The 'Scale for the measurement of attitudes towards alcohol' can be seen as an instrument for evaluating the factors capable of conditioning the behaviour of people between 18 and 26 years of age towards alcoholic substances.

IntroductionIn a group of university students, the current study investigated the relationship between drinking wine to get high and the awareness about its characteristics, composition, positive and negative effects on health.MethodsThrough a web-based survey, 1685 students at the University of Siena completed a self-report questionnaire to assess consumption behaviours, knowledge about wine and the awareness about its effects.ResultsSeventy-three percent reported drinking wine. Males were more frequently wine consumers (p = 0.037). Among the students who reported drinking, 69.3% engaged this habit during the weekend. Almost 12% reported drinking wine to get high. Drinking wine to get high correlated with the consideration of its consumption: using this beverage to get high was strongly associated with considering wine like other spirits (p = 0.033).ConclusionsOlder age, female gender, and considering wine as a part of the diet were found to be protective factors against wine drinking-to get high. In contrast with some literature, awareness of the negative effects correlated with higher propensity to use wine to get high. Potential interpretations and limitations are addressed.

factor for cardiovascular diseases. The high rate of morbidity and mortality in obese patients recognises metabolic, haemodynamic, endothelial and endocrine mechanisms as influencing factors. Insulin resistance and the resulting hyperinsulinaemia represents one of the most relevant elements for developing visceral obesity, which is involved in volume overload, sympathetic hyperactivity, increased vascular sensitivity and tone, stable hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and atherogenic dyslipidaemia. On the other hand, hypertension, hyperinsulinaemia, and sympathetic and renin-angiotensin hyperactivity may promote the structural changes in cardiac geometry, defined as remodelling, concentric and eccentric hypertrophy, and diastolic and systolic dysfunction and failure. In this view, the adipose tissue has to be considered not only as a deposit tissue, but also as an endocrine organ. Several molecules produced by adipocytes act by an endocrine, paracrine and autocrine function on different tissues. Leptin, adiponectin, tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 are some of these molecules, which are involved in glucose and lipid metabolism in the atherosclerosis process and in thrombosis and haemodynamic homeostasis.In summary, visceral obesity, as an independent risk factor, may result in insulin resistance, hypertension, cardiovascular remodelling, endothelial dysfunction, dyslipidaemia and consequent atherosclerosis.

The aim was to analyse the characteristics of, and validate, a new instrument in Italian, 'Scale for the measurement of attitudes towards alcohol'. The instrument is a means for assessing young people's risk profile regarding the use of alcohol and identifying the factors that contribute to determining this attitude. Methods: The test was initially composed of 60 items divided into three domains and administered to a sample of 41 subjects. The results revealed the necessity of adapting the test's conceptual structure: consequently, the items were reduced to 35, divided into five domains. This second version was administered to a sample of 467 students attending upper secondary schools and vocational training schools in the municipality of Siena. Following this second experiment, a third version was realized, which comprised 25 items divided into the same five domains; it was administered to 100 subjects, with an equal number of males and females and an age range of 14-30 years. Analysis of the data obtained resulted in a final structure formed of 15 items in three domains. Results: The final structure of the test has good psychometric properties in terms of both reliability and validity. Conclusions: The 'Scale for the measurement of attitudes towards alcohol' can be seen as an instrument for evaluating the factors capable of conditioning the behaviour of people between 18 and 26 years of age towards alcoholic substances.

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