Reliability, validity and normative data of the Italian version of the Bus Story test.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluation of the reliability and the validity of the Italian version of the Bus Story Test (I-BST), providing normative data in Italian children. METHODS: A total of 552 normally developing children (278 males and 274 females) aged 3; 6 to 9; 0 years, were enrolled. Test-retest, intra- and inter-rater reliability were analysed on a sample of respectively 145, 178 and 178 children. Normative data were gathered from all the enrolled children and estimate centiles according to the CG-LMS method provided. The children were divided into 11 age classes of six months each; percentile scores and standard error measurement were analysed in children from age class 4; 0-4; 5 years to age class 8; 6-811 years. Age effects on I-BST were analysed. RESULTS: Results showed high test-retest, intra- and inter-rater reliability scores. A significant age effect on I-BST scores emerged from the ANOVA test analysis; in particular, as age increases, so do I-BST scores. CONCLUSION: The I-BST is a reliable and valid tool. The availability of normative data for Italian speaking children may help clinicians during clinical assessment.

Plasma-beam traps and radiofrequency quadrupole beam coolers.

Two linear trap devices for particle beam manipulation (including emittance reduction, cooling, control of instabilities, dust dynamics, and non-neutral plasmas) are here presented, namely, a radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) beam cooler and a compact Penning trap with a dust injector. Both beam dynamics studies by means of dedicated codes including the interaction of the ions with a buffer gas (up to 3 Pa pressure), and the electromagnetic design of the RFQ beam cooler are reported. The compact multipurpose Penning trap is aimed to the study of multispecies charged particle samples, primarily electron beams interacting with a background gas and/or a micrometric dust contaminant. Using a 0.9 T solenoid and an electrode stack where both static and RF electric fields can be applied, both beam transport and confinement operations will be available. The design of the apparatus is presented.

Scaling properties and intermittency of two-dimensional turbulence in pure electron plasmas.

When the cold nonrelativistic guiding center approximation is valid, the transverse dynamics of highly magnetized electron plasma columns confined in Penning-Malmberg traps is analogous to that of an incompressible, inviscid, two-dimensional (2D) fluid whose vorticity corresponds, up to a constant of proportionality, to the axially averaged electron plasma density. In this work intermittency phenomena in the freely decaying 2D electron plasma turbulence are investigated through scaling properties of the probability density functions and flatness of spatial vorticity increments, computed by analyzing the results of experiments performed in the Penning-Malmberg trap ELTRAP. It is shown that the intermittency properties of the turbulence strongly depends on the initial conditions and the relation of these results to the dynamics of the system is discussed.

Efficacy of a three day course of azithromycin in moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia.

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a 3 day course of azithromycin in low to moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia. Forty patients with low to moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia (29 males, 11 females, mean age 46 +/- 17 yrs; 20 pretreated with betalactams for 2-10 days with no results before admission to hospital; 18 with evidence of co-morbidity) were enrolled in an open, randomized study with azithromycin, 500 mg q.d. oral therapy for 3 days, versus clarithromycin, 250 mg b.i.d. oral therapy for 10 +/- 2 days. The aetiology of pneumonia was identified in 18 patients by serology (nine Mycoplasma pneumoniae, four Chlamydia pneumoniae, five Legionella pneumophila; one patient with chlamydial infection also had Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteraemia). A presumptive aetiological diagnosis was obtained with sputum culture in three other patients (one Haemophilus influenzae, two Haemophilus parainfluenzae), all strains were sole isolates with 10(8) Colony forming units (CFU), and with Gram stain in one patient with Streptococcus pneumoniae. All patients in the azithromycin group (one after a second 3 day course), and all but two (of those available for evaluation) of the clarithromycin group were cured. Defervescence occurred after 2.6 +/- 1.6 days, and chest roentgenogram cleared after 8.9 +/- 3.3 days, with no difference between the two groups. Tolerance was good, and there were no withdrawals from therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Isolated congenital complete heart block: longterm outcome of mothers, maternal antibody specificity and immunogenetic background.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the longterm outcome of mothers of children with isolated congenital complete heart block (CCHB), and the maternal specific immunoblot pattern and HLA antigens. METHODS: Fifteen mothers of 16 children with isolated CCHB were investigated; their followup extended up to 15.8 years on average after the index delivery. Anti-Ro and La antibodies were detected by counterimmunoelectrophoresis and ELISA; anti-Ro antibodies were studied by immunoblot. HLA typing was done using a microcytotoxicity test. RESULTS: One mother has systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) before the index delivery. The other mothers developed only minor symptoms (arthralgia, dry eyes and photosensitivity) resembling primary Sjögren's syndrome more than classic lupus. All 15 mothers were anti-Ro and 9 were also anti-La positive, a mean of 12.5 years after the index delivery. Eight mothers reacted with the 52 kDa SSA(Ro) component, and 2 also with the 60 kDa SSA(Ro) component. The prevalence of the DR3 antigen and of the B44/DR5, DR3/DQ2 and A1/Cw7/B8/DR3/DQ2 haplotypes was significantly increased. CONCLUSION: The longterm outcome for the mothers of children with CCHB is more reassuring than generally assumed. All the mothers were anti-Ro positive by sensitive ELISA: Reactivity to the denaturated 52 kDa SSA(Ro) component seems characteristic of these mothers, who presented a particular immunogenetic background.

Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in acute exacerbations of COPD.

Chlamydia pneumoniae, strain TWAR, is a frequent causative agent of acute respiratory disease. We assessed the incidence and prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae infections in COPD. We studied, from January 1990 to May 1991, 142 out-patients with acute purulent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 114 healthy control subjects. Oropharyngeal swab specimens were collected at each exacerbation and analysed using a high definition monoclonal indirect fluorescent antibody test for Chlamydia pneumoniae identification. Immunoglobulins G and M (IgG and IgM) fractions of antibodies to Chlamydia pneumoniae were studied by microimmunofluorescence test. Prevalence of specific IgG was 63% in COPD, and 46% in controls (Chi-squared test p = 0.007). Moreover, mean titre of IgG was significantly higher in COPD than in controls. Five patients were positive for specific IgM (> or = = 1:16), and one had a fourfold increase of IgG titre; four of these patients had been treated with ciprofloxacin 1 g.day-1 for 10 days, and two with erythromycin, 3 g.day-1 for 14 days, with remission of signs and symptoms of exacerbation. Chlamydia pneumoniae identification was always negative. Our data suggest that Chlamydia pneumoniae infection is a rather frequent event in COPD, since at least 4% of exacerbations may be associated with it.

[Diagnostic and prognostic significance of complement fixing anti-n-DNA antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus]. / Significato diagnostico e prognostico degli anticorpi anti-n-DNA fissanti il complemento nel lupus eritematoso sistemico.

Four patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus and eleven patients at quiescent stage were subjected to research in order to determine the serum concentration of C3 and to estimate the presence of anti-n-DNA antibodies and complement-fixing anti-n-DNA antibodies by the indirect immunofluorescent technique on the Crithidia luciliae. The medium title of anti-n-DNA antibodies was significantly more present in the sera of patients with active disease rather than in patients with quiescent disease and only in the first ones were found complement-fixing anti-n-DNA antibodies. Their title is expression of the title of total anti-n-DNA antibodies. Only sera with titles greater than 1:80 had antibodies able to fix the complement and at the same time they showed an important fall of C3. So the course of complement-fixing anti-n-DNA antibodies seems to have a certain prognostic meaning on the disease development.

[Bacteriuria. Bacteriological diagnosis and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents]. / Le batteriurie. Diagnosi batteriologica e sensibilità ai chemioterapici

In a brief introduction, methods for collecting urine and diagnosis criteria are reviewed. Data relative to a study of about 10,000 samples of urine from patients admitted to various departments of the Milan Ca' Granda Hospital in 1975 are then reported. The frequencies of the various species of bacteria isolated in cases of bacteriuria are reported. Those occurring most frequently were Proteus (40.7%) of whose four species, Proteus mirabilis and Proteus rettgeri cover almost all cases, and Escherichia coli (26.1%). As for individual isolated microrganisms, the sensitivity to 13 chemotherapeutic agents was tested. E. coli, Klebsiella and Enterococcus demonstrated a high degree of sensitivity with respect to the majority of antibiotics considered.

Three years of bacteriological monitoring in the Department of Paediatric Surgery.

The results of three years of bacteriological monitoring in the Department of Paediatric Surgery at the Ospedale Maggiore Ca'Granda in Milan are reported. The tests carried out involved the patients (faeces, urine, and pus cultures), the environment (operating theatre, incubators), and healthy carriers (upper respiratory tract of nursing and paramedical staff). The aetiopathogenesis of the post-operative infectious complications that occurred in 1974-1975 was investigated with the aid of surveys of the causative pathogens, the type of the surgical interventions, the atmospheric pollution in the operating theatre (mean indicative values), the number of operations per month, and the frequency of positive findings among the carriers. As a parallel investigation, between 1971 and the time of writing of this report the authors monitored the resistance to gentamicin of bacteria belonging to the family Pseudomonadaceae isolated from patients, in view of the constant threat posed by the vicinity of the burns department.

[Evaluation of the lysozyme and DNAase activity for the identification of pathogenic staphylococci]. / Valutazione dell'attivíta' lisozimica e DNA-asica per l'identificazione degli stafilococchi patogeni

The sensitivity of two tests recently proposed for the classification of pathogen staphylococci were evaluated: --production of DNA-ase with the modified method of Lachica et al.; --production of lisozyme. The two above tests were studied with other six tests on 1,000 strains of staphylococci showing a very high specificity. The Authors propose that the DNA-ase production and the lisozyme production, also for their very simple execution, should become routine tests to identify the strains of pathogenic staphylococci.