Your cardiac patient wants to become a mother. Risk considerations and advice Part I--your cardiac patient asks advice on a possible pregnancy.

In this part, the risks and complications of pregnancy in women with active or corrected, congenital or acquired heart disease are reviewed, in order to allow individual counseling on a possible pregnancy or treatment recommendations on contraception.

A method for the assessment of fitness in aerobically taxing occupations.

A good level of physical fitness is a fundamental prerequisite of many occupations, hence the importance of valid methods of fitness assessment. A method, using submaximal treadmill exercise, was tested in a group of Urban Police Officers. Physiology variables and subjective perceptions were monitored. The trend of individual variables provided a means to define the "critical" capacity which corresponded to a mean value of 6.8 MET (a "heavy activity" according to Haskell's classification). This level is proposed as a predictor of endurance and could be used in follow-up fitness assessments.

[Aerobic fitness in police officers]. / Fitness aerobica in agenti di Polizia.

According to act n. 626, individual assessment of fitness and absence of contraindications for carrying on a job is fundamental. We considered a group of 44 Urban Police officers (36 males, 8 females), age 39.7 +/- 9.1, whose principal job requirement is a good energetic and motor availability, for a fitness evaluation through a submaximal treadmill test, with subsequent steps of 6 minutes. During the test, physiological variables (VO2, VE, QR through a metabograph, Hr trough an Ec-monitor and Pa through a manual sphygmomanometer) and subjective evaluations of fatigue and dyspnea were monitored. Studying the individual variables trend it was possible to identify the critical metabolic level that was easily tolerated by each individual. This level, an average of 6.8 MET corresponding to a heavy activity, is an endurance predictor and can be utilized in subsequent controls.

[Serum insulin binding activity and diabetic retinopathy]. / Attività insulino-legante serica e retinopatia diabetica.

Radiochemical evaluation of serum insulin-binding activity in diabetics shows that there are no correlations between this behaviour and diabetic retinopathy. High values are mainly encountered in insulin-dependent diabetics; its nil or poor inhibition, owing to the effect of preincubation of the serum with high concentrations of unlabelled insulinic antigen, suggests that the phenomenon is connected above all to the presence of aspecific serous factors that "bind" the labelled hormone.

Psoriasis and insulin secretion. Preliminary results.

We have studied psoriatic subjects with normal weight and with overweight without inherited diabetic familiarity. The results seem to indicate the existence in psoriasis of an endogenous insulin-resistence. In this prospective the hypothesis that psoriasis carries a diabetogen risk is suggested.