Volume 38, no. 3, March 2025. Activating young people to promote their mental health: the European project “Hooray - Youth for Youth's Mental Health Through Physical Activity. Nanotechnologies: a journey under the microscope. Increase in HIV diagnoses post-COVID-19: Italy in the Western European Scenario. RarISS Insert. Guillaume Du Choul, a multifaceted scholar of classical antiquity

Abstracts:
Activating young people to promote their mental health: the European project “Hooray - Youth for Youth's Mental Health Through Physical Activity”
The European Hooray project, in which the National Institute of Health in Italy (ISS) is involved as a partner, explores the relationship between physical activity and adolescents' mental health, providing educational resources to promote their psychophysical well-being. Surveys were conducted to collect scientific data, disseminate European good practices, and hear youth's voices, confirming that physical activity is an effective tool to counteract the negative effects of mental disorders and promote the social inclusion of young people at risk of marginalization. In addition, the project developed a guideline and a self-review framework to ensure that activities undertaken are positive for young people's mental health, inclusive and accessible.
 

Nanotechnologies: a journey under the microscope
Nanotechnologies are applied to different areas, such as chemistry, engineering, biology. In the healthcare sector, nanomedicine helps to improve some aspects of traditional medicine, such as the efficacy and specificity of pharmacological treatment against tumors. To this aim, nanoformulations are designed and used; they consist of compounds (both synthetic and of natural origin) showing antitumor activity, transported by organic or inorganic nanovectors. The research group “Pharmacological Research and Experimental Therapy”  - National Centre for Drug Research and Evaluation at the National Institute of Health in Italy (ISS) is involved in analyzing the effects of nanoformulations on human cell lines of different histological origin in order to evaluate their efficacy and safety through cellular and molecular biology techniques and image analysis in optical, confocal and electronic microscopy.
 

Increase in HIV diagnoses post-COVID-19: Italy in the Western European Scenario
Between 2021 and 2023, in Western European countries, there is an increase in HIV incidence, which increases from 4.6 to 6.2 cases per 100,000 residents and in the last year the number of new diagnoses grows by 11%. This increasing phenomenon is also observed in Italy, in the last three years the incidence has gone from 3.2 to 4.0 new diagnoses, in 2023 the increase is 10%. The aim of this work is to analyze similarities and differences in HIV epidemic dynamics in the major countries of Western Europe. This study shows that the increase in the number of HIV diagnoses in Italy, while in line with that observed in Western European countries, has specific characteristics in the various subgroups of populations and the increase in HIV diagnoses in 2023 can be attributed to a resumption of HIV testing after the COVID-19 pandemic period.