Association between Allergies and Hypercholesterolemia: A Systematic Review.

Background: There is controversy in the literature regarding the potential relationship between atopic predisposition (AP) and serum cholesterol levels. To this purpose, we reviewed human studies that investigated this possible link.

Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a literature search of PubMed and Science Direct for peer-reviewed journal articles in English from January 2003, with updates through to August 2016, was conducted.

High mobility group box 1: Biomarker of inhaled corticosteroid treatment response in children with moderate-severe asthma.

Background: High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is abnormally expressed in serum and sputum of patients with allergic asthma.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of HMGB1 as guidance for treatment management of children with asthma.

Methods: Thirty children with asthma and 44 healthy children were enrolled.

Atopy and autoimmune thyroid diseases: melatonin can be useful?

Recently, there has been growing interest in the relationship between allergic and autoimmune diseases. Allergy and autoimmunity can be considered two potential outcomes of dysregulated immunity and analysis of literature data shows a strong positive association between a history of Th2-mediated allergic disorders and Th1-mediated autoimmune disorders.Autoimmune thyroid diseases are the most common of all autoimmune pathological conditions.

Mode of delivery and atopic phenotypes: Old questions new insights? A retrospective study.

Background: To date studies on the relation between mode of delivery and atopic diseases in are controversial.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine a possible relationship between mode of delivery and risk of atopic phenotypes and, to assess the critical role of some pre-and post-natal parameters as a link between mode of delivery and risk of atopy.

Methods: 1516 children were assessed by skin prick tests, serum total and specific IgE levels.

Role of prebiotics and probiotics in pediatric diseases.

The increasing knowledge about the composition and activities of the microflora has shown the close link between the bacteria and the health of the human organism. For this reason it has focused attention on the possibility of modulating the gut flora. The use of probiotics and prebiotics has increased enormously in recent years, more for real beneficial effects demonstrated in patients than for their safety profiles.

Breastfeeding and IL-10 levels in children affected by cow's milk protein allergy: A restrospective study.

Aim: To assess the protective role of breast-feeding in infants with CMPA-related AEDS as well as IL-10 utility as marker of disease evolution.

Methods: 64 breast-feeding children with CMPA-related AEDS (31 males and 33 females; mean age 5.56±2.

"Cumulative Stress": The Effects of Maternal and Neonatal Oxidative Stress and Oxidative Stress-Inducible Genes on Programming of Atopy.

Although extensive epidemiological and laboratory studies have been performed to identify the environmental and immunological causes of atopy, genetic predisposition seems to be the biggest risk factor for allergic diseases. The onset of atopic diseases may be the result of heritable changes of gene expression, without any alteration in DNA sequences occurring in response to early environmental stimuli. Findings suggest that the establishment of a peculiar epigenetic pattern may also be generated by oxidative stress (OS) and perpetuated by the activation of OS-related genes.

Visfatin: New marker of oxidative stress in preterm newborns.

Background: Oxidative stress is involved in several neonatal conditions characterized by an upregulation in the production of oxidative or nitrative free radicals and a concomitant decrease in the availability of antioxidant species. Oxygen, which is obviously vital to survival, can be highly damaging to neonatal tissue which is known to be poorly equipped to neutralize toxic derivatives. Thus, exposure of the newborn infant to high oxygen concentrations during resuscitation at birth increases oxidative damage.

New patients with Temple syndrome caused by 14q32 deletion: Genotype-phenotype correlations and risk of thyroid cancer.

Temple syndrome (TS) is caused by abnormal expression of genes at the imprinted locus 14q32. A subset of TS patients carry 14q32 deletions of paternal origin. We aimed to define possible genotype-phenotype correlations and to highlight the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction, which is a previously unreported feature of TS.

Mode of delivery and risk for development of atopic diseases in children.

Atopic diseases are a major public health problem worldwide, and several factors are thought to contribute to this rapid increase. The observed association between mode of delivery and risk of atopy in childhood has had a great deal of interest during the past few decades. In fact, even during delivery, exposure to antigens can index immune system in newborn, which induces the release of biologically active molecules, which are polarizing immune responses toward the T-helper 2 atopic profile.

Sputum high mobility group box-1 in asthmatic children: a noninvasive sensitive biomarker reflecting disease status.

Background: The monitoring of asthma is based mainly on clinical history, physical examination, and lung function test evaluation. To improve knowledge of the disease, new biomarkers of airway inflammation, including high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1), are being developed.

Objective: To evaluate sputum HMGB1 levels in children with stable, off-therapy, allergic asthma and to evaluate the relation between HMGB1 levels and lung function parameters.

Thalassaemia major and infectious risk: High Mobility Group Box-1 represents a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker.

High mobility group box -1 (HMGB1) represents a common causal agent for various types of diseases, including infective pathologies. This study aimed to investigate the role of HMGB1 in β-thalassemia major (TM) by evaluating its diagnostic and prognostic role. Fifty-one TM patients and 30 healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled.

Increase in the Level of Proinflammatory Cytokine HMGB1 in Nasal Fluids of Patients With Rhinitis and its Sequestration by Glycyrrhizin Induces Eosinophil Cell Death.

Objectives: The nuclear protein high mobility group protein box 1 (HMGB1) is a proinflammatory mediator that belongs to the alarmin family of proinflammatory mediators, and it has recently emerged as a key player in different acute and chronic immune disorders. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that HMGB1 is actively released extracellularly from immune cells or passively released from necrotic cells. Because of the ability of HMGB1 to sustain chronic inflammation, we investigated whether the protein is present in nasal fluids of patients with different forms of rhinitis.

A de novo 0.63 Mb 6q25.1 deletion associated with growth failure, congenital heart defect, underdeveloped cerebellar vermis, abnormal cutaneous elasticity and joint laxity.

Deletions of the long arm of chromosome 6 are rare and are characterized by great clinical variability according to the deletion breakpoint. We report a on 6-year-old girl with a de novo 0.63 Mb deletion on chromosome 6q25.

Sudden cardiac arrest in a child with nemaline myopathy.

Background: Nemaline myopathy is a rare, non progressive congenital skeletal muscle disorder defined by the presence of inclusions known as nemaline rods in muscle fibers. Several clinical subtypes have been described, according to degree of muscle weakness, severity and age at onset. The course of nemaline myopathy is very slowly progressive, and death is usually due to respiratory failure.

Obesity and breastfeeding: The strength of association.

Unlabelled: Obesity and attendant co-morbidities are an emergent problem in public health. Much attention has focused on prevention, especially during the perinatal period. Breastfeeding is considered a possible protective factor for obesity in childhood, influencing gene-neuroendocrine-environment-lifestyle interaction.

Role of the diet as a link between oxidative stress and liver diseases.

Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen (free radicals) and the body's ability (antioxidant capacity) to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or easily repair the resulting damage. An adequate diet, characterized by daily intake of foods associated with improvements in the total antioxidant capacity of individuals and reduced incidence of diseases related to oxidation, can modulate the degree of oxidative stress. In fact, diet-derived micronutrients may be direct antioxidants, or are components of antioxidant enzymes, leading to improvement of some indicators of hepatic function.

Analgesic, anxiolytic and anaesthetic effects of melatonin: new potential uses in pediatrics.

Exogenous melatonin is used in a number of situations, first and foremost in the treatment of sleep disorders and jet leg. However, the hypnotic, antinociceptive, and anticonvulsant properties of melatonin endow this neurohormone with the profile of a drug that modulates effects of anesthetic agents, supporting its potential use at different stages during anesthetic procedures, in both adults and children. In light of these properties, melatonin has been administered to children undergoing diagnostic procedures requiring sedation or general anesthesia, such as magnetic resonance imaging, auditory brainstem response tests and electroencephalogram.

Serum interleukin 17, interleukin 23, and interleukin 10 values in children with atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome (AEDS): association with clinical severity and phenotype.

To date cytokines profile in AEDS is poorly described in children. We evaluated the interleukin (IL)-17, IL-23, and IL-10 levels in atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome (AEDS) children and healthy controls, in atopic AEDS (aAEDS) and nonatopic (naAEDS) subtypes and their relationship with disease severity. A total of 181 children with aAEDS and 93 healthy children were evaluated.

Oxidative stress in obesity: a critical component in human diseases.

Obesity, a social problem worldwide, is characterized by an increase in body weight that results in excessive fat accumulation. Obesity is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and leads to several diseases, including metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular, fatty liver diseases, and cancer. Growing evidence allows us to understand the critical role of adipose tissue in controlling the physic-pathological mechanisms of obesity and related comorbidities.

Adrenal disorders and the paediatric brain: pathophysiological considerations and clinical implications.

Various neurological and psychiatric manifestations have been recorded in children with adrenal disorders. Based on literature review and on personal case-studies and case-series we focused on the pathophysiological and clinical implications of glucocorticoid-related, mineralcorticoid-related, and catecholamine-related paediatric nervous system involvement. Childhood Cushing syndrome can be associated with long-lasting cognitive deficits and abnormal behaviour, even after resolution of the hypercortisolism.

Oxidative stress-mediated aging during the fetal and perinatal periods.

Oxidative stress is worldwide recognized as a fundamental component of the aging, a process that begins before birth. There is a critical balance between free radical generation and antioxidant defenses. Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the ability of antioxidant system to detoxify them.

Endocrinopathies, metabolic disorders, and iron overload in major and intermedia thalassemia: serum ferritin as diagnostic and predictive marker associated with liver and cardiac T2* MRI assessment.

Introduction: Endocrinopathies and metabolic disorders-characterized β thalassemic (βT) patients and the prevention and treatment of these comorbidities are important targets to be achieved. The aim of the study was to analyze the diagnostic and prognostic role of ferritin for endocrinopathies and metabolic disorders in βT patients. The ability of iron chelators to treat iron overload and to prevent or reverse metabolic disorders and endocrinopathies was also evaluated.

Allergen immunotherapy, routes of administration and cytokine networks: an update.

Allergen immunotherapy is a disease-modifying therapy, effective for the treatment of allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, conjunctivitis or stinging insect allergy. Allergen immunotherapy involves the administration of increasing doses of allergens with the aim of ameliorating the allergic response. Although precise underlying mechanisms of the induction of immune tolerance remain unclear, immunotherapy has been associated with the induction of distinct subsets of Tregs that eventually lead to peripheral tolerance by inducing a deviation from Th2 to Th1 immune responses.

Hepatitis B vaccine by intradermal route in non responder patients: an update.

Vaccination is the main prophylactic measure to reduce the mortality caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in healthy subjects since the immune response to hepatitis B recombinant vaccination occurs in over 90% of general population. Individuals who develop an anti-HBs titer less than 10 mIU/mL after primary vaccination cycle are defined "no responders". Many factors could cause a non response to the HBV vaccination, such as administration of the vaccine in buttocks, impaired vaccine storage conditions, drug abuse, smoking, infections and obesity.