Articles

The use of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to identify postnatal depression symptoms at well child visit

1) to evaluate the role of the pediatrician in detecting postnatal depression (PD) symptoms by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); 2) to detect factors increasing the risk of PD and, 3) to assess ...

Authors: Vincenzo Currò, Emilia De Rosa, Silvia Maulucci, Maria Lucia Maulucci, Maria Teresa Silvestri, Annaluce Zambrano and Vincenza Regine

Sublingual immunotherapy in children: facts and needs

Allergen specific immunotherapy (SIT) is the practice of administering gradually increasing doses of the specific causative allergen to reduce the clinical reactivity of allergic subjects, and is the only trea...

Authors: Gian Luigi Marseglia, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Mario La Rosa, Franco Frati and Francesco Marcucci

Metabolomics: moving towards personalized medicine

In many fields of medicine there is a growing interest in characterizing diseases at molecular level with a view to developing an individually tailored therapeutic approach. Metabolomics is a novel area that p...

Authors: Eugenio Baraldi, Silvia Carraro, Giuseppe Giordano, Fabiano Reniero, Giorgio Perilongo and Franco Zacchello

Molecular allergology approach to allergic diseases in the paediatric age

Identification, characterization, and purification of allergens are essential for the structural and immunologic studies needed to understand how these molecules induce specific IgE antibody production by the ...

Authors: Claudia Alessandri, Danila Zennaro, Alessandra Zaffiro and Adriano Mari

Isolated liver transplantation for treatment of liver failure secondary to intestinal failure

Intestinal Failure is a permanent loss of digestive and absorptive functions as a consequence of short bowel syndrome and/or other primary intestinal conditions. Patients with intestinal failure (IF) require l...

Authors: Maria Immacolata Spagnuolo, Eliana Ruberto and Alfredo Guarino

Dravet syndrome

"Dravet syndrome" (DS) previously named severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI), or epilepsy with polymorphic seizures, is a rare disorder characterized by an early, severe, generalized, epileptic encephal...

Authors: Gemma Incorpora

Appropriateness of hospitalization for CAP-affected pediatric patients: report from a Southern Italy General Hospital

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common disease, responsible for significant healthcare expenditures, mostly because of hospitalization. Many practice guidelines on CAP have been developed, including ad...

Authors: Fabio Antonelli, Daniele De Brasi and Paolo Siani

Functional constipation in children: does maternal personality matter?

To identify personality dimensions of mothers with a constipated child and compare it with those mothers of children without defecation problems.

Authors: Alireza Farnam, Mandana Rafeey, Sara Farhang and Saeedeh Khodjastejafari

Lung disease assessment in primary ciliary dyskinesia: a comparison between chest high-field magnetic resonance imaging and high-resolution computed tomography findings

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is associated with pulmonary involvement that requires periodical assessment. Chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) has become the method of choice to evaluate chron...

Authors: Silvia Montella, Francesca Santamaria, Marco Salvatore, Marco Maglione, Paola Iacotucci, Maria Margherita De Santi and Carmine Mollica

Neonatal diabetes mellitus due to pancreatic agenesis and pervasive developmental disorder

Recent studies suggested a link between type 1 diabetes mellitus and pervasive developmental disorder. Moreover, permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus due to pancreatic agenesis can be associated with neurologi...

Authors: Alessandro Giannattasio, Maria Pintaudi, Maria Margherita Mancardi, Francesca Maria Battaglia, Edvige Veneselli, Renata Lorini and Giuseppe d'Annunzio

Study of nonstandard auto-antibodies as prognostic markers in auto immune hepatitis in children

Antibodies to chromatin and soluble liver antigen have been associated with severe form of autoimmune hepatitis and/or poor treatment response and may provide guidance in defining subsets of patients with diff...

Authors: Lerine B El- Din Elshazly, Azza M Youssef, Nermine H Mahmoud and Mona M Ibrahim

Exhaled nitric oxide measurements in the first 2 years of life: methodological issues, clinical and epidemiological applications

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a useful tool to diagnose and monitor eosinophilic bronchial inflammation in asthmatic children and adults. In children younger than 2 years of age FeNO has been succe...

Authors: Carmelo Gabriele, Fernando M de Benedictis and Johan C de Jongste

Metabolic Bone Disease in preterm newborn: an update on nutritional issues

Osteopenia, a condition characterised by a reduction in bone mineral content, is a common disease of preterm babies between the tenth and sixteenth week of life. Prematurely born infants are deprived of the in...

Authors: Valentina Bozzetti and Paolo Tagliabue

Adequacy and tolerance to ass's milk in an Italian cohort of children with cow's milk allergy

The therapy for cow's milk proteins allergy (CMPA) consists in eliminating cow's milk proteins (CMP) from the child's diet. Ass's milk (AM) has been recently considered as substitute of CMP. This prospective s...

Authors: Riccardina Tesse, Claudia Paglialunga, Serena Braccio and Lucio Armenio

Prevalence of hypospadias in Italy according to severity, gestational age and birthweight: an epidemiological study

Hypospadias is a congenital displacement of the urethral meatus in male newborns, being either an isolated defect at birth or a sign of sexual development disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the pre...

Authors: Paolo Ghirri, Rosa T Scaramuzzo, Silvano Bertelloni, Daniela Pardi, Amerigo Celandroni, Guido Cocchi, Roberto Danieli, Luisa De Santis, Maria C Di Stefano, Orietta Gerola, Mario Giuffrè, Giuseppe S Gragnani, Cinzia Magnani, Cristiano Meossi, Ilaria Merusi, Giuseppe Sabatino…

Bifid T waves in leads V2 and V3 in children: a normal variant

The T wave is rarely bifid, apart from patients with long QT syndrome or subjects treated with antiarrhythmic drugs. At times, a U wave partially superimposed upon the T wave is responsible for an apparently b...

Authors: Maria Pia Calabrò, Ignazio Barberi, Antonella La Mazza, Maria Chiara Todaro, Francesco L De Luca, Lilia Oreto, Mario Salvatore Russo, Marco Cerrito, Letteria Bruno and Giuseppe Oreto

Distribution and seasonality of rhinovirus and other respiratory viruses in a cross-section of asthmatic children in Trinidad, West Indies

Childhood asthma in the Caribbean is advancing in prevalence and morbidity. Though viral respiratory tract infections are reported triggers for exacerbations, information on these infections with asthma is spa...

Authors: Jason Matthew, Lexley M Pinto Pereira, Tressa E Pappas, Cheri A Swenson, Kris A Grindle, Kathy A Roberg, Robert F Lemanske Jr, Wai-Ming Lee and James E Gern

Primary stroke prevention for sickle cell disease in north-east Italy: the role of ethnic issues in establishing a Transcranial Doppler screening program

Stroke is a serious complication of sickle cell disease (SCD) in children. Transcranic Doppler (TCD) is a well-established predictor of future cerebrovascular symptoms: a blood flow velocity >200 cm/sec in the...

Authors: Raffaella Colombatti, Giorgio Meneghetti, Mario Ermani, Marta Pierobon and Laura Sainati

Perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: epileptic and paretic outcome at one year of age

The issue concerning neurologic outcome in patients with perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (H.I.E) has inspired many studies which tried to identify adequate prognostic factors. Our work aims to find a...

Authors: Federico Allemand, Federica Reale, Marco Sposato and Alessandro Allemand

Validation of the Parent Health Locus of Control Scales in an Italian sample

This study examined the psychometric properties and the replicability of De Vellis's (1993) Parent Health Locus of Control (PHLOC) scales in an Italian sample.

Authors: Sabrina Bonichini, Giovanna Axia and Marc H Bornstein

Family-oriented and family-centered care in pediatrics

To humanize the management of children in hospitals has become a serious concern of civil society and one of the main goals of public and private health centers, health care providers and governments.

Authors: Massimo Pettoello-Mantovani, Angelo Campanozzi, Luigi Maiuri and Ida Giardino

Epidemiological assessment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection in hospitalized infants, during the season 2005–2006 in Palermo, Italy

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalization for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in young children worldwide.

Authors: Paola Di Carlo, Amelia Romano, Ludovico Salsa, Alessandra Gueli, Antonella Poma, Fortunata Fucà, Piera Dones, Mirella Collura, Diego Pampinella, Delia Motisi and Giovanni Corsello

Spot diagnosis: An ominous rash in a newborn

Purpura fulminans (PF) is an ominous cutaneous condition usually associated with meningococcemia. PF in the newborn is rarely reported. We report the case of a female preterm infant with extensive PF due to gr...

Authors: Kam-Lun Hon, King-Woon So, William Wong and Kam-Lau Cheung

Subtelomeric FISH analysis in 76 patients with syndromic developmental delay/intellectual disability

Intellectual disability affects approximately 1 to 3% of the general population. The etiology is still poorly understood and it is estimated that one-half of the cases are due to genetic factors. Cryptic subte...

Authors: Elga F Belligni, Elisa Biamino, Cristina Molinatto, Jole Messa, Mauro Pierluigi, Francesca Faravelli, Orsetta Zuffardi, Giovanni B Ferrero and Margherita Cirillo Silengo

Diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections prevalence and risk factors among under-five children in Iraq in 2000

Diarrhoea and acute respiratory conditions are common medical conditions among under-five children in resource-limited and conflict situations. The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and as...

Authors: Seter Siziya, Adamson S Muula and Emmanuel Rudatsikira

Maturation of gastric electrical activity, gastric emptying and intestinal permeability in preterm newborns during the first month of life

Immaturity of motility, intestinal epithelial barrier function and absorptive capacity may play a role in the pathophysiology of intestinal diseases in preterms. We determined the gastric electrical activity a...

Authors: Giuseppe Riezzo, Flavia Indrio, Francesco Raimondi, Osvaldo Montagna, Gennaro Salvia, Bisceglia Massimo, Lorenzo Polimeno, Luciano Cavallo and Ruggiero Francavilla

Comparison of neonatal intensive care: Trento area versus Vermont Oxford Network

S. Chiara hospital is the only neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the Province of Trento (Italy). It serves a population of about 460000 people with about 5000 infants per year, admitting the totality of t...

Authors: Giuseppe De Nisi, Mariarosaria Berti, Riccardo Malossi, Fabio Pederzini, Anna Pedrotti and Alberta Valente

Cost-utility analysis of palivizumab in Italy: results from a simulation model in the prophylaxis of respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV) among high-risk preterm infants

The aim of this study was to assess the cost-utility of palivizumab versus no prophylaxis in the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infection among high-risk preterm infants.

Authors: Gaetano Chirico, Roberto Ravasio and Urbano Sbarigia

Access to paediatric emergency departments in Italy: a comparison between immigrant and Italian patients

The aim of the study was to investigate whether access to paediatric emergency departments differed between foreign and Italian patients.

Authors: Erica Clara Grassino, Carla Guidi, Alice Monzani, Pasquale Di Pietro and Gianni Bona

The Italian National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism: twenty years of surveillance and study of congenital hypothyroidism

All the Italian Centres in charge of screening, diagnosis, and follow-up of infants with congenital hypothyroidism participate in the Italian National Registry of affected infants, which performs the nationwid...

Authors: Antonella Olivieri

Association between PFO and neurological decompression illness

Authors: Diletta de Benedictis and Francesco Marcucci

Respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms in esophageal atresia

Authors: Fernando Maria de Benedictis and Ascanio Martino

Pediatric palliative care

The WHO defines pediatric palliative care as the active total care of the child's body, mind and spirit, which also involves giving support to the family. Its purpose is to improve the quality of life of young...

Authors: Franca Benini, Marco Spizzichino, Manuela Trapanotto and Anna Ferrante

Heel lance in newborn during breastfeeding: an evaluation of analgesic effect of this procedure

The reduction of pain due to routine invasive procedures (capillary heel stick blood sampling for neonatal metabolic screening) in the newborn is an important objective for the so-called "Hospital with no pain...

Authors: Elena Uga, Manuela Candriella, Antonella Perino, Viviana Alloni, Giuseppina Angilella, Michela Trada, Anna Maria Ziliotto, Maura Barbara Rossi, Danila Tozzini, Clelia Tripaldi, Michela Vaglio, Luigina Grossi, Michaela Allen and Sandro Provera

Gene therapy for inborn errors of liver metabolism: progress towards clinical applications

The treatment for inborn errors of liver metabolism is based on dietary, drug, and cell therapies (orthotopic liver transplantation). However, significant morbidity and mortality still remain, and alternative ...

Authors: Nicola Brunetti-Pierri

A new era for Italian Journal of Pediatrics

On behalf of the Editorial Board, welcome to the new Italian Journal of Pediatrics, the official journal of the ISP/SIP (Italian Society of Pediatrics/Società Italiana di Pediatria), now publishing on BioMed Cent...

Authors: Sergio Bernasconi