Information and Training on the Use of Telemedicine in Pediatric Population: Consensus Document of the Italian Society of Telemedicine (SIT), of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Primary Care (SICuPP), of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP), and of the Syndicate of Family Pediatrician Doctors (SIMPeF).

Telemedicine has entered the daily lives of doctors, although the digital skills of healthcare professionals still remain a goal to be achieved. For the purpose of a large-scale development of telemedicine, it is necessary to create trust in the services it can offer and to favor their acceptance by healthcare professionals and patients. In this context, information for the patient regarding the use of telemedicine, the benefits that can be derived from it, and the training of healthcare professionals and patients for the use of new technologies are fundamental aspects.

Use of Telemedicine Healthcare Systems in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Disease or in Transition Stages of Life: Consensus Document of the Italian Society of Telemedicine (SIT), of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Primary Care (SICuPP), of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP) and of the Syndicate of Family Pediatrician Doctors (SIMPeF).

Telemedicine is considered an excellent tool to support the daily and traditional practice of the health profession, especially when referring to the care and management of chronic patients. In a panorama in which chronic pathologies with childhood onset are constantly increasing and the improvement of treatments has allowed survival for them into adulthood, telemedicine and remote assistance are today considered effective and convenient solutions both for the chronic patient, who thus receives personalized and timely assistance, and for the doctors, who reduce the need for direct intervention, hospitalizations and consequent management costs. This Consensus document, written by the main Italian Scientific Societies involved in the use of telemedicine in pediatrics, has the objectives to propose an organizational model based on the relationships between the actors who participate in the provision of a telemedicine service aimed at minors with chronic pathologies, identifying specific project links between the areas of telemedicine in the developmental age from the first 1000 days of life to the age adult.

Use of Telemedicine Healthcare Systems in Pediatric Assistance at Territorial Level: Consensus Document of the Italian Society of Telemedicine (SIT), of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Primary Care (SICuPP), of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP) and of the Syndicate of Family Pediatrician Doctors (SIMPeF).

Technological innovation can contribute to a reorganization of healthcare, particularly by supporting the shift in the focus of care from the hospital to the territory, through innovative citizen-centered models, and facilitating access to services in the territory. Health and social care delivery modalities, enabled by telemedicine, are crucial in this regard. The objective of this Consensus document, written by the main Italian Scientific Societies involved in the use of telemedicine in pediatrics, is to define a standard for its use at the territorial level in various declinations in the pediatric field; this paper also identifies priority areas for its application and the types of services that most require intervention and investment.

Efficacy and Tolerance of Vascular Electrical Stimulation Therapy in the Management of Vaso-Occlusive Crises in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: A Phase II Single-Centre Randomized Study in Ivory Coast.

Background: Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) is the primary cause of hospitalization in patients with sickle cell disease. Treatment mainly consists of intravenous morphine or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which have many dose-related side effects. The question arises as to whether vascular electrical stimulation therapy (VEST) could be effective or not on VOCs.

Biodiesel Processing Using Sodium and Potassium Geopolymer Powders as Heterogeneous Catalysts.

This work investigates the catalytic activity of geopolymers produced using two different alkali components (sodium or potassium) and four treatment temperatures (110 to 700 °C) for the methyl transesterification of soybean oil. The geopolymers were prepared with metakaolin as an aluminosilicate source and alkaline activating solutions containing either sodium or potassium in the same molar oxide proportions. The potassium-based formulation displayed a higher specific surface area and lower average pore size (28.

[The experience of the reading group in the psychiatric inpatient unit of Desio (Lombardy Region, Northern Italy)].

Objectives: to evaluate the possible advantages secondary to the introduction of a reading group in an acute psychiatric inpatient unit.

Design: before-after study.

Setting And Participants: the study was conducted at the acute psychiatric inpatient unit of Desio (Lombardy Region, Northern Italy).

Cross-sectional study of neutrophil-lymphocyte, platelet-lymphocyte and monocyte-lymphocyte ratios in mood disorders.

Objective: Neutrophil-lymphocyte, monocyte-lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratio are inexpensive and reproducible biomarkers of inflammation found to be elevated in mood disorders. This study aimed to compare inflammatory ratios between bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder and between bipolar disorder manic episodes and bipolar disorder depressive episodes.

Method: We included 142 Caucasian patients (major depressive disorder: n = 36; bipolar disorder manic episode: n = 66; bipolar disorder depressive episode: n = 40).

[Retrospective study about 20 cases of ovarian Burkitt lymphoma at Yopougon teaching hospital in Côte d'Ivoire].

Context: The maxillo-facial attack was the first described in the Burkitt lymphoma in 1958 by Denis Pearsons Burkitt. Abdominopelvic disorders, particularly ovarian localization are observed more and more by the developments of imagery technics. Our study aimed to describe the epidemiologic, clinical, therapeutic and evolutive aspects of ovarian localization in the endemic Burkitt lymphoma.

Outpatient therapeutic chronic opioid consumption in Italy: a one-year survey.

Background: In Italy since the 38/2010 law concerning Palliative Care and pain therapy has been promulgated, the consumption of opioids started increasing. However, despite the availability of a large amount of data regarding opioid prescription, a database including all patients on chronic opioid therapy does not yet exist.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of analgesic opioid consumption was performed between January 2013 and December 2013 using the data of national refunded medications for outpatients, collected by Italian Ministry of Health.

Enamel pearls as a predisposing factor to localized periodontitis.

Enamel pearls are enamel anomalies on primary and permanent teeth roots that usually appear at furcation areas, especially in maxillary second and third molars. Enamel pearls usually occur singularly, but as many as four have been observed on the same tooth. This report describes an unusual case of multiple enamel pearls associated with periodontal pockets localized on all maxillary first and second molars.

Effectiveness of plaque indicators and air polishing for the sealing of pits and fissures.

Aim: Sealing of pits and fissures is one of the most effective techniques in caries prevention: however incomplete removal of plaque debris, can cause lack of retention of the sealant.

Materials And Methods: Sixty first permanent molars were sealed for this study. The teeth were divided into four groups.

Non-surgical periodontal therapy assisted by potassium-titanyl-phosphate laser: a pilot study.

As the American Academy of Periodontology indicates, the treatment of chronic periodontitis should be achieved in the least invasive manner through non-surgical periodontal therapy. However, complete removal of subgingival plaque and calculus is hindered with increasing probing depth (PD) and furcation involvement using hand, sonic or ultrasonic instruments. Many authors have suggested that the use of laser as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) might improve the effectiveness of conventional periodontal treatment.

Hierarchical affinity maturation of a phage library derived antibody for the selective removal of cytomegalovirus from plasma.

Recombinant antibody fragments can be produced in large quantities using bacterial expression systems and could potentially be useful for the generation of biofilters for the selective removal of viral particles from fluids. A human single chain-Fv antibody library, derived from synthetic repertoires of germ line VH-gene segments rearranged in vitro and paired to a single light chain (Nissim et al., 1994, EMBO J.

Effect of intravenous fructose-1,6-diphosphate on myocardial contractility in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

Study Objective: To examine the effects of fructose-1,6-diphosphate on myocardial performance using nuclear scintigraphy.

Design: Prospective, randomized, single-blind, parallel study.

Setting: Urban teaching hospital clinical research center.

Concentrations of pravastatin and lovastatin in cerebrospinal fluid in healthy subjects.

The capability of pravastatin and lovastatin, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors likely to be taken chronically for hypercholesterolemia, to cross the blood-brain barrier was investigated in normal male volunteers. Lovastatin, which is lipophilic, was detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at concentrations that may have a pharmacologic effect. Pravastatin, which is hydrophilic, was not detected in CSF.

An in vitro method which assesses corneal epithelial toxicity due to antineoplastic, preservative and antimicrobial agents.

We developed an in vitro model for studying the cytotoxicity of pharmacologic agents on corneal epithelium employing 3H-thymidine incorporation. Primary rabbit corneal epithelial cell cultures were established, and the cells plated prior to each experiment. 3H-thymidine incorporation was measured after the addition of drug or vehicle to these confluent cells, and dose-response curves were generated.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the heart.

Magnetic resonance (MR) has noninvasively imaged the proximal coronary arteries, areas of infarction, and a variety of congenital heart lesions. Further technical improvement may extend cardiac MR from the realm of research to clinical utility.

Gated magnetic resonance imaging of the normal and diseased heart.

Gated cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images were obtained in two normal volunteers and 21 adults with a variety of cardiovascular abnormalities. The images were correlated with data from clinical examinations, electrocardiograms, and cardiac catheterization. Gated cardiac images were superior to nongated images.

ATP activation of parathyroid hormone cleavage catalyzed by cathepsin D from bovine kidney.

The acid protease which is activated by ATP and which catalyzes production of fragments of parathyroid hormone similar to those produced in vivo was shown to be cathepsin D. Purified cathepsin D from bovine kidney and spleen is activated by ATP and other nucleoside triphosphates, and to a much lesser extent by nucleoside diphosphates and pyrophosphate. These findings suggest that cathepsin D may be involved in parathyroid hormone metabolism in vivo and that this lysosomal enzyme may be regulated by the energy status of the cell.

Identification of an ATP-activated endopeptidase from rat kidney which catalyzes cleavage of parathyroid hormone to fragments identical to those produced in the rat kidney in vivo.

An endopeptidase catalyzing cleavage of parathyroid hormone to specific C-terminal and N-terminal fragments was identified in a partially purified membrane fraction from rat kidney. Fractionation on sucrose gradient showed that this activity is present primarily in a light membrane fraction rather than in the basal-lateral membranes, or in the classic lysosomal fraction. The endopeptidase can be extracted from the membranes by freezing and thawing, it has an acid pH optimum, and it catalyzes production of specific fragments of PTH.

Specific cleavage of bovine parathyroid hormone catalyzed by an endopeptidase from bovine kidney.

Cleavage of parathyroid hormone (PTH) is catalyzed by an endopeptidase associated with a partially purified membrane preparation from bovine kidney cortex. This enzyme was found to have an acid pH optimum and to be easily extracted from the membranes by a single freeze-thaw cycle. The cleavage is remarkable in that it appears to be restricted to a small region of the PTH peptide chain, generating fragments which are not further degraded.

Innominate aterial arteriovenous fistula complicating retrograde brachial arterial catheterization.

Arteriovenous fistula of the innominate artery occurred in a patient 3 weeks after retrograde brachial arterial catheterization was performed 1 day before aortocoronary bypass surgery. Intramural dissection was noted at catheterization, and a mediastinal hematoma at operation. Exploration of the hematoma in the course of catheterization might have prevented the arteriovenous fistula, which necessitated a second operation 3 weeks after the first.