Do youths gamble? You bet! A Swiss population-based study.

Objectives: To establish the gambling prevalence among Swiss resident youths, to estimate the associations between gambling frequency and substance use, poor mental health and social support and to determine the correlation between gambling pattern and gambling frequency.

Methods: Cross-sectional population-based survey conducted in 2007. From 1233 eligible participants aged 15-24 years, adequate information was available for 1116 (582 males), distributed into: non- (n=577), occasional (n=388) and frequent gamblers (n=151).

Addressing ethical dilemmas in the clinical care of adolescents: an international view.

This chapter reviews some basic concepts underlying ethical issues in adolescence and provides a step-by-step procedure to address ethical dilemmas involving minor adolescents, based on a deliberative approach. "Deliberation" with the patient, along with involving the opinion of relevant stakeholders if possible, allows for a careful, multidisciplinary examination of all options, the medical and psychosocial consequences, and the moral values stressed by each option. Although the final decision regarding which ethical option should be chosen usually belongs to the health care providers and his or her patient, the deliberative approach provides the ingredients for sound, unbiased decision-making.

[Competence of adolescent minors: a qualitative study of representations in the French-speaking area of Switzerland].

This exploratory qualitative study run using focus groups investigates the representations in the field of adolescent confidentiality and competence. Four groups of 3 to 8 participants (two of respectively younger and older adolescents, one of parents, one of pediatricians) have participated in a hone hour and a half discussion, than transcribed verbatim and analyzed by main themes. The concept of confidentiality is well known and understood, but the legal framework which underpins it is less well identified, both among young people and adults.

[Adolescents, Internet and new technologies: a new wonderland?].

This reviews the use of new technologies with its benefits and pitfalls. Among the positive aspects are instant access to educational information, the possibility to connect with mates and to develop social exchanges, as well as an access to preventive contents in the field of health, substances or sexuality. The risks are linked with inexperience and the adolescent's inability to assess the validity of information collected on Internet, as well as a lack of insights of the consequences of launching information or images on the web.

A new tool to detect high viscous exopolymers from microalgae.

Microalgae are microorganisms often surrounded by a slime layer made of secreted polymeric substances sometimes including polysaccharides. These polysaccharides, weakly described in the literature, can constitute value-added molecules in several industrial areas. The aim of this article is to show that a new tool, the BioFilm Ring Test®, can be used to detect viscous microalgal exopolymers.

Using matched survey and administrative data to estimate eligibility for the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy program.

This article uses matched survey and administrative data to estimate, as of 2006, the size of the population eligible for the Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), which was designed to provide "extra help" with premiums, deductibles, and copayments for Medicare Part D beneficiaries with low income and limited assets. We employ individual-level data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the Health and Retirement Study to cover the potentially LIS-eligible noninstitutionalized and institutionalized populations of all ages. The survey data are matched to Social Security administrative data to improve on potentially error-ridden survey measures of income and program participation.

Ethics and adolescent care: an international perspective.

Purpose Of Review: This update reviews the concepts underlying ethical issues in various contexts and countries, highlighting the evolution in the use of the core values underpinning the field and practice of bioethics as applied to healthcare.

Recent Findings: It stresses the specific position of the adolescent as being a unique individual searching for autonomy and, most of the time, being competent to make decisions regarding the adolescent's own health. It briefly outlines the principles of a 'deliberative' approach in which the practitioner, while keeping in mind the legal context of the country where the practitioner is working, assesses to what extent the adolescent can be considered as competent, and then discusses with the adolescent the medical and psychosocial aspects of the various actions to be taken in a situation, as well as the basic ethical values linked with each of the various options available.

Who eats healthily? A population-based study among young Swiss residents.

Objective: To assess whether Swiss residents aged 15-24 years follow current nutritional guidelines and whether differences exist according to gender and weight status.

Design: Cross-sectional national survey.

Setting: Switzerland.

Challenging the "inoffensiveness" of regular cannabis use by its associations with other current risky substance use--a census of 20-year-old Swiss men.

3,537 men enrolling in 2007 for mandatory army recruitment procedures were assessed for the co-occurrence of risky licit substance use among risky cannabis users. Risky cannabis use was defined as at least twice weekly; risky alcohol use as 6+ drinks more than once/monthly, or more than 20 drinks per week; and risky tobacco use as daily smoking. Ninety-five percent of all risky cannabis users reported other risky use.

[Adolescent medicine in Guglera: a novel approach for unemployed, severely obese adolescents].

The Center "la Guglera", located in the canton of Fribourg (Switzerland) provides a novel approach to the care of severely obese adolescents who are currently unemployed. These young people, whose BMI is usually higher than 35 to 40 kg/m2 spend a 6 to 12 months long stay in an in-patient institution which also takes care of other unemployed non obese adolescents on an outpatient basis. Besides a nutritional education which is part of the everyday life of the institution, the program includes a generous amount of hours of physical activities and sports.

BMP-2 functions independently of SHH signaling and triggers cell condensation and apoptosis in regenerating axolotl limbs.

Background: Axolotls have the unique ability, among vertebrates, to perfectly regenerate complex body parts, such as limbs, after amputation. In addition, axolotls pattern developing and regenerating autopods from the anterior to posterior axis instead of posterior to anterior like all tetrapods studied to date. Sonic hedgehog is important in establishing this anterior-posterior axis of limbs in all tetrapods including axolotls.

"I'll look it up on the Web first": Barriers and overcoming barriers to consult for sexual dysfunction among young men.

Questions Under Study: Our aim was to identify the barriers young men face to consult a health professional when they encounter sexual dysfunctions and where they turn to, if so, for answers.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory qualitative research including 12 young men aged 16-20 years old seen in two focus groups. Discussions were triggered through vignettes about sexual dysfunction.

Chronically connected? Internet use among adolescents with chronic conditions.

Little is known about Internet use among adolescents with chronic conditions (CCs). Our results indicate that CC females, but not males, are more likely to be heavy Internet users than their peers. CC youths are also more likely to visit health-related web sites, but less frequently than other sites.

[Evaluation using a logbook of mastering of clinical skills by medical students].

The mastering of the clinical skills is of utmost importance for the physician. The teaching of the skills is nowadays made easier with the <> which lists all the skills and their respective level of expected mastering at graduation. In order to do a survey on how good the students are at those skills, a logbook based on this document has been setup at the Faculty of biology and medicine of the University of Lausanne.

Coping with an HIV infection. A multicenter qualitative survey on HIV positive adolescents' perceptions of their disease, therapeutic adherence and treatment.

HIV-positive adolescents face a number of challenges in dealing with their disease and its treatment. In this qualitative study, twenty-nine HIV-positive adolescents aged 13 to 20 years (22 girls), who live in Switzerland, were asked, in a semi-structured interview (duration of 40-110 minutes), to describe their perceptions and experiences with the disease itself and with therapeutic adherence. While younger adolescents most often thought of their disease as fate, older adolescents usually knew that they had received it through vertical transmission, although the topic appeared to be particularly difficult to discuss for those living with their HIV-positive mothers.

Female adolescents' views on a youth-friendly clinic.

Objective: To assess satisfaction among female patients of a youth-friendly clinic and to determine with which factors this was associated.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in an adolescent clinic in Lausanne, Switzerland, between March and May 2008. All female patients who had made at least one previous visit were eligible.

Vaccination against human papillomavirus in Switzerland: simulation of the impact on infection rates.

Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection of particular interest because of its high prevalence rate and strong causal association with cervical cancer. Two prophylactic vaccines have been developed and different countries have made or will soon make recommendations for the vaccination of girls. Even if there is a consensus to recommend a vaccination before the beginning of sexual activity, there are, however, large discrepancies between countries concerning the perceived usefulness of a catch-up procedure and of boosters.

[Acute non protected main left coronary artery occlusion: a report of six cases treated by angioplasty].

Aim: Acute main left coronary artery occlusion is rarely observed during primary angioplasty in myocardial infarction. This retrospective study reports the results of six patients treated by angioplasty in a hospital without cardiac surgery department.

Patients And Methods: From 2002 to 2009, 746 patients were treated by primary angioplasty for acute coronary syndromes with ST elevation.

The benefits of risk factor prevention in Americans aged 51 years and older.

Objectives: We assessed the potential health and economic benefits of reducing common risk factors in older Americans.

Methods: A dynamic simulation model tracked a national cohort of persons 51 and 52 years of age to project their health and medical spending in prevention scenarios for diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and smoking.

Results: The gain in life span from successful treatment of a person aged 51 or 52 years for obesity would be 0.

GPs' role in the detection of psychological problems of young people: a population-based study.

Background: Among young people, about one in three females and one in five males report experiencing emotional distress but 65-95% of them do not receive help from health professionals.

Aim: To assess the differences among young people who seek help and those who do not seek help for their psychological problems, considering the frequency of consultations to their GP and their social resources.

Design Of Study: School survey.

Production and characterization of new families of polyglucuronic acids from TEMPO-NaOCl oxidation of curdlan.

Curdlan from Agrobacterium sp. was oxidized using 2,2,6,6,-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-NaBr-NaClO systems at pH 11. The effects of oxidation conditions on degrees of oxidation and polymerization of the products obtained were studied using SEC-MALLS, NMR and IR analyses.

Penile-response profiles of sexual aggressors during phallometric testing.

This study analyzes sexual-preference profiles in a sample of 420 sexual aggressors who exhibited a valid profile during their initial phallometric assessment. The sexual stimuli used in the process were audiotapes describing sexual-offending scenarios. Two types of sexual stimuli sets were used: one developed for sexual aggressors against women and a second developed for sexual aggressors against children.