The theoretical description and the experimental methods and results for above-threshold ionization (ATI) by few-cycle pulses are reviewed. A pulse is referred to as a few-cycle pulse if its detailed shape, parametrized by its carrier-envelope phase, affects its interaction with matter. Angular-resolved ATI spectra are analysed with the customary strong-field approximation (SFA) as well as the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE). After a general discussion of the characteristics and the description of few-cycle pulses, the behaviour of the ATI spectrum under spatial inversion is related to the shape of the laser field. The ATI spectrum both for the direct and for the rescattered electrons in the context of the SFA is evaluated by numerical integration and by the method of steepest descent (saddle-point integration), and the results are compared. The saddle-point method is modified to avoid the singularity of the dipole transition matrix element at the steepest-descent times. With the help of the saddle-point method and its classical limit, namely the simple-man model, the various features of the ATI spectrum, their behaviour under inversion, the cut-offs and the presence or absence of ATI peaks are analysed as a function of the carrier-envelope phase of the few-cycle laser field. All features observed in the spectra can be explained in terms of a few quantum orbits and their superposition. The validity of the SFA and the concept of quantum orbits are established by comparing the ATI spectra with those obtained numerically from the ab initio solution of the TDSE.

INTRODUCTION There are only a limited number of researches on the frequency, extent, causality and the location of injuries among young people. It is difficult to say to which extent the risky behavior in youth is really spread, because there are no routine data on this issue. In the Republic of Srpska, the first nationwide survey on health behavior of school aged children was conducted, comprising a very important area of health behavior related to injuries, violence and harassment. The aim of this paper was to investigate the risky behavior of school children in the Republic of Srpska in relation to injuries, violence and harassment. MATERIAL AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Srpska during 2002, on a selected sample of schools and covered a total of 1783 pupils, 15 years of age. The survey instrument was the international standard questionnaire, modified for the Republic of Srpska region. RESULTS Almost a quarter of all polled school children of both sexes have participated in fights. More than 10% of boys carry weapons. Injuries have mostly occurred during sports activities, on sports grounds (35.8%), at home (26.9%), in the school yard (14.5%), in the street or parking lots (11.4%) and in the countryside (5.6%). CONCLUSION The existing violence and injuries among school children indicate a clear need for improvement of mutual communication and tolerance among pupils and involvement of all relevant community members: parents, teachers, health workers and the entire society in health education of school children.

OBJECTIVE To use the Pediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organization (PRINTO) core set of outcome measures to develop a validated definition of improvement for the evaluation of response to therapy in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Thirty-seven experienced pediatric rheumatologists from 27 countries, each of whom had specific experience in the assessment of juvenile SLE patients, achieved consensus on 128 patient profiles as being clinically improved or not improved. Using the physicians' consensus ratings as the gold standard measure, the chi-square, sensitivity, specificity, false-positive and false-negative rates, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and kappa level of agreement for 597 candidate definitions of improvement were calculated. Only definitions with a kappa value greater than 0.7 were retained. The top definitions were selected based on the product of the content validity score multiplied by its kappa statistic. RESULTS The definition of improvement with the highest final score was at least 50% improvement from baseline in any 2 of the 5 core set measures, with no more than 1 of the remaining worsening by more than 30%. CONCLUSION PRINTO proposes a valid and reproducible definition of improvement that reflects well the consensus rating of experienced clinicians and that incorporates clinically meaningful change in core set measures in a composite end point for the evaluation of global response to therapy in patients with juvenile SLE. The definition is now proposed for use in juvenile SLE clinical trials and may help physicians to decide whether a child with SLE responded adequately to therapy.