Perioperative anaphylactic risk score for risk-oriented premedication

Basing on the current knowledge, this paper is aimed to review the core characteristics of the most relevant therapeutic agents (steroids and antihistamines), administered to prevent perioperative anaphylaxis. Moreover, the Authors propose the validation of a Global Anaphylactic Risk Score, built up by recording the individual scores related to the most relevant anaphylaxis parameters (i.e. medical history, symptoms and medication for asthma, rhinitis and urticaria etc) and by adding them on all together; the score could be used in the preoperative phase to evaluate the global anaphylactic risk and to prescribe risk-oriented premedication protocols.

Existence and uniqueness of endemic states for the age-structured S-I-R epidemic model

The existence and uniqueness of positive steady states for the age structured S-I-R epidemic model with intercohort transmission is considered. Threshold results for the existence of endemic states are established for most cases. Uniqueness is shown in each case. Threshold used are explicitly computable in terms of demographic and epidemiological parameters of the model.

The HIV/AIDS epidemics among drug injectors: a study of contact structure through a mathematical model

Numerical results of a model with variable infectivity for the dynamics of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) have been compared with the data of AIDS cases among intravenous drug users in Italy, especially in the Latium region. We examined several hypotheses about the dynamics of the epidemics; for each we obtained, mainly through a least-square approach but also minimizing a different quantity, a best-fit estimate of the parameters. In the simplest model, the population is assumed to be homogeneous, and we estimate contact rate and year of start of the epidemics, obtaining a good fit up to 1989, less so after. A substantial increase in fit is obtained in assuming either a decrease of the contact rate over time or a heterogeneous population with a smaller active group. We have also compared models with different infectivity curves during the incubation period: the assumption of constant infectivity is untenable, whereas the often suggested hypothesis of a peak in infectivity shortly after infection seems to be in agreement with data.

An AIDS model with distributed incubation and variable infectiousness: applications to i.v. drug users in Latium, Italy

An AIDS model with distributed incubation and variable infectiousness is considered and simulated via a second-order numerical method. The method is applied to the HIV epidemic among IV drug users in the Latium region of Italy, using available data on the length of the incubation period before the onset of AIDS, on the infectivity of infected individuals during that period, and on the demography of drug users. The contact rate is adjusted to match the actual number of AIDS cases. The sensitivity of the model to uncertainties in the parameters is finally investigated, by performing several simulations.

Intellectual functions and personality in subjects with noncongenital myotonic muscular dystrophy

Mental retardation and personality disorders are commonly described among the symptoms of myotonic dystrophy. Nevertheless, this tendency is not supported by systematic studies performed on large samples, whose results are controversial. We studied the cognitive functions and personalities of a group of 28 patients, in whom myotonic dystrophy had commenced in juvenile or adult life. The severity of the disease was variable, but all subjects were self-sufficient. Only 7.1% of subjects showed low intelligence with deterioration of perceptual-motor functions. This was not correlated with the severity of their disease. Women had a substantially lower mean Wechsler-Bellevue score than men. The personality function study of the entire group showed no change of psychiatric relevance but did present a depressive attitude with marked somatic concern and difficulties in establishing relationships in social life.