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In order to define the validity of a screening program for hypertension in schools, aiming to prevent an hypertensive status in adult age, we screened 861 children from schools on the area of our Medical District (U.S.L. 22--Vittoria--Sicily). The object of our study is to search for risk factors of hypertension, detectable at school age and, if existing, which age is more suitable for a screening program. We randomly sampled 861 children from different schools, aging 6, 10 and 13 years. The first step was to define the prevalence of hypertension and obesity in the sample, and the correlation between the two factors (transversal study). We found an overall prevalence of obesity at 6, 10, and 13 years of 6.69%, 18.22% and 17.7% respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was 4.01%, 11.4%, and 6.98% at 6, 10 and 13 years respectively. The second step is to create a personal record of each child, which will be followed up to the age of 18 years, containing familial and nutritional informations, periodic evaluations of height, weight, blood pressure and biologic sampling (longitudinal study). Our preliminary results confirmed the correlation between obesity and hypertension, although they do not help to clarify why the prevalence of hypertension decreases from 10 to 13 years whereas obesity maintains the same prevalence at the mentioned ages.

The infantile hemangioendothelioma of the liver is a rare benign vascular tumor that accounts for some 10% of all primary hepatic masses. Two cases were seen at the Department of Pediatric Surgery of Vicenza's Hospital in the last ten years. Both of patients were females and presented in neonatal period asymptomatic. The first patient was found to have hepatomegaly by pediatrician at six weeks of age, the second was an incidental finding following ultrasound neonatal screening. The Authors outline some difficulties met with differential diagnosis between benign versus malignant hepatic tumors. Explorative laparotomy was considered necessary in both the patients. Liver biopsy was the only surgical procedure performed in the nonresectable tumor. Treatment with corticosteroids finally proved to be successful to determine progressive involution of the tumor. In the resectable form, left hepatic lobectomy was successfully performed because of the progressive size increase of the tumor.

An essential introduction for a campaign of health education, to take preventive measures against caries, is to have knowledge of the prevailing situation of the pathology. The research analysed a sample consisting of 1371 pupils attending the "scuole elementari" and the "scuole medie" in the municipal districts of Vittoria, Acate and Scoglitti. The methodological statement consist of an analysis regarding experimental epidemiology. The emerged data, proposed in diagrams and tables, show that caries frequency increases in the pupils' ages, going from a value of 57.7% at the age of 6 to a value of 75.2% at the age of 13; besides, it is statistically meaningful the caries difference with regard to the sex at the age of 13. So the DMF and dmf values, although not alarming point out the necessity of a preventive intervention.

In Italy and we would almost say all over the world, the infantile mortality is getting more and more reduced: from 228, 7% in 1863 to 27% in 1972 and especially in the last period of thirty years, the mortality after the first week of life is reduced. All this is given by the improvement of the hygienical sanitary and charitable states of people. Where these improvements haven't been remarkable, the reduction of infantile mortality has been more moderate as in Middle and South Italy, where population have a lower social-economic level in respect of Nord Italy's population. After having studied this problem in the effective reality of our zone (Comiso 1977), now we want to consider and to study it in Vittoria.

414 children of the nursery, primary and secondary schools, of Giarratana's borough were visited by the pediatrician. From these data one can see an high rate of children with dental caries (37,19%), weight and height deficiency (13%). The final thoughts emphasize the need of sanitary measures because of the checked pathologies and polyspecialistic preventive controls to continue in the next years.

The authors have carried out a research at Comiso nursery and elementary schools. The conclude that it is necessary to examine more deeply the problems of the atopic diseases in paediatric field. The results obtained have shown a greater frequency of cutaneous pathologies at nursery schools and of respiratories pathologies at elementary ones.

The paediatric group of Comiso Hospital has carried out a research on 1086 children during the school year 1983-84 at Comiso nursery and elementary schools. The results obtained have shown the necessity of prevention sanitary education on the paediatric diseases, especially on auxologiche pathologies.

Nine children with total anal incontinence after surgery for anorectal agenesis were successfully operated on by free autogenous muscle transplantation. Skeletal muscles were first denervated and 3 weeks later transplanted to the anal region as a U--sling around the rectum, imitating the normal position and function of the puborectalis muscle. The grafts were placed in contact with the normal muscles of the region to make reinnervation possible. Eight children were completely evaluated after operation. Two years after surgical procedure six children were "continent" and only two were still incontinent, but improved. In these cases the indication for muscle transplantation was not quite correct. The return of the function of the muscle grafts completely changed the lives of these children. The results of this new surgical procedure are encouraging and invite further trials.