Tobacco smoking among students in an urban area in Northern Italy.

Introduction: Tobacco smoking, which usually begins in teenage, is one of the most important lifestyle risk factors for chronic diseases and a major public health problem worldwide. The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of tobacco smoking and the mean age of initiation among adolescents in Genoa (Italy) and to identify some socio-demographic predictors that could be associated with the onset of smoking.

Materials And Methods: 2,301 randomly selected students (14-19 years old) in Genoa completed an ad hoc questionnaire.

Safety and tolerability of bivalent HPV vaccine: an Italian post-licensure study.

One of the most important scientific discoveries of the last century was that persistent infection by some types of HPV is a precondition for the development of cervical cancer. The oncogenic types of HPV are also associated with other tumours (vaginal, vulvar and anal carcinomas, tumours of the head and neck, urethra and penis). Two preventive vaccines are currently available (Cervarix and Gardasil).

Emergence of a tetracycline-resistant Campylobacter jejuni clone associated with outbreaks of ovine abortion in the United States.

Campylobacter infection is one of the major causes of ovine abortions worldwide. Historically, Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus was the major cause of Campylobacter-associated abortion in sheep; however, Campylobacter jejuni is increasingly associated with sheep abortions.

Occurrence of Salmonella spp. in imported eggs into Albania.

Seventy-nine shell egg lots imported into Albania during the 2-years period 1996-1997 (69 lots during 1996 and 10 lots during 1997) were investigated for the presence of the Salmonella spp. Salmonella was detected in 1 out of 79 analysed pooled samples (1.26%).