[Tobacco- and alcohol-related behaviors among adolescents attending high schools in Lodi, Milano (City and Province) in the period 2000-2003: results from two multicentric studies].

Tobacco- and alcohol-related behaviors are important public health problems under the sanitary, economic and political point of view; even if the negative consequences of these substances' use and abuse are clear and well recognized, the prevalence of the phenomenon remains however high. Therefore to put in action prevention effective procedures, it is useful to know causes and consequences of the behaviour, but also to be able to quantify them and follow them up. This research is aimed at assessing the spread of tobacco's and alcohol's consumptions among students attending high school in Lodi and Milano (City and Province) during school year 2002-2003 and allows to compare these data with those obtained through a similar study carried out during school year 2000-2001.

Overweight, thinness, body self-image and eating strategies of 2,121 Italian teenagers.

This study describes the prevalence rate of overweight and thinness in a population of teens living in two different areas of Italy and explores the body self-image perception and unhealthy eating behaviours and strategies to lose weight. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 2,121 teenage students (1,084 males, 1,037 females). Results showed that teen females and males build and perceive their body images in very different ways.

[Survey of physical activity and doping in a sample of 6,915 students aged 14-18 years].

Aim: Promoting physical activity is one of the main goals of health-promotion policies. The period of adolescence is characterised by a high rate of abandonment of any physical activity. In this age range, moreover, the risk of assuming substances in order to improve muscular-mass or athletic results is concrete.

[Risk assessment for eating disorders in a high school: a study based on the Eating Attitudes Test 26].

Aim: Disordered eating behaviours can lead to clinically evident and serious eating disorders (ED). Aim of this paper is to determine their extent among adolescents and to evaluate the associated characteristics.

Methods: All students of a high school (age 14-18) have been asked to fill up the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) anonymously.

[Hand hygiene in intensive care].

Hand hygiene represents the main way to prevent and/or at least reduce nosocomial infection incidence. In this paper we discuss this "hot topic" through both the analysis of CDC guide lines and the data resulting from a questionnaire survey sent to health care workers, eventually corroborated by their direct observation. From literature data and our survey result analyses, we are more than convinced that the winning strategies for a slow but progressive improvement of hand washing practice and compliance are (i).