Allergology and Immunology

Risk factors for celiac disease

Celiac Disease (CD) is an immune-mediated systemic disorder elicited by gluten and related prolamines in genetically susceptible individuals and it is the result of the interaction between genetic and environm...

Authors: Marco Sarno, Valentina Discepolo, Riccardo Troncone and Renata Auricchio

Food allergies in school: design and evaluation of a teacher-oriented training action

Food allergies are perceived as a significant problem in school environments; as a result, a teacher’s ability to recognise and deal with allergic reactions is of fundamental importance to protect children’s h...

Authors: Licia Ravarotto, Giulia Mascarello, Anna Pinto, Maria Rita Schiavo, Marina Bagni and Lucia Decastelli

Resveratrol plus carboxymethyl-β-glucan in children with recurrent respiratory infections: a preliminary and real-life experience

Recurrent respiratory infections (RRI), such as the presence of at least one of the following criteria: i) >6 RI per year; ii) >1 RI per month involving upper airways from September to April; iii) >3 RI involv...

Authors: Alfonso Maria Varricchio, Michele Capasso, Antonio della Volpe, Luigi Malafronte, Nicola Mansi, Attilio Varricchio and Giorgio Ciprandi

Severe congenital neutropenia due to G6PC3 deficiency: early and delayed phenotype in two patients with two novel mutations

Severe Congenital Neutropenia type 4 (SCN4, OMIM 612541) is a rare autosomal recessive disease due to mutations in the G6PC3 gene. The phenotype comprises neutropenia of variable severity and other anomalies incl...

Authors: Lucia Dora Notarangelo, Gianfranco Savoldi, Sara Cavagnini, Veronica Bennato, Sabrina Vasile, Alba Pilotta, Alessandro Plebani and Fulvio Porta

Late-onset of immunodysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, x-linked syndrome (IPEX) with intractable diarrhea

The syndrome of immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X linked (IPEX) is a rare disorder caused by mutations in the FOXP3 gene. Diarrhea, diabetes and dermatitis are the hallmark of the diseas...

Authors: Daniele Zama, Ilaria Cocchi, Riccardo Masetti, Fernando Specchia, Patrizia Alvisi, Eleonora Gambineri, Mario Lima and Andrea Pession

Atopic dermatitis phenotypes in childhood

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease and can be the first step of the atopic march.

Authors: Giampaolo Ricci, Arianna Dondi, Iria Neri, Lorenza Ricci, Annalisa Patrizi and Andrea Pession

Vaccine risk assessment in children with a referred reaction to a previous vaccine dose: 2009–2011 retrospective report at the Bambino Gesu’ children hospital, Rome, Italy

During the last century, mass vaccination programs have achieved considerable success across the world in immunizing against several serious infectious diseases. However, vaccinations are threatened by their o...

Authors: Luciana Nicolosi, Annachiara Vittucci, Rossella Mancini, Elena Bozzola, Alberto Cagigi, Annalisa Grandin and Alberto Villani

Prevalence and socio-demographic factors associated with non-protective immunity against tetanus among high school adolescents girls in Nigeria

The low uptake of tetanus vaccine and its resultant high burden of tetanus in Nigeria suggest the need to improve routine and booster vaccination in children and adolescents. However, epidemiological evidence ...

Authors: Adebola E Orimadegun, Akinlolu A Adepoju and Olusegun O Akinyinka

Glutathione S transferase theta1 and mu1 gene polymorphisms and phenotypic expression of asthma in Egyptian children: a case–control study

Asthma is the result of a complex interaction between environmental factors and genetic variants that confer susceptibility. The glutathione S-transferases (GSTT1 and GSTM1) are phase II enzymes thought to pro...

Authors: Nihal El Rifai, Nadia Moustafa, Nelly Degheidy and Manal Wilson

Refractory invasive aspergillosis controlled with posaconazole and pulmonary surgery in a patient with chronic granulomatous disease: case report

Invasive aspergillosis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Among primary immunodefiencies, chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) has the highest prevalence of invasive...

Authors: Eda Kepenekli, Ahmet Soysal, Canan Kuzdan, Nezih Onur Ermerak, Mustafa Yüksel and Mustafa Bakır

Nutritional management and follow up of infants and children with food allergy: Italian Society of Pediatric Nutrition/Italian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Task Force Position Statement

Although the guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of food allergy recognize the role of nutrition, there is few literature on the practical issues concerning the nutritional management of children with fo...

Authors: Marcello Giovannini, Enza D'Auria, Carlo Caffarelli, Elvira Verduci, Salvatore Barberi, Luciana Indinnimeo, Iride Dello Iacono, Alberto Martelli, Enrica Riva and Roberto Bernardini

Recent advances on diagnosis and management of childhood asthma and food allergies

The epidemic of childhood allergic disorders has been associated to the decline of infectious disease. However, exposure to many triggers (airborne viruses, tobacco smoke, pollution, indoor allergens, etc.) co...

Authors: Dani Hakimeh and Salvatore Tripodi

Childhood asthma and vitamin D deficiency in Turkey: is there cause and effect relationship between them?

Epidemiological studies show that vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are common worldwide and associated with many diseases including asthma. Our aim was to evaluate vitamin D insufficiency and its clinica...

Authors: Metin Uysalol, Levent Cem Mutlu, Gamze Varol Saracoglu, Erkut Karasu, Savas Guzel, Semra Kayaoglu and Nedret Uzel

Pidotimod: the past and the present

At the end of 1990s, acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) were called the 'forgotten pandemic’, with a clear dichotomy between developing and industrialised countries in mortality and morbidity, the main...

Authors: Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti and Chiara Mameli

Melatonin: its possible role in the management of viral infections-a brief review

Melatonin, a versatile molecule, is synthesized by the pineal gland but also by other organs, including gastrointestinal tract, retina, thymus, bone marrow, and by leukocytes. Besides playing an important role...

Authors: Michela Silvestri and Giovanni A Rossi

Nijmegen breakage syndrome and chronic polyarthritis

We report on pediatric patient with Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS), a rare DNA repair disorder characterized by microcephaly, immunodeficiency and predisposition to malignant lymphomas, who developed juvenil...

Authors: Srdjan Pasic, Maja Cupic, Tanja Jovanovic, Slobodanka Djukic, Maja Kavaric and Ivana Lazarevic

A family history of serious complications due to BCG vaccination is a tool for the early diagnosis of severe primary immunodeficiency

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) is one of the most severe forms of primary immunodeficiency (PID). Complications of BCG vaccination, especially disseminated infection and its most severe forms, are kno...

Authors: Pérsio Roxo-Junior, Jorgete Silva, Mauro Andrea, Larissa Oliveira, Fernando Ramalho, Thiago Bezerra and Altacílio A Nunes

Skin prick test to foods in childhood atopic eczema: pros and cons

Skin prick tests are the first investigation in allergy diagnostics and their use is described in all the guidelines on atopic eczema. However, the clinical usefulness of skin prick tests is the subject of gre...

Authors: Carlo Caffarelli, Arianna Dondi, Carlotta Povesi Dascola and Giampaolo Ricci

Probiotics and food allergy

The exact prevalence of food allergy in the general population is unknown, but almost 12% of pediatric population refers a suspicion of food allergy. IgE mediated reactions to food are actually the best-charac...

Authors: Anna Maria Castellazzi, Chiara Valsecchi, Silvia Caimmi, Amelia Licari, Alessia Marseglia, Maria Chiara Leoni, Davide Caimmi, Michele Miraglia del Giudice, Salvatore Leonardi, Mario La Rosa and Gian Luigi Marseglia

Food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome caused by rice beverage

Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) is an uncommon and potentially severe non IgE-mediated gastrointestinal food allergy. It is usually caused by cow’s milk or soy proteins, but may also be tri...

Authors: Lucia Caminiti, Giuseppina Salzano, Giuseppe Crisafulli, Federica Porcaro and Giovanni Battista Pajno

Modulation of airway epithelial cell functions by Pidotimod: NF-kB cytoplasmatic expression and its nuclear translocation are associated with an increased TLR-2 expression

Recurrent respiratory infections are one of the most important causes of morbidity in childhood. When immune functions are still largely immature, the airway epithelium plays a primary defensive role since, be...

Authors: Sonia Carta, Michela Silvestri and Giovanni A Rossi

Allergic conjunctivitis: a comprehensive review of the literature

Ocular allergy represents one of the most common conditions encountered by allergists and ophthalmologists. Allergic conjunctivitis is often underdiagnosed and consequently undertreated. Basic and clinical res...

Authors: Mario La Rosa, Elena Lionetti, Michele Reibaldi, Andrea Russo, Antonio Longo, Salvatore Leonardi, Stefania Tomarchio, Teresio Avitabile and Alfredo Reibaldi

Gastrointestinal function development and microbiota

The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the development of post-natal gastrointestinal functions of the host. Recent advances in our capability to identify microbes and their function offer exciti...

Authors: Antonio Di Mauro, Josef Neu, Giuseppe Riezzo, Francesco Raimondi, Domenico Martinelli, Ruggiero Francavilla and Flavia Indrio

The R156H variation in IL-12Rβ1 is not a mutation

Palamaro et al. describe a child with recurrent bronchopneumonia and very high IgE levels in which a variation, R156H, was found in the IL12RB1 gene that encodes the IL-12Rβ1 chain. Based on the absence of this v...

Authors: Esther van de Vosse, Jaap T van Dissel, Loredana Palamaro, Giuliana Giardino, Francesca Santamaria, Rosa Romano, Anna Fusco, Silvia Montella, Mariacarolina Salerno, Matilde Valeria Ursini and Claudio Pignata

The prevalence and risk factors of allergic and respiratory symptoms in a regional cohort of extremely low birth weight children (<1000 g)

Children who were <1000 g (ELBW extremely low birth weight) at birth more frequently present with wheezing which is the most common reason that pediatric consultation is sought. Therefore asthma is diagnosed v...

Authors: Przemko Kwinta, Grzegorz Lis, Malgorzata Klimek, Andrzej Grudzien, Tomasz Tomasik, Karolina Poplawska and Jacek Jozef Pietrzyk

Clinical application of exhaled nitric oxide measurement in pediatric lung diseases

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a non invasive method for assessing the inflammatory status of children with airway disease. Different ways to measure FeNO levels are currently available. The possibi...

Authors: Angelo Manna, Carlo Caffarelli, Margherita Varini, Carlotta Povesi Dascola, Silvia Montella, Marco Maglione, Francesco Sperlì and Francesca Santamaria

Urticaria and anaphilaxis in a child after inhalation of lentils vapours: a case report and literature review

Among legumes, lentils seem to be the most common legume implicated in pediatric allergic reactions in the Mediterranean area and India, and usually they start early in life, below 4 years of age.

Authors: Giovanna Vitaliti, Ignazio Morselli, Valeria Di Stefano, Angela Lanzafame, Mario La Rosa and Salvatore Leonardi

Nose and lungs: one way, one disease

It’s well established that asthma, allergic rhinitis and rhinosinusitis are three closely related disease. In pediatrics, these conditions represent a common issue in daily practice. The scientific community h...

Authors: Davide Caimmi, Alessia Marseglia, Giovanni Pieri, Serena Benzo, Luca Bosa and Silvia Caimmi

Nasal cytology in children: recent advances

Nasal cytology is a very useful diagnostic tool in nasal disorders, being able to detect both the cellular modifications of the nasal epithelium caused by either allergen exposure or irritative stimuli (that m...

Authors: Matteo Gelardi, Gian Luigi Marseglia, Amelia Licari, Massimo Landi, Ilaria Dell’Albani, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Franco Frati and Nicola Quaranta

Allergen specificity is relevant for immunotherapy prescription in polysensitised children

The sensitization to more allergens, such as polysenitization, is becoming a frequent characteristic of allergic patients, since the childhood. However, this phenomenon is considered an obstacle to prescribe i...

Authors: Giorgio Ciprandi, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Paola Puccinelli, Ilaria Dell’Albani and Franco Frati

Interleukin 12 receptor deficiency in a child with recurrent bronchopneumonia and very high IgE levels

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is involved in cellular immune responses against intracellular pathogens by promoting the generation of T naive in T helper 1 (Th1) cells and by increasing interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) p...

Authors: Loredana Palamaro, Giuliana Giardino, Francesca Santamaria, Rosa Romano, Anna Fusco, Silvia Montella, Mariacarolina Salerno, Matilde Valeria Ursini and Claudio Pignata

Hyper IgM syndrome presenting as chronic suppurative lung disease

The Hyper-immunoglobulin M syndromes (HIGM) are a heterogeneous group of genetic disorders resulting in defects of immunoglobulin class switch recombination. Affected patients show humoral immunodeficiency and...

Authors: Silvia Montella, Marco Maglione, Giuliana Giardino, Angela Di Giorgio, Loredana Palamaro, Virginia Mirra, Matilde Valeria Ursini, Mariacarolina Salerno, Claudio Pignata, Carlo Caffarelli and Francesca Santamaria

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis: A clinical view

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis (EIA) is a distinct form of physical allergy. The development of anaphylaxis during exertion often requires the concomitant exposure to triggering factors such as intake of foods (...

Authors: Carlotta Povesi Dascola and Carlo Caffarelli

Altered regulatory mechanisms governing cell survival in children affected with clustering of autoimmune disorders

Clustering of Autoimmune Diseases (CAD) is now emerging as a novel clinical entity within monogenic immune defects with a high familial occurrence. Aim of this study is to evaluate the regulatory mechanisms go...

Authors: Loredana Palamaro, Giuliana Giardino, Francesca Santamaria, Ugo Ramenghi, Umberto Dianzani and Claudio Pignata

The immunopathogenesis of cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA)

The most frequent symptoms among the manifestations of cow milk protein allergy (CMPA) are gastrointestinal. CMPA pathogenesis involves immunological mechanisms with participation of immunocompetent cells and ...

Authors: Giovanna Vitaliti, Carla Cimino, Alfina Coco, Andrea Domenico Praticò and Elena Lionetti

Update on leukotriene receptor antagonists in preschool children wheezing disorders

Asthma is the most common chronic disease in young children. About 40% of all preschool children regularly wheeze during common cold infections. The heterogeneity of wheezing phenotypes early in life and vario...

Authors: Silvia Montella, Marco Maglione, Sara De Stefano, Angelo Manna, Angela Di Giorgio and Francesca Santamaria

Research statistics in Atopic Eczema: what disease is this?

Atopic eczema is a common and distressing disease. This study aims to review PubMed indexed research statistics on atopic eczema over a-10 year period to investigate the clinical relevance and research interes...

Authors: Kam-Lun Ellis Hon, Vivien Yong and Ting-Fan Leung

How changes in nutrition have influenced the development of allergic diseases in childhood

The increasing prevalence of allergic diseases in childhood in the last decades could be linked to concomitant dietary changes, especially with the modified and lower consumption of fruit, vegetables and miner...

Authors: Diego G. Peroni, Beatrice Bonomo, Serena Casarotto, Attilio L. Boner and Giorgio L. Piacentini

Severe reaction in a child with asymptomatic codfish allergy: Food challenge reactivating recurrent pancreatitis

An 8-year-old child during the first year of life manifested severe atopic dermatitis and chronic diarrhea with mucorrhea and rectal bleeding; a fish-free diet was started based on weakly positive skin-prick t...

Authors: Katia Pellegrino, Leila Emma D’Urbano, Maria Cristina Artesani, Carla Riccardi, Sandro Mancini, Sergio Bella, Federico Alghisi and Giovanni Cavagni

Novel mutatıons and diverse clinical phenotypes in recombınase-activating gene 1 deficiency

Severe combined immunodeficiency is within a heterogeneous group of inherited defects throughout the development of T- and/or B-lymphocytes. Mutations in recombinase-activating genes 1 or 2 (RAG1/2) represent ...

Authors: Necil Kutukculer, Nesrin Gulez, Neslihan Edeer Karaca, Guzide Aksu and Afig Berdeli

Quality of life measures in Italian children with atopic dermatitis and their families

The impact of atopic dermatitis (AD) on children's quality of life (QoL) in US and European countries is relatively well known, though rarely evaluated in the Italian population. Moreover, the association betw...

Authors: Fiorella Monti, Francesca Agostini, Francesca Gobbi, Erica Neri, Sandra Schianchi and Fabio Arcangeli

DRACMA one year after: Which changes have occurred in diagnosis and treatment of CMA in Italy?

Authors: Alessandro Fiocchi, Holger Schunemann, Luigi Terracciano, Marco Albarini, Alberto Martelli, Massimo Landi, Enrico Compalati and Giorgio Walter Canonica

End point prick test: could this new test be used to predict the outcome of oral food challenge in children with cow's milk allergy?

Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is the most frequent food allergy in childhood; the trend of CMA is often characterized by a progressive improvement to achieve tolerance in the first 4 to 5 years of life.

Authors: Federica Bellini, Giampaolo Ricci, Arianna Dondi, Valentina Piccinno, Federico Angelini and Andrea Pession

Prolonged survival after splenectomy in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: a case report

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome is a rare X-linked immunodeficiency disorder that is characterized by a variable clinical phenotype. Matched donor bone marrow transplantation is currently the only curative therapeuti...

Authors: Kostas N Syrigos, Nektaria Makrilia, Jeffrey Neidhart, Michael Moutsos, Sotirios Tsimpoukis, Maria Kiagia and Muhammad W Saif

Antibiotic prescribing pattern in paediatric in patients with first time wheezing

Acute wheezers for the first time in life are an important target group for efforts aimed at reducing unnecessary antibiotic use.

Authors: Soumya Patra, Varinder Singh, Harish K Pemde and Jagdish Chandra

Short term efficacy of nebulized beclomethasone in mild-to-moderate wheezing episodes in pre-school children

Few data are available on the usefulness of short term treatment with low-medium dose of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in pre-school children with wheezing exacerbations.

Authors: Alberto Papi, Gabriele Nicolini, Attilio L Boner, Eugenio Baraldi, Renato Cutrera, Leonardo M Fabbri and Giovanni A Rossi

Prevalence and clinical pattern of paediatric HIV infection at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria: a prospective cross-sectional study

The prevalence of Paediatric HIV infection is largely unknown in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence, clinical pattern of HIV infection and outcome among ne...

Authors: Babatunde O Ogunbosi, Regina E Oladokun, Biobele J Brown and Kikelomo I Osinusi

Eosinophilic Digestive Disease (EDD) and Allergic Bronchial Asthma; Two Diseases or Expression of One Disease in Two Systems?

Eosinophilic digestive disease (EDD) includes a broad spectrum of clinical presentations due to eosinophilic inflammation involving anywhere from the esophagus to the rectum.

Authors: Mostafa Yakoot

Relationship between obesity and asthma symptoms among children in Ahvaz, Iran: a cross sectional study

Obesity has been identified as a risk factor for higher prevalence of asthma and asthma-related symptoms in children. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the prevalence of asth...

Authors: Tahereh Ziaei Kajbaf, Shideh Asar and Mohammad Reza Alipoor

Genetics of SCID

Human SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) is a prenatal disorder of T lymphocyte development, that depends on the expression of numerous genes. The knowledge of the genetic basis of SCID is essential for d...

Authors: Fausto Cossu