Different efficacy of alcohol education tools among trainee nurses.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The evaluation of the efficacy of two different forms of scientific information concerning alcohol-related problems (ARP), among Italian trainee nurses. METHODOLOGY: A specific questionnaire, investigating the awareness of ARP, was distributed to 193 trainee nurses, 158 enrolled in the Italian Red Cross School for Professional Nurses at S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna and 35 enrolled in the Professional Nursing School at the Social Security Institute in the Republic of San Marino, who had attended a scientific meeting on ARP in the last year. Eighty-one nurses (62 belonging to the Red Cross School of Bologna and 19 to the Professional Nursing School of San Marino), had previously been given an information package on ARP (Group A). One hundred twelve subjects (96 belonging to the Red Cross School of Bologna and 16 to the Professional Nursing School of San Marino) did not read the specialized material (Group B). RESULTS: The results showed a statistically significant difference in the percentage of correct answers between Group A (25.98%) and Group B (21.80%). The percentage of correct answers among the Bologna trainee nurses were always significantly lower than that of the San Marino nurses. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest a scant awareness and interest in ARP among trainee nurses and show that courses and lectures are more effective than scientific printed material.

Anxiety and depression: a common feature of health care seeking patients with irritable bowel syndrome and food allergy.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. The etiology of IBS is still unclear and the relationship between foods and IBS is controversial; psychological factors have always been considered as a major cause of IBS and we recently showed a possible association via anxiety and depression between IBS and food allergy (FA). The aim of the present study was to confirm our preliminary observation. METHODOLOGY: Sixty-high IBS, 44 FA, 48 non-healthy controls with lactose intolerance (LI) and 52 healthy controls were considered for the study. All the subjects were given the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Zung depression scale. RESULTS: The percentage of subjects with high levels of state anxiety, trait anxiety and depression was significantly higher in IBS than in both LI and healthy controls; psychological findings in patients with FA were very similar to those of IBS. There were higher levels of state anxiety in LI compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: A higher prevalence of state anxiety found in patients complaining of bowel symptoms could be linked to the presence of chronic ill status. The higher presence of trait anxiety and depression in IBS and FA patients could be responsible for an increase in the activity of the autonomic nervous system and could provoke motility alterations through mast cell mediator release as well as enhancing release due to allergen crosslinking with IgE at the mast cell surface. However, it is debatable whether psychological findings are characteristic of all IBS or FA patients, or just represent the subset that see physicians.

Plateletpheresis by discontinuous centrifugation: effect of collecting methods on the in vitro function of platelets.

The in vitro function of platelets collected by two different methods during centrifugal plateletpheresis was compared. The RBC method involves collecting platelets with red cells followed by a supplementary spin to remove them, whereas the no-RBC method requires collecting platelets only from the buffy coat without red cells. Platelet response to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), epinephrine and collagen was slightly reduced in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) prepared by no-RBC technique and was markedly decreased in samples obtained by the RBC technique when compared to prepheresis controls. The decrease in platelet response to ADP, epinephrine and collagen was apparent in three testing systems: aggregation, release of serotonin and reptilase clot retraction. Both plasma and platelets appeared to be affected by the pheresis procedure. Platelet preparations obtained by both RBC and no-RBC techniques showed an increase of platelet factor 3 activity and an enhancement of aggregation, release of serotonin and clot retraction induced by thrombin as compared to prepheresis controls. Postpheresis platelet-poor plasma contains platelet membrane fragments which exhibit a high platelet factor 3 activity. The results showed that the RBC method, although providing a higher platelet yield, caused more qualitative alterations in platelets than in those obtained by no-RBC method, and that both methods of collecting platelets activated the procoagulant activity of platelets.