Aims and Background: In addition to nausea and vomiting following chemotherapy treatment, cancer patients can experience these side effects prior to a treatment session, the so-called anticipatory nausea and vomiting. As various psychological and neurophysiological aspects have been claimed to be implied in its etiopathogenesis, the present paper aims to shortly review the etiological, epidemiological and therapeutical assumptions on the topic, in particular the psychological-behavioral therapies. Patients and Methods: The present study was carried out on 16 consecutive adult cancer patients affected by chemotherapy-induced anticipatory nausea and vomiting who had received at least four treatment cycles. All of them were submitted to induction of relaxation followed by hypnosis. Results: In all subjects anticipatory nausea and vomiting disappeared, and major responses to chemotherapy-induced emesis control were recorded in almost all patients. Conclusions: The experience highlights the potential value of hypnosis in the management of anticipatory nausea and vomiting; furthermore, the susceptibility to anticipatory nausea and vomiting is discussed under the psychoanalytic point of view.

In 1993-94, in Liguria (a northwestern Italian region) a study was carried out on dyschromatopsia, a congenital sex-linked form of colour blindness. 3124 junior high school boys aged 10-15 years were tested using Ishihara plates (1973 edition) and Farnsworth's D-15 test (1947 edition). 152 students were identified as colour blind (4.87%), a value slightly below the Italian average of 5.3%. The school achievement of these students was assessed by means of the school marks of two randomised subsamples composed of 82 dyschromates and 82 orthochromates, paired homogeneously by age and class. Statistical analysis indicated significantly lower general school achievement for the 82 dyschromate subjects (except for art). The learning difficulties of dyschromate persons for whom colour is a basic didactic tool are discussed. Introduction of dyschromatopsia tests at preschool would be desirable.

Different herbs are commonly used in Africa during traditional practices connected to female genital modifications (FGMo) -expansive (genital stretching) and reductive forms (infibulation). The herbal component is an integral part of ritual genital stretching, often carried out in the grassy ground. Usually, these herbs act as lubricants and/or anesthetics to help labial manipulation. In the reductive forms of FGMo (i.e., infibulation), post-intervention herbal compresses, with hemostatic and cicatrizing functions, are placed on the wound. In particular, in the infibulation ritual, substances emitting marked aromatic perfumes are used. In Somalia, in the ùnsi ceremony, incense and myrrh are burned; in Sudan, in the dukhàn ceremony, sandal and acacia woods. These are the specific smoke ceremonies purifying women. In both expansive and reductive FGMo, a deep knowledge about the local herbs is reported, which connects the present African populations with those of the past, from which they probably inherited the knowledge and the utilization of FGMo interventions.

No abstract