Self-Esteem and Risk Behaviours in Adolescents: A Systematic Review.

Adolescence is recognised as a notoriously vulnerable period in the human life cycle. Influenced by a complex interplay of biological, psychological and social factors, adolescents show a marked propensity to engage in risk behaviours. A systematic review was conducted of studies published in the Web of Science, PsycInfo and MEDLINE databases over the last decade, with the aim of collecting studies on the relationship between self-esteem and risk behaviour in individuals aged 12-18 years.

Baseline cortisol levels, total proteins, and eosinophil count as predictors of hemodynamic response to steroid treatment in septic shock.

Background: Our aim was to study if baseline serum cortisol is related to the hemodynamic response to steroid treatment in septic shock patients and if the measurement of total proteins and eosinophil count improves its accuracy.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in 66 consecutive surgical septic shock patients receiving steroid treatment. Four criteria were chosen to define hemodynamic improvement based on the combination of noradrenaline (NA) withdrawal (at 24 and 48 hour) and an increase of the hemodynamic index (HI = mean arterial pressure/NA dose) of 150% at 24 hour and of 350% at 48 hour.

Comparing Entropy and the Bispectral index with the Ramsay score in sedated ICU patients.

Objective: ENTROPY is a new anesthetic depth monitor based on the analysis of the EEG signal. Our aim has been to evaluate sedation of intubated surgical critically ill patients by means of the Ramsay sedation score, the Bispectral index and ENTROPY, and to analyse the correlation between these variables.

Methods: Sedation was evaluated every 15 min for a 1 h period in 50 non-paralysed postoperative critically ill, intubated patients, enrolled over a 6 month period.