[Alcohol consumption by refuse collection workers: a problem of public health]. / Il consumo di alcool tra i lavoratori dell'igiene urbana: un problema di sanità pubblica.

A total of 485 workers were interviewed employed by the municipal urban refuse collection corporation of Venice; 87.6% consumed alcoholic beverages, 24.5% of whom exceeded 1 litre of wine per day. Only 9.7% of the interviewees thought that an acceptable alcohol consumption level should not exceed 1 litre, whereas more than 23% thought that 2 or more litres of wine per day was not harmful. The variables associated with a high alcohol consumption in this working community were mainly: level of education and of specific knowledge about alcohol and long-term residence in the historical centre of Venice. The authors discuss the possible factors connected with the type of job which could influence the incentive to drink and the public hygiene actions that could be taken. The need for community medicine programmes is emphasized.

[Epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in the province of Venezia (author's transl)]. / Studio epidemiologico sulla sclerosi multipla nella provincia di Venezia.

In the province of Venice province on "prevalence day" (31 December 1974), the crude prevalence rate of multiple sclerosis was 20.44 cases/100,000 inhabitants (170 patients in a population of 831,657). The prevalence rate for men was 15.24/100,000 and for women was 25,41/100.000. In the city of Venice and in the near lagoon islands the MS prevalence rate was higher then that in the rest of the province, but there was no significant difference of age of onset, duration of the disease, initial symptoms and degree of disability between the two groups of cases. These results were compared with similar studies in other areas at the same latitude.