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Background In Italy, migrant family care assistants (MFCAs) represent the most cost-effective answer to dementia home care need and to desire of ageing in place of older adults and family caregivers. Nevertheless, MFCAs very often have no training in elder care and even less in the dementia care. Conversely, elder care training may improve MFCAs’ working condition and mental health. Exploring MFCAs’ educational needs is one of the objectives of the “Age-It” project, aiming at advancing knowledge and competences on ageing by applying a holistic, interdisciplinary, and problem-solving approach through the synergic work of research and educational institutions, care providers and civil society associations, businesses and industries. Methods In Autumn 2023, 25 semi-structured questionnaires, including both closed and open-ended questions, were conducted with MFCAs living in two Italian regions: Marche and Molise. The research material was thematically analysed to answer four research questions: Which is the work experience of MFCAs of older adults with long-term care needs? Which are their educational needs? Which are the barriers to training? Did the emigration geographical area of respondents and the migration route influence their willingness to attend an elder care training? Results Three main themes were identified: (1) Migration: a painful choice to flee poor (violent) societies; (2) Elder care: a stressful work; (3) Needs and barriers to elder care education. Most interviewed MFCAs face many difficulties at work, including stress, burden and lack of free time. Many respondents expressed the need and willingness to improve their knowledge on ageing processes, dementia, behavioural disorders, medicine administration, bedsores and injuries medication. The 24 h work represents the main barriers to attend the lessons. Discussion Suggestions for future trainings include a co-designed curriculum embedding contents on dementia and behavioural disorders; self-care and resilience; host country language. Concerning policy and practice recommendations, mandatory, free and periodic, blended trainings, a clear offer of elder care education, the recognition of previous courses at EU and national level are encouraged. Conclusions Given the pivotal role of MFCAs in the LTC in Italy, it is urgent that they are adequately trained. Given the stressful and 24 h work, a co-designed e-learning platform may be a promising means for reaching and training them. Clinical trial number Not applicable

The present paper aims to reflect over the social figure of the foreigner in the light of the current condition of migrants fleeing from countries at war. The analysis is rooted in the thought of Georg Simmel, his conception of society as a set of social relations through which it is possible to know and understand the attitudes and the appearance of society itself. It traces the author's thought, who intuited more than a century ago, the dual role of the foreigner to be either a guest/traveller or a citizen of arrival contexts. Their image linked to the concept of a stranger, that of being never completely close, but at the same time an indispensable function, which produces consequences for the construction of social exchanges and relationships. A reinterpretation of Simmel and its pregnant relevance are the background of such work, aimed at embracing new arguments.

The aim of this article is to examine, from a sociological point of view, the roles, functions, attributes, meanings and practices connected to the concept of food. Food is the symbol of socio-cultural realities, the product cyclically adapted to environmental, structural and cultural changes in which it is inserted. Now more than ever, the variegated and complex universe of food makes up a privileged observatory for the understanding of the marked transformation taking place in post-modern societies. The modern press, television, and publishing industries continuously grind out questions regarding food, both as to diet and health, as well as to recipes and loisir. Food is ever-present in conversation, in opinions, in education, in daily life. For this reason, it can be considered a means of communication through which the social agent expresses himself and his own view of the world. Feasting, enjoyment, pleasure, sociality, worry, excess, waste: when the meaning of food goes beyond edible.

A fluid challenge with a rapid infusion of saline helps to discriminate between pre- and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) and allows unmasking hidden post-capillary PH. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients may present with biventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic changes of the pulmonary circulation in SSc patients without PH after a fluid challenge. Twenty-five SSc patients and 25 controls underwent right heart catheterization in basal conditions and after volume loading with saline infusion of 7 mL/kg over 5–10 min. At baseline, there was no difference in hemodynamics between SSc patients and controls. Rapid volume loading resulted in a significant increase in pressures and flows in both groups. Increases in right atrial pressure (3 ± 1 vs. 2 ± 1 mmHg, P = 0.03), mean pulmonary artery pressure (5 ± 1 vs. 3 ± 1 mmHg, P < 0.001), and pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP; 5 ± 2 vs. 3 ± 1 mmHg, P < 0.001) were larger in SSc patients than in controls. Conversely, cardiac index (0.4 ± 0.2 vs. 0.6 ± 0.3 L/min/m2, P = 0.005) increased less in SSc patients than in controls. Pulmonary vascular resistance did not differ between groups before and after volume loading. Four SSc patients and only one of the controls reached a PAWP > 18 mmHg suggesting latent left heart failure. Even if differences are small and not diagnostic for heart failure, SSc patients without PH have a larger increase in pulmonary vascular pressures and a smaller increase in cardiac output than controls after an acute volume loading, probably due to subclinical left ventricular diastolic dysfunction.