Validation of the Italian Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth (QoLISSY) questionnaire.

PURPOSE: The Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth (QoLISSY) questionnaire is a disease-specific instrument developed to assess health-related quality of life (HrQoL) in children with short stature. While the original instrument was simultaneously developed in five European countries, this study describes the results of the Italian QoLISSY translation, cultural adaptation, and validation. METHODS: Focus group discussions and a cognitive debriefing process with children (N = 12) diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency or idiopathic short stature and one parent each, as well as parents of younger children (N = 20) were conducted to examine the linguistic and content validity of the Italian version. Psychometric testing was performed using data from the subsequent field- and re-test (N = 32). RESULTS: The results of the qualitative testing of the Italian sample revealed comparability of content to data of the original five European countries. The following field- and re-test results were psychometrically satisfactory including good item and scale operating characteristics, sufficient evidence of reliability, and acceptable evidence of construct validity. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the Italian QoLISSY HrQoL-dimensions are comparable to other European countries. The psychometric quality of the Italian QoLISSY version is satisfactory and the instrument is ready for use in Italian patients and their parents.

[Occupational doctors in the public prevention services and qualified occupational doctors: their roles and forms of collaboration]. / Medici del lavoro nei servizi pubblici di prevenzione e medici del lavoro competenti: ruoli e forme di collaborazione.

The occupational docters in public prevention and control services and the qualified occupational doctors who carry out functions of specialized doctors for enterprises, as well as operating according to their individual professional skills, are all part of the polydisciplinary system of collaboration that, while differing in methods, organizations and planning of their activities, have a shared aim: the safeguarding of the health and safety of the workers. The two systems have a mutual obligation to give information, foreseen also by several norms, that require common codes for evaluation and interpretation when exchanging communications, also for going beyond the simple conflictual relationship of "controller" and "controlled". In fact a shared commitment is necessary nowadays to face the lesser known and investigated risks and diseases, to promote the roles and rights of the workers, their representatives and also the employers of the micro-enterprises.

[Positive effects of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) on the biohumoral clinical aspect of cholesterin calculosis of the gallbladder]. / Effetti positivi dell'acido chenodesossicolico (ACDC) sul quadro clinico e bioumorale della calcolosi colesterinica della colecisti.

The efficacy and possible sideeffects of chenodeoxycholic acid have been studied in 35 patients with biliary calculosis lithiasis. In 53% of the cases treated for six months or more partial or complete gallstone dissolution was observed. The action of this drug on hematic triglyceride level and on severity and frequency of the hypostenic dyspeptic symptoms and biliary colic is interesting from the viewpoint of new therapeutic prospects. Diarrhea has been the only relevant side-effect.

Dopamine-induced migrating myoelectrical complex-like activity in human duodenum.

The effect of dopamine on human gastric and small intestinal interdigestive motility was investigated in 12 subjects. Intestinal motility was recorded by means of a four-lumen polyvinyl probe with four open tips located 15 cm apart, continuously perfused with distilled water. In each subject during the same study, after recording two consecutive spontaneous phase III of migrating myoelectrical complexes and when a phase II appeared, dopamine was infused intravenously twice in a dose of 5 micrograms/kg/min for 15 min with an interval of 20 min between each infusion. In six subjects, the second dopamine infusion was preceded by a treatment with sulpiride (10 mg, intravenously, as bolus) or domperidone (10 mg, intravenously, as bolus), each considered a highly selective dopamine antagonist. The results show that dopamine stimulates duodenal motility producing a pattern similar to that observed in phase III of spontaneously occurring migrating myoelectrical complexes. The second dopamine infusion reproduced in all cases the same pattern of motility as observed during the first infusion. Sulpiride and domperidone prevented the effect of dopamine in all cases. It is therefore suggested that dopamine-induced duodenal motility may involve specific dopaminergic receptors.

Atropine antagonizes cholecystokinin and cerulein-induced gallbladder evacuation in man: a real-time ultrasonographic study.

Dose-response curves for cholecystokinin (CCK), cerulein (CRL), and the effect of atropine on peptide-induced gallbladder evacuation, were evaluated in 13 normal subjects. Gallbladder volume was monitored by means of real-time ultrasonography. After an overnight fast, CCK was infused in six subjects iv, with increasing doses from 0.002 IDU/kg/min for 15 min, and CRL in seven subjects from 0.5 ng/kg/min for 5 min, until maximum gallbladder evacuation (greater than 70% of the fasting volume) was achieved. Forty-eight hours after the first study, CCK and CRL were readministered at the maximum contracting dose in each subject with and without a pretreatment with atropine (1 mg iv as bolus). The results showed maximum gallbladder evacuation at 0.016 IDU for CCK, and at 4 ng for CRL. Atropine significantly blunted the gallbladder response both to CCK and to CRL. It is therefore suggested that the cholinergic system is involved in the gallbladder response to CCK and to CRL.

[Physiology of interdigestive motor activity in man]. / Fisiologia dell'attivita' motoria interdigestiva nell'uomo.

Aim of this work has been to investigate the pattern of interdigestive motility from the esophagus to the duodenum. Six human subjects have been studied by means of a manometric probe. The results are very similar to those described elsewhere, and show that a cyclic motor activity spreads down from the esophagus to the duodenum and that a district control of gastrointestinal motility exists.