The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy on Children's Self-Esteem.

(1) Background: Self-esteem plays an important role in developing emotional resilience and wellbeing in children. Yet, there has been little related research on Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy on this topic. Our aims were to assess the effect of the Child Self-Esteem CBT (CSE-CBT) protocol on children's self-esteem in grades five and six; to assess the effect of the CSE-CBT protocol on the therapeutic process; and to explore the feasibility of delivering the CSE-CBT protocol in a school setting.

Prevalence of erectile dysfunction in a cohort of Italian hypertensive subjects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in a cohort of Italian hypertensive men and the association with clinical and biochemical data. The study involved 270 consecutive hypertensive subjects aged 40-70 years evaluated in Italian Hypertension Centers of six hospitals from Liguria and Piedmont. ED was assessed through the self-administered questionnaire of the International Index of Erectile Function.

[A particular case of tubercular pneumonia].

A 50 year old woman was seen for fever and persistent cough, with elevated phlogosis markers and a cavitary lesion at the right upper pulmonary lobe at thoracic CT. Even in the absence of any culture-positive finding, but given the strong suspicion of tubercular disease, the patient was treated with standard antitubercular quadruple therapy for two months (isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifampin and ethambutol) and later with two-drug therapy (isoniazid and rifampin). One month after the beginning of this second regimen we observed clinical relapse and a rise in phlogosis markers.

Real-world management of atrial fibrillation in Internal Medicine units: the FADOI 'FALP' observational study.

Background: Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent arrhythmia, but few data are available on patients' characteristics and management in the context of Internal Medicine wards.

Methods: Data were collected at the beginning of 2010 in 18 Internal Medicine units of the regions Liguria and Piemonte (Italy). Each centre reviewed the hospital charts of the last 50 patients discharged during the year 2009 in whom a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation had been made (patient's history or during the hospitalization).

[MIPS: multicenter Italian pneumonia study. Results of an observational, prospective and multicenter study on the clinical approach to community-acquired pneumonia].

In a survey of 25 Divisions of Internal Medicine and Pneumology throughout Italy, our study aimed to ascertain the diagnostic and therapeutic pathway, the gravity in accordance with Fine's score (PSI), the median hospital length of stay and mortality rate among patients consecutively hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), from January 1 to March 31, 2002. Overall 407 patients were evaluated, with a mean age of 69 years; the following Fine's scores: 28% less than 70, 21.4% between 71 and 90, 31.

[Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis: a case report without increased levels of acute-phase reactants. Noninvasive diagnosis and treatment].

We report a case of benign idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis in a 39-year-old male, who was successfully treated with immunosuppressive drugs only. Advances in imaging techniques, especially in magnetic resonance imaging, often permit an accurate diagnosis in retroperitoneal fibrosis, avoiding open biopsy or biopsy by means of image-guided techniques. In addition, the modern medical approach with immunosuppressive drugs is based on evidence of disease regression following the medical therapy and is frequently effective.

Dorfman-Chanarin syndrome: a case with prevalent hepatic involvement.

Background/aims: Dorfman-Chanarin syndrome is a very rare condition determined by an autosomal recessive inherited disorder of neutral lipid metabolism. The syndrome is defined by the association of ichthyosiform nonbullous erythroderma, vacuoles in the leukocytes and variable involvement of liver, muscle and central nervous system. Only 19 cases have been described worldwide.

[Toxic shock syndrome due to Streptococcus pyogenes: a case report].

An increasing number of severe invasive Group A streptococcal infections have recently been reported. A new syndrome similar to the staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome, defined "streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome" is also described. We report a case of streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome with atypical clinical onset.

[Importance of the determination of blood pressure profile in the diagnosis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease].

The nocturnal decline of blood pressure (BP) is not observed in autonomic dysfunction (after cardiac transplantation and in patients with diabetic neuropathy) or in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This study evaluated if smoking prematurely alters the blood pressure during the night and if the cumulative risk of hypertension and smoking may additionally alter this nocturnal profile. Three different groups of subjects were studied.

[Evaluation of blood ferritin in sideropenic anemia and its modifications in the course of divided-dose parenteral iron therapy].

Changes in blood ferritin during divided dose parenteral iron therapy and the importance of ferritin evaluation in iron-deficiency anaemia were investigated in 20 women and 10 men with this diagnosis through withdrawals before and after treatment. In 6 subjects, blood ferritin values enabled the presence of iron deficiency to be ruled out, since they were high at the first control (in agreement with the histological examination of the marrow in the search for iron deposits). In sideropenic males, the difference between values at the time of diagnosis and those of normal controls was significant (p less than 0.

[The importance of thyroid hormone determination in the course of acute and chronic liver diseases].

The RIA values of thyroid hormones in the course of acute and chronic liver disease were studied to see whether they were related to the severity of the picture in a series of 50 healthy subjects and 133 with various hepatopathies: 26 with acute viral hepatitis, 18 with alcoholic liver disease, 16 with alcoholic cirrhosis without ascites and 33 with ascites, 14 non-alcoholic cirrhosis without ascites and 24 with ascites. A reduction in T3 proportional to the seriousness of the clinical and laboratory findings was noted in chronic forms, whereas both T3 and T4 were high in acute viral hepatitis. There was no difference in T3 values in alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis of similar gravity, showing that the fall in serum T3 is not a specific alcohol-induced lesion.