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An antismoking campaign aimed at the 9-18 year old Genoese school population in 1981-1985 is described. The high percentage of smokers in Italy and the worryingly early age at which the habit is acquired suggested the need for a carefully prepared ongoing programme of primary prevention that would not be limited to occasional speeches. Part of the programme was also directed towards school health officers, teachers and families for whom seminars and refresher courses and topics appropriate for each group were organised. The dangers of smoking framed in a broader context were described and debater before a total of 26,000 school children in 4 years. The results that can only now be examined due to initial difficulties in implementing the programme show that out of 4613 smokers involved in the programme 29.8% stopped smoking after a year. Significantly in the same group and in the same period only 2.5% of the school children began to smoke. In contrast 15.8% new smokers were found in the control group. Further checks on a wider sample are scheduled in order to verify and confirm the results presented.

A study on 285 students and teachers of a nurse professional school was undertaken in two hospital of Genoa. A questionnaire proposed by World Health Organization and by Italian League Against Cancer was employed to collect data on smoking habits and behaviour. Subjects included in the present study were selectively chosen as they are in a transitional phase between school application and working environment within the hospital practice. Although these sample of hospital personnel showed a slow trend toward quit smoking, the rates of smokers are rather high, both in the youth (55%) and in the teachers. Our results showed that 87% of subjects interview agreed with the necessity to avoid smoking within the hospital environment; young nurses generally lack a specific knowledge about the hazard of smoking and more detailed information is requested for a correct education and prevention of patients' health.

The authors conducted a randomized trial on 16 patients to evaluate intestinal aerobic microfloral changes after prolonged oral treatment with bacampicillin (b.) (16 g/die) or amoxicillin (a.) (2 g/die). The analysis showed a quantitative reduction of isolates in 6 patients: 2 patients were treated with b. while 4 with a. (Odd ratio, O.R. = 3). Mean values of CFU presented as well a more evident reduction in a.-treated patients. From the qualitative point of view, bacteria modifications occurred in one patient treated with b. and 3 with a, (O.R. = 4.2). Bacterial changes, although not statistically significant, were thus greater in patients treated with a. than b.

Sixty-three patients were given a complete laboratory screening before undergoing surgical treatment for cancer of the digestive tract. The values of all these parameters were correlated with the incidence of postoperative infections, with the aim of identifying those markers which could be useful for the pre-operative selection of the patients at risk of infection. Patients who developed postoperative infections showed a significant pre-operative reduction of total serum proteins (P less than 0.02), albumins (P less than 0.02), beta-globulins (P less than 0.01) and C3c (P less than 0.05), while alpha 1-globulins were slightly, but not significantly, increased. The possible clinical applications of these parameters, to develop a predictive model which may help identify the patients at risk of infection, are discussed.

Thirty-three anti-HIV positive patients with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL) who underwent lymph-node biopsy were studied to assess the diagnostic and prognostic relations existing between clinical, histological and laboratory findings. Patients were also examined for known risk factors, laboratory and bacteriological tests, and mononuclear cell surface marker analysis. 4 histological types were identified according to Ràcz's classification. At biopsy, there were 21 cases of LAS (64%), 6 cases of ARC (18%) and 6 cases of AIDS (18%); a clear prevalence of type 1 was evidenced in LAS/ARC patients, while only type 4 was present in the AIDS group. An ARC type 3 patient developed manifest AIDS within 13 months from biopsy. These results suggest that anti-HIV positive asymptomatic patients with PGL apparently do not require lymph node biopsy, as none of them showed histologic findings suggestive of opportunistic infections, malignant lymphoma or Kaposi's sarcoma. On the contrary, lymph node biopsy can play a diagnostic and prognostic role in anti-HIV negative subjects with PGL, and in ARC and AIDS patients.