Despite regionalization of perinatal care provides for the “in utero” transfer of high-risk pregnancies, there will always be a number of neonates who undergo acute inter-facility transport. The presence of a well-organized Neonatal Emergency Transport Service (NETS) can prevent and reduce risks of transportation, especially for very preterm infants, and is therefore mandatory...
We aimed to survey Delivery Room and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) respiratory strategies dedicated to the extremely low gestational age newborn (ELGAN – GA < 28 wks) in Italy. A questionnaire was sent to 113 Italian level III centres. A lead physician and a nurse with expertise in mechanical ventilation (MV) were identified in each unit to answer. Information about those...
Preterm birth is a health and social problem, considered the leading cause of neonatal mortality worldwide. It is associated with higher rates of neurodevelopmental morbidity, sensorineural impairments and other complications. The aim of the study was to describe the incidence and the major risk factors associated with preterm birth. We performed a single center, observational...
Despite improving access to Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) management, information on the quality of the service, as measured by timely recovery, is scare. This study is designed to assess treatment outcomes and factors affecting time-to-recovery from SAM in children 6–59 months admitted to a stabilizing center in Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (HU-CSH...
Vaccine coverage of health care professionals against influenza is still low in Italy, as well as in other European countries. Between March and May 2018, this study was performed to collect the opinions of Pediatric health care professionals, working in emergency departments, regarding the efficacy and safety of the influenza vaccine. An anonymous online survey was employed to...
Low birth weight is defined as infant born with weight of less than 2500 g. It is one of the major public health problems worldwide. In Ethiopia, there are limited evidences on factors contributing to low birthweight. To assess factors associated with low birth weight babies in Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Hawassa, Ethiopia from March to April, 2018. An...
Hypophosphatemia has many causes, and is often encountered during DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis) treatment. However, it rarely requires clinical intervention. Ventricular arrhythmia was observed in a 10-year-old girl with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus and hypophosphatemia while undergoing treatment for ketoacidosis. Oral phosphate supplementation ceased ventricular...
Familial loss-of-function mutations of the gene coding for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) channel protein cause cystic fibrosis (CF), the most frequent inherited life-threatening disease in the Caucasian population. A recent study indicates that the gluten/gliadin-derived peptide (P31–43) can cause CFTR inhibition in intestinal epithelial cells...
In order to give a new contribution to the knowledge of the psycho-physical, behavioral and socio-relational development of the individuals who were born at neurological risk, we have carried out a research work through a retrospective and observational analysis in such people, followed in their neuro-evolutionary development from the Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology of...
The term “Lotus Birth” identifies the practice of not cutting the umbilical cord and of leaving the placenta attached to the newborn after its expulsion until it detaches spontaneously, which generally occurs 3–10 days after birth. The first reported cases of Lotus Birth date back to 2004 in Australia. Supporters of such a procedure claim that the newborn is better perfused...
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord invoked by the insufficient intake of folic acid in the early stages of pregnancy and have a complex etiology involving both genetic and environmental factors. So the study aimed to explore the association between alterations in maternal one-carbon metabolism and NTDs in the offspring. We conducted a...
The benefit of probiotics in newborn children in relation to allergy and general morbidity later in life appears to be controversial. Allergic diseases represent an increasingly important health problem worldwide in recent years. This is evident in all age groups. The occurrence of allergic illnesses also continues to rise exponentially, and thus the use of preventive and...
Preptin is a 34-residue pancreatic hormone that stimulates osteoblast proliferation and reduces osteoblast apoptosis. To measure levels of serum Preptin in rachitic children and in breastmilk of their mothers and to compare with levels in healthy non-rachitic children. Thirty children with rickets and another 30 non-rachitic age and sex matched controls were subjected to detailed...
To date, a large number of children are hospitalized inappropriately in adult intensive care units, where the minimum standards of care are not applied to young patients. It is well-known that the child is not a small adult. Recently it has been demonstrated that critically ill children hospitalized in pediatric intensive care receive higher quality of care, and have better...
The observed increase in body weight and cardiometabolic risk (CR) in youth from developed countries contributes to the global burden of chronic diseases in adult age. The aim of this work is to provide a patterning of the associations between different factors and the weight status and CR of the subjects involved in the Italian ministerial ASSO project. This study involved 919...
Globalization caused a shift in trial locations towards low-middle income countries, raising ethical concerns. These include the risk that conditions primarily affecting children in these countries will be neglected in favor of those affecting developed countries. We analyzed 253 published and 69 ongoing pharmacological RCTs performed in Latin America between 2000 and 2015...
Vitamin K is a key point for guarantee normal blood clotting and its level in newborns is commonly low, so a supplementation after delivery is mandatory. Vitamin K prophylaxis in newborns is still an open field of debate: many types of protocol have been proposed in different years and Countries, and sometimes with great variability inside the same Nation (for instance, in Italy...
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that is very common among youth worldwide. The burden of this illness is very high not only considering financial costs but also on emotional and social functioning. Guidelines and many researches recommend to develop a good communication between physicians and children/caregiver and their parents. Nevertheless, a previous Italian project...
Although several modifiable risk factors have been identified, and prone and side sleep positions were identified as preventing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the epidemiology of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy (SUDI), which includes SIDS, has not unchanged in over a decade. What can be done? Italian infant mortality rates were analysed between 1996 and 2015. Between...
paucity of interlobular bile ducts is an important observation at liver biopsy in the diagnostic work-up of neonatal cholestasis. To date, other than in the Alagille syndrome, syndromic paucity of interlobular bile ducts has been documented in four cholestatic neonates with HFN1β mutations. A syndromic phenotype, known as renal cysts and diabetes syndrome (RCAD), has been...
Inherited ichthyoses are rare disorders characterized by generalized skin scaling. Among them, autosomal recessive congenital ichthyoses (ARCI) form a major subgroup presenting lifelong and severely disabling cutaneous and extracutaneous features and symptoms for which no curative treatment is available. Management relies on daily time-consuming and distressing topical...
Meningococcal meningitis (MM) is known to be responsible of high cost for the Public Health Administration. Aim of the work is to calculate the costs for the hospitalization of pediatric patients affected by MM. We calculate the costs for the hospitalization of pediatric patients affected by MM in the acute phase (HAP) over a nine year period. We performed a MEDLINE search to...
Pediatric head trauma management varies between emergency departments globally. Here we aim to compare the pediatric minor head trauma management between a US and Italian hospital. We conducted a retrospective chart review of children 0–18 years old presenting after minor head trauma (Glasgow Coma Scale 14–15) from two emergency departments, in Boston, Massachusetts, United...
Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) in children is an uncommon but severe condition which can be either inherited or acquired. It consists in clinical manifestation of defective production or ineffective action of endogenous glucocorticoids; deficiency in mineralocorticoids and adrenal androgens may coexist. Diagnosis of PAI in children and young people can be challenging; while...