Violence against children includes all forms of violence against people under 18 years old whether perpetrated by parents or other caregivers, peers, partners, teacher or strangers. This is a public health, human rights, and social problem: levels of violence against children are frightfully high and it is estimated that up to 1 billion children aged 2–17 years, have experienced a type of violence. Very few studies provided physical violence perpetrated at school but it can have a physical impact, causing psychological distress, permanent physical disability and long-term physical or mental ill-health. Children who experienced any type of violence at school may develop reactive attachment disorder, modest physical inactivity, overweight or obesity, diabetes, smoking habits, heavy alcohol use, poor self-rated health, cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease and other negative outcomes. Evidence from international studies clearly shows that nonviolent, positive discipline delivers better results, while any type of violence is associated with many negative one.

Gambling disorder (GD) is a psychiatric condition and it is characterized by a maladaptive pattern of gambling behavior that persists despite negative consequences in major areas of life functioning. In Italy, CNR (National Research Council) underlined how over 17 million, 42.8% of the population aged 15–64 have a gambling behavior. Among them, there are over one million students, aged 15–19, equal to 44.2% of Italian students; the number of minors in Italy with GD in 2017 was 580,000, equal to 33.6%. Various psychosocial treatment models have been adapted for GD; on the other hand no drug has received regulatory approval in any jurisdiction as a specific psychopharmacological treatment for GD. Family therapy interventions for treatment of substance abuse problems have been adapted for adolescents GD. Given the increasing overall prevalence of adolescent gambling, it is imperative that Pediatricians appreciate that gambling problems can also afflict adolescents. In conclusion underage gambling appears to be associated positively with alcohol, tobacco and other substance use, as well as with other individual behaviors, therefore we need that collaborative efforts between scientific societies, government and stake holders can influence the uptake of research findings necessary to implement social policies and design effective public health intervention options. Educational-based problem gambling prevention programs are important avenues in targeting at-risk behaviors among adolescents to prevent an escalation of problematic behaviors into adulthood.

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of aspirin and ticlopidine before continuing long-term treatment. Our patients, however, were homogeneous in terms of infarct size and clinical severity.As Dr Ozturk and colleagues state, further studies based on a large number of patients (with more appropriate controls) are necessary to determine the significance of the coagulation-fibrinorysis markers for stroke and stroke recurrence and the effects of antiplatelet medication on the markers. Apolipoprotein E c4 Allele Frequency in Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's DiseaseTo the Editor The issue of apolipoprotein E (apo E) polymorphism has been receiving a great deal of attention in the neurological literature.13 It has been suggested in Stroke that the frequent e3/£4 phenotype may protect against vascular morbidity 2 and that the e4 allele might be a predisposing genetic marker for ischemic cerebrovascular disease. 1 However, the «4 allele has recently been reported to also be more frequent in patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (40% in patients with Alzheimer's disease compared with 10% to 16% of control subjects), 1 -3 -4 raising questions about the specificity of €4 as a risk factor for cerebrovascular or Alzheimer's disease. 3 We assessed apo E allele frequencies in 51 elderly control subjects, 23 subjects with vascular dementia, 6 and 93 patients with Alzheimer's disease. Apo E phenotype was determined by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients and immunodetection by sheep anti-apo E antibodies. Frequency of the e4 allele is higher in both patients with vascular dementia and those with Alzheimer's disease than in age-matched control subjects or a younger Italian population 7 (Table).The association of the apo E allele with vascular disease has been repeatedly reported, 1 and it should not be surprising that it appears more frequently in patients with vascular dementia than in control subjects. However, this casts doubt on its specificity as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.A unifying explanation of the association of the e4 allele with both vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease might involve the role of apo E isoforms in the repair processes in the nervous system. Apo E is synthesized in the central nervous system and plays a role in normal brain lipid metabolism.

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