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Objective: To ascertain lifetime prevalence of positivity to a screening questionnaire for bipolar disorders ( BD) in Sardinian immigrants to Argentina and residents of Sardinia and assess whether such positivity affects quality of life (QoL) in either group. Our hypothesis is that screen positivity for BD may be more frequent in immigrants. Methods: Observational study. Subjects were randomly selected from the membership lists of associations of Sardinian immigrants in Argentina. A study carried out in Sardinia using the same methodology was used for comparison. The Mood Disorder Questionnaire was used to screen for mania/hypomania and the Short-Form Health Survey-12 to measure QoL. Results: A higher prevalence of manic/hypomanic episodes was found in Sardinian immigrants to Argentina (p < 0.0001; odds ratio = 3.0, 95% confidence interval 1.87-4.77). Positivity at screening was associated with a lower QoL both in Sardinian immigrants to Argentina and in residents of Sardinia. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show a higher lifetime prevalence of manic/hypomanic episodes in a general-population sample of individuals who migrated to a foreign country. Our results are in agreement with the hypothesis that hyperactive/novelty-seeking features may represent an adaptive substrate in certain conditions of social change.

L'igiene ospedaliera in Italia ha una lunga e solida storia che però richiede una necessaria riflessione per poter restare al passo con quelle che sono le innovazioni e gli sviluppi dei sistemi sanitari anche connessi a quelle che sono le attività dell'Unione Europea. A livello europeo infatti esistono diverse tradizioni nazionali che riguardo l'igiene ospedaliera e per questo motivo l'European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) ha adottato il termine "controllo delle infezioni e igiene ospedaliera" per poter così includere tutti i professionisti sanitari dei singoli Paesi. La nostra proposta è sia quella di modificare il termine di "igiene ospedaliera" in "igiene delle organizzazioni sanitarie" per poter focalizzare l'attenzione anche ai numerosi livelli di cura non ospedalieri, sia di adottare la seguente definizione: "tutte le attività volte a garantire, in modo appropriato, scientificamente valido ed efficiente, l'assistenza in un ambiente sicuro, confortevole e salubre per i pazienti, i caregiver e gli operatori sanitari". L'igiene ospedaliera ed i suoi professionisti sono un pilastro necessario per garantire la qualità e la sicurezza dell'assistenza sanitaria in Italia. ; Although hospital hygiene has a long history in Italy it is necessary to reflect about it because of the innovation in healthcare systems and because of the evolution due to European Union related activities. Different traditions exist in European countries about hospital hygiene and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) adopted the term of "infection control and hospital hygiene" which includes all the engaged European healthcare professionals. We propose to modify hospital hygiene as "healthcare organisation hygiene" in order to focalise the attention to all care settings not only hospitals and to adopt the following definition: "all activities aimed to guarantee, in an appropriate, scientifically sound and efficient way, that structures and processes support healthcare practices in a safe comfortable and healthy environment both for patients, caregivers and healthcare workers". Hospital hygiene and its professionals, besides the long tradition, still remain a relevant pillar in guaranteeing quality and safety of healthcare in Italy.