Response to HBV vaccine in relation to anti-HCV and anti-HBc positivity: a study in intravenous drug addicts.

Drug addicts represent the group of young adults with the lowest response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine. A study was carried out on 110 current intravenous heroin users attending the service providing assistance to intravenous drug users (IVDUs) (SERT) in Padua: 66.4% of them were found anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive and 33.

The ordinary and the extraordinary: a note for an interpretative hypothesis.

The problem of the meaning to be given to the large changes that occur over the weekend in the way young people, and not so young people, live their lives is discussed. People who lead lives which can be defined as generically regular (as regards work, study, etc.) from Monday to Friday completely change their ways of being and living on Friday night.

MDMA ('ecstasy') consumption in the context of polydrug abuse: a report on 150 patients.

The present study examined the characteristics and the possible psychopathological consequences of ecstasy (MDMA, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) use. One hundred and fifty consecutive patients, presenting to the Padova (Italy) Addiction Treatment Unit and who had taken ecstasy on at least one occasion, were examined and studied using a semi-structured interview. Ninety-five percent of the patients had experimented with another drug of abuse at least once in their lifetime.

Artificial neural networks for drug vulnerability recognition and dynamic scenarios simulation.

Semeion researchers have developed and used different kinds of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in order to process selected, "standard" data coming from drug users and from people who never used drugs before. In the first step a collection of 112 general variables, not traditionally connected to drug user's behavior, were collected from a sample of 545 people (223 heroin addicted and 322 non-users). Different types of ANNs were used to test the capability of the system to classify the drug users and the non-drug users correctly.

Indications for the surgical treatment of hydrocephalic dementia.

Eighteen patients with chronic hydrocephalic dementia who had a ventriculo-atrial or ventriculo-peritoneal shunt are reported. The indications for operating on this type of dementia are discussed on the basis of the clinical and instrumental protocol and the postoperative results.