[Tobacco- and alcohol-related behaviors among adolescents attending high schools in Lodi, Milano (City and Province) in the period 2000-2003: results from two multicentric studies]. / Consumi di tabacco e alcol durante il triennio 2000-2003 tra gli adolescenti delle scuole superiori di Lodi e di Milano (Città Provincia): risultati di due rilevazioni multicentriche.

Tobacco- and alcohol-related behaviors are important public health problems under the sanitary, economic and political point of view; even if the negative consequences of these substances' use and abuse are clear and well recognized, the prevalence of the phenomenon remains however high. Therefore to put in action prevention effective procedures, it is useful to know causes and consequences of the behaviour, but also to be able to quantify them and follow them up. This research is aimed at assessing the spread of tobacco's and alcohol's consumptions among students attending high school in Lodi and Milano (City and Province) during school year 2002-2003 and allows to compare these data with those obtained through a similar study carried out during school year 2000-2001. Data have been collected using a translated and adapted version of the YRBSS questionnaire implemented by CDC to monitor the prevalence of high-risk behaviors among U.S. teens. Tobacco habits appears still high but have not increased in the considered period, while alcohol-related behaviors are growing in popularity and performed by a greater number of adolescents,compared with what happened three years earlier This proves to be particolarly true for girls. Prevention implications are presented on the basis of these results.

[Survey of physical activity and doping in a sample of 6,915 students aged 14-18 years]. / Rilevazione dell'attività motoria e dell'uso di integratori e sostanze dopanti in un campione di 6915 studenti di età compresa fra i 14 e i 18 anni.

AIM: Promoting physical activity is one of the main goals of health-promotion policies. The period of adolescence is characterised by a high rate of abandonment of any physical activity. In this age range, moreover, the risk of assuming substances in order to improve muscular-mass or athletic results is concrete. This study quantifies the involvement in physical activities and substance assumption in a sample of 6915 students aged 14 to 18 years and living in 7 different areas, mostly in northern Italy. METHODS: The survey's tool is an adapted and modified vision of the Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance questionnaire, created by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RESULTS: The study showed a high percentage of the sample not involved in any form of physical activity out of school (33.8%), more among girls (44.1%) than boys (21.2%). Between 14 and 18 years, a continuous reduction of involvement in physical activity is evident, while the percentage of totally physically inactive subjects rises from 30.1% to 43%. Finally, 5.6% in our sample admitted to have been using substances to improve muscular-mass or athletic results at least once in the past. CONCLUSION: According to this study, only a minority of the interviewed adolescents is involved in a regular physical activity. In males, using substances to improve physical strength showed to be rather diffused. Specific health promotion projects are suggested.

[Risk assessment for eating disorders in a high school: a study based on the Eating Attitudes Test 26]. / Analisi del rischio per i disturbi del comportamento alimentare in una scuola media superiore: una ricerca basata sull'Eating Attitudes Test 26.

AIM: Disordered eating behaviours can lead to clinically evident and serious eating disorders (ED). Aim of this paper is to determine their extent among adolescents and to evaluate the associated characteristics. METHODS: All students of a high school (age 14-18) have been asked to fill up the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) anonymously. EAT-26 is a self-reported questionnaire identifying subjects at risk for ED. This questionnaire included also an integrative section, aimed at investigating some ED-related variables (family composition, diet among relatives, social relationships, spare time activities, self-esteem). Collected data have been analyzed using EpiInfo6. RESULTS: The study involved all the 902 students of the school; 833 questionnaires have been distributed and 701 were collected (89.4% from girls, 10.3% from boys). The percentage of EAT-26 positive boys (i.e. scoring = or > 20) is 3%, while for girls is 13.7%. A positive test significantly correlates with low self-esteem (OR = 46.67, CI = 13.16-182.04), contentious relationships with the mother (OR = 2.20, CI = 1.12-4.29) and the father (OR=2.45, CI=1.24-4.80). No significant correlation has been found for being an only child, living in a single-parent family having limited/not having social relationships, having unsatisfactory social relationships, spending spare time mostly alone, watching TV more than 2 h per day. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest an increasing diffusion in the risk for ED among adolescents. Personal characteristics and behaviours related to this risk are good start points to program projects focusing on primary and secondary prevention of ED in high schools.

[Hand hygiene in intensive care]. / "Mani pulite" in terapia intensiva.

Hand hygiene represents the main way to prevent and/or at least reduce nosocomial infection incidence. In this paper we discuss this "hot topic" through both the analysis of CDC guide lines and the data resulting from a questionnaire survey sent to health care workers, eventually corroborated by their direct observation. From literature data and our survey result analyses, we are more than convinced that the winning strategies for a slow but progressive improvement of hand washing practice and compliance are (i). using a product able to decontaminate hands very quickly and without needing water; (ii). the health care worker awareness of hand hygiene and compliance feed-back importance. From our questionnaire survey as well as from our direct observation, we found a very low (5.6%) compliance of our hospital health care workers to CDC guidelines for hand washing. This may be justified above all by ward logistical and structural problems, as only 55% of sinks are located inside patient rooms, but also because there is a lacking of knowledge of new CDC suggested practices and decontaminating products. Health care worker specific training and the choice of an alcoholic antiseptic disinfectant, allowed us to significantly increase their compliance to proper practices in hand washing and hygiene, showing their interest in such an important and delicate matter.

[Child sexual abuse primary prevention: outcome evaluation of a health education project implemented in Milan's elementary schools]. / Prevenzione primaria dell'abuso sessuale all'infanzia. Valutazione di efficacia di un progetto di educazione alla salute realizzato nelle scuole elementari di Milano.

The study we present is aimed at evaluating the efficacy of a child sexual abuse prevention program that involved children attending 4th and 5th grade in Milan's (Italy) elementary schools. The project involved 53 classes (10 of 4th, 43 of 5th grade) during school year 2000-2001. Children filled a questionnaire before the beginning of the project and two months after the end; the questionnaire evaluates children's perception of risk and their self-efficacy skills in adopting protective strategies when involved in at risk situations. Final analysis has involved 674 children, 51.8% girls, 48.2% boys; 19.6% of children attended 4th grade, 80.4% 5th grade. Percentage of children that recognize the potential danger in the suggested at-risk situation is higher in post-test then in pre-test (87.9% vs 73.2%) and the number of them that does not adopt any self-defence strategy decreases (from 35.3% to 21.0%). The project increased the number of children that know body puberal changes (from 16.0% to 32.8%). According to these results it is evident that the program increased children's capacity to recognize and use self defence strategies in at risk situations. These results call for a potential extention and replication of this health education program.

Cytogenetic and molecular characterization of a highly repeated DNA sequence in the peach potato aphid Myzus persicae.

Electrophoresis following digestion of Myzus persicae genomic DNA with HindIII showed the presence of a prominent band of approximately 200 bp whereas a faint electrophoretic band corresponding to DNA fragments of about 3000 bp was observed after digestion with ApaI. In situ digestion with restriction enzymes, followed by in situ nick translation, showed that ApaI targets are localized at the nucleolus organizer-bearing X telomeric region, whereas HindIII restriction sites are clustered in intercalary C-positive areas on the same X chromosome. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) carried out by using digoxygenin-labeled HindIII repeats as probe fully confirmed overlapping between the hybridization sites of this probe and the AT-rich intercalary heterochromatic bands on the X chromosome. These findings, together with published data, allow us to conclude that the M. persicae genome possesses three classes of C-positive heterochromatin: (i) a GC-rich argentophilic band located on one telomere of the X chromosome that contains ApaI targets; (ii) AT-rich intercalary bands located on the X chromosome containing clustered HindIII fragments; (iii) AT-rich telomeric bands located on autosomes, consisting of HaeIII repeats. Molecular analysis has shown that the length of the HindIII repeat consensus sequence is 189 bp with an AT content of 67%. Southern blotting with HindIII monomers revealed a regular ladder of bands composed of multimers of basic length that are characteristic of satellite DNAs. The HindIII repeat displays other features typical of eukaryotic satellite arrays such as overlapping with heterochromatic bands and a high degree of sequence similarity among monomers (84%-94%). A similarity plot showed that sequences were particularly variable in the 50-100 bp region whereas they proved to be highly conservative in the first 50 bp, thus suggesting that this portion of the repeat might be functionally important.