusion of infectious diseases in everyday life forces humans to reassess their attitudes. Indeed, pandemics are able catalyze rapid transitions in scientific knowledge, politics, social behaviors, culture and arts. The current Coronavirus diesease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak has driven an unprecedented interest toward the influenza pandemic of 19...

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-1865) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) were two important personalities in the history of medicine and public health. They dealt with the problem of handwashing. Semmelweis is also known as the "father of hand hygiene"; just in 1847 he discovered the etiology and prophylaxis of puerperal sepsis and imposed a new rul...

The "Alice in Wonderland syndrome" (AIWS) is a neurological disorder characterized by altered body schema perception, visual, or somesthetic symptoms, which is frequently associated with migraine. In this article, we present the earliest known description of symptoms attributable to AIWS in the medical literature. During a lecture held on November...

Background: Brucellosis, a major zoonotic disease, is highly present in Iran, especially in Lorestan province. The aim of this study was to understand the issues related to Brucellosis utilizing the multiple streams framework. Methods: A two-step method was adopted: 1) assessment of brucellosis-related documents and 2) interviews with stakeholde...

Edoardo Maragliano (1849-1940) was an Italian physician; he played a central role in medicine's "renaissance" in Italy and Europe. After beginning his academic career as a professor of pathology, he became full professor of internal medicine in 1881. While he studied all fields of internal medicine, his research focused mainly on tuberculosis. Than...

"A Kind of Alaska" is a one-act play by the British playwright and Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter (1930-2008), based on the book Awakenings by the neurologist Oliver Sacks (1933-2015). This play, first performed in 1982, is centered around the character of Deborah, a middle-aged woman, struck by encephalitis lethargica ("sleeping sickness") at th...

Objectives: This nation-wide project aimed to investigate the common perceptions and concerns regarding COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in Iran from February to March 2020 via an online open-ended questionnaire. The participants were also selected using convenience and snowball sampling methods. As well, the...

Intraorbital schwannomas account for 1 to 4% of all orbital tumors, they can remain subclinical for years before usually manifesting with diplopia and progressive proptosis. We present a rare case of schwannoma of the right infraorbital nerve. The patient underwent biopsy and gross total resection of the tumor in two different surgical times. At fo...

Despite notable progresses in the recent decades, tuberculosis (TB) continues to remain a public health concern even in Europe. TB prevention and care should be people-centred, improving ambulatory models across countries, in order to expand access to diagnosis and treatment for both TB infection and disease. Even more, during emergencies such as t...

Primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection may present with self-limiting abdominal involvement, characterized by hepatitis with mild elevation of aminotransferases, splenomegaly, and rarely with acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC). Usually, treatment of EBV related AAC is symptomatic, without the need for surgery. Here, we describe a severe case...

Fifty years ago, Italy was declared a malaria-free country by the World Health Organization (WHO). In remembering this important anniversary, the authors of this paper describe the long journey that led to this goal. In the century following the unification of Italy, malaria was one of the main public health problems. At the end of the 19th century...

The original version of this article contained errors in the caption of fig. 3.

Syphilis is the prime example of a “new disease” which triggered a transnational (European) discussion among physicians. It appeared between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Times (at the beginning of the sixteenth century), a time in which medicine was changing from a dogmatic to an experimental discipline. The main chang...

Background: The role of health systems in the management of disasters, including natural hazards like outbreaks and pandemics, is crucial and vital. Healthcare systems which are unprepared to properly deal with crises are much more likely to expose their public health workers and health personnel to harm and will not be able to deliver healthcare...

In late December 2019, the first case of an emerging coronavirus was identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, in mainland China. The novel virus appears to be highly contagious and is rapidly spreading worldwide, becoming a pandemic. The disease is causing a high toll of deaths. Effective public health responses to a new infectious disease...

Background Universal health coverage (UHC) is one of many ambitious, health-related, sustainable development goals. Sharing various experiences of achieving UHC, in terms of challenges, pitfalls, and future prospects, can help policy and decision-makers reduce the likelihood of committing errors. As such, scholarly articles and technical reports ar...

Fedor Krause’s inspiring biography shows the value of translational thinking: one of the fathers of modern neurosurgery, this gifted child was recognized for his musical talent; he was able to study medicine thanks to financial support in recognition for his study performances. He wrote his doctor thesis on pneumology, and contributed to general su...

Smallpox is a contagious viral disease. In the fight against smallpox, stimulation of the immune system by means of inoculation of human smallpox and subsequent vaccination constituted a very important step forward in the history of medicine. First reported in ancient Greece and in the Egypt of the Pharaohs, smallpox reappeared in the middle of the...

BACKGROUND Universal health coverage (UHC) is one of many ambitious, health-related, sustainable development goals. Sharing various experiences of achieving UHC, in terms of challenges, pitfalls, and future prospects, can help policy and decision-makers reduce the likelihood of committing errors. As such, scholarly articles and technical reports ar...

Universal health coverage (UHC) is one of the strategies that health decision‐ and policy‐makers worldwide are implementing to guarantee a good health status to everyone. Living in slums is characterized by several issues, including homelessness and malnutrition, environmental challenges, lack of sanitation and access to safe, healthy drinking wate...

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) laid the foundations of modern neurology. The lectures he gave at La Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris attracted a large number of visitors from all over the world. Some of them transcribed these clinical lessons, translating and publishing them when returning home. This article discusses the contribution of some Italian...

Achilles is a character of Greek mythology whose deeds are mainly told in the Iliad by Homer. Achilles distinguishes himself on the battlefield of Troy with his dexterity and strength, appearing invincible, yet he dies wounded by an arrow in his heel. How could an arrow shot to the heel kill anybody, no matter whether vulnerable or invulnerable? Ma...

Tuberculosis (TB) and humans have coexisted for more than 40,000 years. Tb is an ancient and dangerous disease for the world population. The international community has developed new tools for early detection but TB strains evolved acquiring resistance to first-line therapeutic drugs and the difficulties of treatment have increased. Furthermore, TB...

SARS-CoV2 is a novel coronavirus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the World Health Organization. Thanks to the latest advancements in the field of molecular and computational techniques and information and communication technologies (ICTs), artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data can help in handling the huge, unprecedented amou...

Tuberculosis is a very serious respiratory infectious disease, caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which generates a relevant societal and clinical burden. It has always represented a permanent concern and a public health challenge over the course of human history, because of its severe epidemiological, and economic-financial implica...

Tuberculosis is a serious respiratory infectious disease, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. It has always represented a permanent, serious public health challenge over the course of human history, because of its severe epidemiological, clinical and societal implications. The present review aims at over-viewing the contributions of the...