[Health promotion and education in the secondary schools]. / Educazione sanitaria nelle scuole medie: conoscenze e informazioni in tema di AIDS.

To prevent the risks of HIV infection, some meetings have been carried with the students of secondary school; actually the school is the best and the most appropriate place to conduct these health promotion and education meetings. Two questionnaires have been given to the students, a pre-test before the interview, to evaluate their knowledge about drugs, and a re-test after the interview to evaluate whether the knowledge objectives suggested had been reached. After the meeting the students appear to be more informed; differences were statistically significant between the percentages of the correct answers of the pre-test and the re-test.

[Prevalence of obesity in school age: preliminary study on students from 2 Roman schools]. / Studio sulla prevalenza dell'obesità nell'età scolare: indagine preliminare sugli alunni di due scuole romane.

The present study, aimed at the prevention of infantile obesity was carried out in two schools of Roma and regarded also the alimentary education. 295 students 101 males and 194 females was considered; the result pointed out that 114 (38.6%) were found obese, 57 (19.3%) overweight and 124 (42.0%) normal weight. The alimentary behaviour was the same of other students: usually three meals and often snacks use during the day, a lot of the student use to eat watching the television and the physical activity is done not so much. The results of these paper are related to the literature data.

[Prevalence of congenital cardiopathies among newborn infants in a department of pediatric cardiology]. / Prevalenza delle cardiopatie congenite in età neonatale in un reparto di cardiologia pediatrica.

This study consists of a prevalence congenital heart disease (CHD) registered in the Pediatric Cardiology Department of Umberto I General Hospital in Rome between January 1st 1992 and December 31-th 1993. Cases recorded in this period have been taken part of a larger study called Italian Multicentric Study for recording and follow-up of congenital heart disease (IMS-CHD); the purpose is to determine the prevalence of CHD in Italy and discover the outcome of affected children. In this duration, 187 new cases have been recorded, in which 63.6% had a single defect while 36.4% had multiple defects. These isolated defects were most frequently occurred (51.9%) following the stenosis of the pulmonary artery (15.5% and the defects of the interatrial septum (15%).

[Lysteria monocytogenes in samples of swines sent to the human alimentary chain]. / Listeria monocytogenes in campioni di suini avviati alla catena alimentare umana.

Animal food-stuffs are known to be potential vehicles of Listeria monocytogenes. The contamination can be caused from processing or enviromental sources and from infected animals. This hypothesis has been checked in the present work. The authors found that 13.2% of 189 swines were carriers of Listeria monocytogenes, the microrganism was isolated from salivary glands, mesenterial gangles and tonsils. The authors suggest some preventive intervention to reduce both the environmental circulation of Listeria monocytogenes and the human risk of infection.

[Coliphages, viral indicators of contamination]. / Colifagi, indicatori virali di contaminazione.

This paper illustrates the importance of coliphages, which are specific bacteriophages for Escherichia coli strains, as viral indicators, and suggests the usefulness of a routine coliphage search in the detection of viral contamination. The samples studied consisted of 57 surface water, (46 of sea water and 11 of river water), 2 of mud taken from biological treatment plants and 3 samples of sludge. The results revealed that coliphages can be considered valid indicators of viral contamination as they show a good response to the general standards established for indicators. In particular: they are found in sludge (both untreated and treated) and in surface water (both river and sea) in higher concentrations than those of enterovirus; they show greater resistance than bacterial indicators to disinfection as, in different experimental conditions, the drop in the level does not exceed orders of magnitude they are relatively simple to identify, and are easily quantifiable by means of the MPN method, with the result that they can be used for the management of water resources. As regards the possible use of coliphages for the control of the necessary qualitative requisites of sea water for bathing, the relation with fecal coli enables us to make an assessment of coliphages corresponding to 100 fecal coli/100 ml. This levels is equivalent to 0.95 so that a suitable guide line for water for bathing purposes could for example be established at 10 coliphages/1. Although coliphages may be considered good indicators of viral contamination this clearly does not mean that they can replace classic bacterial indicators but rather, that they can provide useful additional information, particularly in those cases where a rapid drop in bacterial content may conceal high risk health and hygiene conditions.

[Nutritional hygiene in the prevention of dental decay: thoughts about weight gain in children in elementary schools]. / L'igiene alimentare nella prevenzione della carie dentale: riflessi sull'accrescimento ponderale in alunni della scuola elementare.

Hereafter the results of an investigation carried out in two elementary schools, centred on a health education programme divided into oral hygiene and nutritional hygiene interventions, having the aim above all of assessing the effectiveness of otherwise of such interventions for purposes of checking up on dental caries. Parallel to this main aim we also wished to verify the validity of a working hypothesis which, departing from a strictly odontological aspect, also aimed at pointing out the influence or otherwise of such food education interventions on a more harmonious growth in weight of the children concerned in the programme. This was because most of the principles underlying food education interventions in the strictly auxological field coincide with the basic principles of interventions aimed at the prevention of caries. The programme was prolonged for three school years in two elementary school of Rome coming under the same Local Health Service. This note concerns the second point on the programme, namely study of the body growth pattern. The results may be summarised as follows: At the beginning of the experiment the control group showed a maximum concentration of children in the "normal weight" class (38.9%) and a progressive decrease towards the extreme classes. Whereas in the experimental sample the spread was less regular, with a smaller percentage of children in the "normal weight" (22.9%) a maximum concentration in the "slightly overweight" class (30%) and a distribution of pupils progressively decreasing towards the extremes, but with a slight preponderance towards the Overweights. At the end of the experiment the control group showed a clear reduction in the "normal weight" class (from 38.9% to 30.6%) and at the same time an increase in all the adjacent classes (with the "slightly overweights" rising from 19,45% to 22,21%, and the "seriously overweights" from 9,72% to 13,9%, the "slightly underweights" from 18,06% to 23,62% to 23,62%; while a fall in the "very seriously underweights" was recorded (from 5,56% to 2.78%), with the "seriously overweights" remaining practically unchanged). Whereas in the experimental group we found a better redistribution by classes, with the greatest concentration of pupils in the "normal weight" class (from 22.86% to 41.43%), the only significant increase (p less than 0.01), and considerable falls in the "slightly overweight" class (from 30.0% to 21.44%) and in the "slightly underweight" class (from 20.0% to 12.86%); while the "seriously overweights" continued to gather a large percentage of children (from 18.58% to 20.00%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

[Health promotion and education in secondary schools: knowledge on drugs abuse]. / Educazione sanitaria nelle scuole medie: conoscenze e informazioni sulle sostanze da abuso.

To prevent behaviours at risk for the use of substances that induce dependence, some meetings have been planned with children primary school, age in which it's still possible to prevent the contact with drugs and children are more receptive. Two questionnaires have been given to the students, a pre-test before the interview, to value their knowledge about drugs, and a re-test after the interview, to value if the knowledge objectives suggested had been reached. After meeting the students seemed to be more informed because there were statistically significative differences between the percentages of the correct answers of the pre-test and the re-test.

[Control of infection in the odontostomatologic field. Possibility of decontamination of critical surfaces]. / Il controllo delle infezioni in campo odontostomatologico. Possibilità di decontaminazione di superfici critiche.

After a brief description of the sources and procedures of transmission of infections in the odontostomatological field, the Authors illustrate the degree of contamination of a range of surfaces presented by odontological instruments. This is followed by a description of the possibility of a disinfecting treatment using two products one based on iodoform and the other on quaternary ammonium. Prior to this disinfection treatment, the surfaces examined presented a level of microbial contamination (according to the Griffiths scale) for the most part defined as "acceptable with certain reservations" or as "unacceptable", with the almost constant finding of Staphylococci (S. Haemolyticus, aureus, hominis and cohnii) and very frequently of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, as well as various types of Pseudomonas (Ps. cepacea, maltophilia, and aeruginosa). The disinfection treatment carried out on these same surfaces had a positive effect, leading to a reduction in microbial findings of at least 98% both using energetic disinfectants based on iodoform products, and also milder disinfectants based on quaternary ammonium. Accordingly since both substances used almost constantly reduced the microbial presence despite the different disinfecting action involved, the Authors conclude that not only the use of specific substances but even the mere action of mechanical cleaning may play a fundamental role in the decontamination of surfaces.

Chlamydia trachomatis-associated respiratory disease in the very early neonatal period.

Of 103 preterm neonates admitted consecutively to the neonatal intensive care unit soon after birth for respiratory distress, 8 were found to be Chlamydia trachomatis-positive as early as within the first 24 h of life. All these patients required mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen. Six infants had evidence on chest radiographs of hyaline membrane disease, one of pneumonia, and one of slight bilateral parenchymal changes. Our results suggest that the presence of C. trachomatis in preterm infants with neonatal respiratory distress is probably not an infrequent event.