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Biomedical subjects

A Porretta

Publications and source records attributed to A Porretta.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Prevalence and patterns of antibiotic prescribing in Italian hospitals.

Use of antimicrobial drugs is associated with the emergence of resistant bacteria, increasing hospital expenditures and requires an assessment of appropriateness. The aim of this study was to investigate prevalence and patterns of antibiotic prescribing and expenditures in Italian hospitals. A prevalence survey was performed in 15 Italian hospitals. Data on antimicrobial use and expenditures in the year 2000 and 1-day point prevalence information on antibiotic prescription, type and sources of infections and expenditures were obtained through a review of pharmacy records and charts of 2,165 inpatients. 45.5% of the patients surveyed were receiving at least one antibiotic: 148 for hospital-acquired infections (HAI), 262 for community-acquired infections (CAI). No active infection was recorded for 575 patients (58.4%). 57.3% of prescriptions for HAI and 65.9% for CAI were based on empiric and presumptive criteria, while 39% of HAI and 15.8% of CAI were oriented by microbiology and susceptibility testing results. Guidelines were followed in choosing the antimicrobial drugs for 22.8% of therapeutic and 46.8% of prophylactic courses. High rates of antibiotic usage were observed in Italian hospitals. Areas for improvement, both for the use of diagnostic resources and the prescribing habits, were identified. The 1-day prevalence survey of antimicrobial use may be a tool of feedback to prescribers for more appropriate drug selection.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Tobacco habits in a cohort of 4,135 adolescents attending high school in northern Italy. Results of a multicenter study].

Assuming that adolescence--a high risk age as far as this behavior is concerned--is the crucial stage for prevention procedures, we don't know much about Italian adolescents' tobacco related behaviors, regardless of the fact that tobacco smoking is one of the most relevant problems of Public Health. The goal of this research has been assessing, through a multicentric study using an anonymous questionnaire, how spread is this behavior among 4135 students attending high school in five different areas of Northern Italy. The research points out a remarkable spreading of the phenomenon and suggests to anticipate prevention procedures during compulsory education, taking in account gender features.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Progress in food technology: sterilization processes (author's transl)].

The results of the investigations on the behaviour of micro-organisms begun in about 1920 and deepened in more recent years, together with a better knowledge of the mechanism of heat, penetration, have been the basis for the conception and the realization of a large number of sterilization processes, sterilizers and containers allowing a quicker heat exchange to be obtained and higher sterilization temperatures to be used, with the manufacture of preserved food of better quality as a result. Aseptic filling processes, continuous sterilizers with the a can kept rotating or agitated by different means, heat exchangers with mixing of heating medium and food, scraped-surface heat exchangers and containers made of aluminium plastics laminates are being used more and more extensively. The improvement of heat sterilization processes has enabled the use of chemical preservatives to be reduced and to be limited to those surely fase for the health of the consumer. Sterilization by ionizing radiation, which seemed to be so promising at birth, has marked time in these last years and because of the doubts raised as to the harmlessness of radiation-treated foods and other drawbacks it has a present no prospects of application on a commercial scale.

Food Irradiation↗