Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic and Lockdown on the HRSV Circulation: Experience of Three Spoke Hospitals in Northern Italy.

The SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic affected the global epidemiology of respiratory infections, including Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (HRSV), thanks to state governments' implementation of mitigation strategies, like the promotion of face masks and lockdowns. However, after the Pandemic, the dramatic resurge of these diseases was reported worldwide. Our retrospective study, involving three Spoke Pediatric Departments, includes all the infants under one year of age hospitalized for HRSV bronchiolitis in a period before the Pandemic period (2017-2020), during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic (2020-2021), and after the Pandemic (2021-2023).

Management of Acute Bronchiolitis in Spoke Hospitals in Northern Italy: Analysis and Outcome.

Bronchiolitis is an acute viral infection of the lower respiratory tract that affects infants and young children. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common causative agent; however, other viruses can be involved in this disease. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical features of infants aged less than 12 months hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis in our Pediatric Units of Chivasso, Cirié, and Ivrea in Piedmont, Northern Italy, over two consecutive bronchiolitis seasons (September 2021-March 2022 and September 2022-March 2023).

An Insidious Cause of Abdominal Pain in a Preschooler Girl: The Asynchronous Bilateral Ovarian Torsion.

The ovarian torsion (OT) represents one of the most misleading and challenging diagnoses for the pediatrician. Symptoms are often nonspecific, including sudden, piercing localized lower abdominal pain and tenderness associated with a palpable mass and peritoneal signs. Although the adnexal torsion is most frequently unilateral, cases of bilateral synchronous or asynchronous have been recorded; in the latter, the OT involved both ovaries at different settings.

Pediatric admissions to emergency departments of North-Western Italy during COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective observational study.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic caused huge decrease of pediatric admissions to Emergency Department (ED), arising concerns about possible delays in diagnosis and treatment of severe disorders.

Methods: Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Emergency Room (ICOPER) was a retrospective multicentre observational study including 23 Italian EDs.All the children <18 years admitted, between March 9th and May 3rd 2020 stratified by age, priority code, cause of admission and outcome have been included and compared to those admitted in the same period of 2019.

Post-relapse survival in patients with Ewing sarcoma.

Background: Post-relapse survival (PRS) was evaluated in patients with Ewing sarcoma (EWS) enrolled in chemotherapy protocols based on the use of high-dose chemotherapy with busulfan and melfalan (HDT) as a first-line consolidation treatment in high-risk patients.

Procedure: EWS patients enrolled in ISG/SSG III and IV trials who relapsed after complete remission were included in the analysis. At recurrence, chemotherapy based on high-dose ifosfamide was foreseen, and patients who responded but had not received HDT underwent consolidation therapy with HDT.

High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue in the primary treatment of metastatic and pelvic osteosarcoma: final results of the ISG/SSG II study.

Background: Patients with metastatic osteosarcoma at diagnosis or axial primary tumors have a poor prognosis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of intensified treatment with high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and stem cell rescue in this group.

Methods: From May 1996 to August 2004, 71 patients were included in a Scandinavian-Italian single arm phase II study.

Proton pump inhibitor chemosensitization in human osteosarcoma: from the bench to the patients' bed.

Background: Major goals in translational oncology are to reduce systemic toxicity of current anticancer strategies and improve effectiveness. An extremely efficient cancer cell mechanism to avoid and/or reduce the effects of highly cytotoxic drugs is the establishment of an acidic microenvironment, an hallmark of all malignant tumors. The H +-rich milieu that anticancer drugs meet once they get inside the tumor leads to their protonation and neutralization, therefore hindering their access into tumor cells.

The role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the metabolic characterization of lung nodules in pediatric patients with bone sarcoma.

Background: The principal aim of this study was to identify the lowest nodule diameter and the SUV(max) capable of characterizing lung nodules in pediatric patients with bone sarcoma.

Procedure: Eighteen consecutive bone sarcoma patients (M/F = 11:7; mean age 14 years) with suspicious lung lesions at CT were enrolled. Overall, 63 lung nodules with a mean diameter of 3.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis: 40 years' experience.

Objectives: Our study analyzes 40 years' experience with pediatric Langerhans cell histiocytosis patients.

Materials And Methods: Between June 1968 and December 2009, 121 patients (79 males, 42 females; median age 4.13 y) were diagnosed at our center (74% monosystemic disease; 26% multisystemic), treated according to current protocols.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis of bone in children: a long-term retrospective study.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis is rare and frequently involves the bone. We retrospectively reviewed the orthopaedic aspects (symptoms, localizations, treatments) and the long-term outcome [disease status, overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS)] of 121 patients (June 1968-December 2009). The main symptom was local pain.

Nonossifying fibroma: A possible pitfall in F18-FD-PET/CT imaging of Hodgkin's disease.

A 14-year-old girl was examined for a right lateral neck swelling and radiographic mediastinal widening. Biopsy of a right supraclavicular lymph node demonstrated the nodular sclerosing form of Hodgkin's lymphoma. An 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F18-FDG-PET/CT) study showed several pathological areas of lymph-node uptake in the upper mediastum and right distal tibia.

Accuracy of core-needle biopsy after contrast-enhanced ultrasound in soft-tissue tumours.

Objective: Percutaneous biopsies are gaining acceptance in the diagnosis of soft-tissue tumours. Sampling in the most representative area is not easy in sarcomas of huge dimension. We hypothesised that ultrasound (US) contrast medium could identify the representative area for focus core-needle biopsy (CNB) METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort series of 115 soft-tissue masses treated from January 2007 to November 2008.

Specific polymorphisms of cytokine genes are associated with different risks to develop single-system or multi-system childhood Langerhans cell histiocytosis.

Cytokines and chemokines determine mobilisation of Langerhans cells and their dysregulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). Twenty point mutations of 12 different cytokine genes were studied in 41 Italian children, 15 with single-system (SS) and 26 with multi-system disease. The allele and genotype distributions of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-gamma (IFNgamma) were significantly different in patients vs.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with high-dose Ifosfamide, high-dose methotrexate, cisplatin, and doxorubicin for patients with localized osteosarcoma of the extremity: a joint study by the Italian and Scandinavian Sarcoma Groups.

Purpose: To explore the effect of high-dose ifosfamide in first-line treatment for patients < or = 40 years of age with nonmetastatic osteosarcoma of the extremity.

Patients And Methods: From March 1997 to September 2000, 182 patients were evaluated. Primary treatment consisted of two blocks of high-dose ifosfamide (15 g/m2), methotrexate (12 g/m2), cisplatin (120 mg/m2), and doxorubicin (75 mg/m2).

Long-term survival in high-grade axial osteosarcoma with bone and lung metastases treated with chemotherapy only.

A boy, age 2 years 10 months, with high-grade malignant osteosarcoma of the fifth lumbar vertebra with secondary bilateral pulmonary lesions and bone metastasis at the fifth thoracic vertebra is described. The primary site of disease was inoperable and the patient was treated with chemotherapy only. At present, 83 months from diagnosis and 64 from the end of therapy, he is in very good general condition.

Regression of metastatic osteosarcoma following non-myeloablative stem cell transplantation. A case report.

report the evidence of regression of multiple metastases following non-myeloablative stem cell transplantation (NST) from an HLA-identical sibling in a case of relapsed fibroblastic osteosarcoma. The course of NST was well tolerated. Full donor chimerism was achieved on day +150 both for CD15+ and CD3+ cells.

Postrelapse survival in osteosarcoma of the extremities: prognostic factors for long-term survival.

Purpose: To identify factors that influence postrelapse survival (PRS) in patients with nonmetastatic osteosarcoma of the extremity.

Patients And Methods: One hundred sixty-two patients with recurrent osteosarcoma of the extremity were retrospectively reviewed. The first-line treatment included surgery of the primary lesion and chemotherapy with methotrexate, doxorubicin, cisplatin, and ifosfamide.