Use of intranasal and sublingual analgesia in children and adolescents in the paediatric emergency department.

Background: Despite evidence showing that the intranasal and sublingual routes are safe and effective in providing analgesia, no data are available about their day-to-day use in the emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of the use of the intranasal and sublingual routes, and the clinical characteristics of the patients receiving analgesia through these routes.

Methods: A multicentre study was performed in the EDs participating in the Pain in Paediatric Emergency Room research group.

Management of fever in infants and children in the emergency setting and during home discharge: recommendations from an Italian panel.

In infants and children, fever is very common in the emergency setting. The overall aim of the present publication was to overview guidance and provide an algorithm for use in the emergency setting as well as recommendations to inform parents for home care. To obtain consensus, a core steering committee drafted a management algorithm and general consensus was obtained by remote voting among experts.

A probabilistic model of biological ageing of the lungs for analysing the effects of smoking, asthma and COPD.

Background: Although a large body of literature is available that describes the effects of smoking, asthma and COPD on lung function, most studies are restricted to a small age range and to one factor. As a consequence, available results are incomplete and often difficult to compare, also due to the ways the effects are expressed. Furthermore, current approaches consider one type of measurement only or several types separately.

Dietary protein-induced proctocolitis in childhood.

Cow's milk protein-induced proctocolitis presents with overt rectal bleeding in otherwise healthy infants and is characterized by an eosinophilic infiltrate of the left colonic mucosa. Although it is the most common cause of proctocolitis in infancy, dietary protein-induced proctocolitis had hardly ever been reported in childhood so far. We hereby report 16 otherwise healthy children aged 2-14 yr, who presented over a 6-yr period with persistent or recurrent rectal bleeding related to a mild form of left-sided colitis characterized by a prominent eosinophilic infiltration, focal lymphoid follicle hyperplasia, and a prompt clinical and histological response to a cow's milk-free diet.

Colonic lymphoid nodular hyperplasia in children: relationship to food hypersensitivity.

Background & Aims: The clinical significance of lymphoid nodular hyperplasia (LNH) of the lower gastrointestinal tract is unclear. The aim of this study was to define the frequency and clinical significance of LNH in pediatric patients undergoing colonoscopy.

Methods: Two hundred forty-five children (101 male, 144 female; median age, 8.

Mutations in SUFU predispose to medulloblastoma.

The sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway directs the embryonic development of diverse organisms and is disrupted in a variety of malignancies. Pathway activation is triggered by binding of hedgehog proteins to the multipass Patched-1 (PTCH) receptor, which in the absence of hedgehog suppresses the activity of the seven-pass membrane protein Smoothened (SMOH). De-repression of SMOH culminates in the activation of one or more of the GLI transcription factors that regulate the transcription of downstream targets.

Analysis of PTCH/SMO/SHH pathway genes in medulloblastoma.

Inactivation of the PTCH tumor suppressor gene occurs in a subset of sporadic medulloblastomas, suggesting that alterations in the PTCH pathway may be important in the development of this tumor. In order to address the frequency of genetic alterations affecting genes in this pathway, we used a combination of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis, single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis, and direct sequencing of DNA samples from sporadic primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs). To identify alterations in the PTCH gene, we performed LOH analysis on 37 tumor DNA samples.

Neurotrophins and Trk receptors in primitive neuroectodermal tumor cell lines.

Objective: Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are thought to be derived from early central nervous system precursors. Therefore, we hypothesized that the neurotrophins (nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-3) and their receptors (TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC), which are involved in the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of neuronal cells, might be important in regulating tumor growth.

Methods: Using ribonucleic acid (RNA) blotting and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis, we investigated the expression of these ligands and their receptors in six PNET cell lines (Daoy, PFSK, D283 Med, UW288-1, CHP707m, and D341 Med).

Novel messenger RNA and alternative promoter for murine acetylcholinesterase.

A portion of the 5'-flanking region of murine acetylcholinesterase was cloned from genomic DNA by 5'-rapid amplification of genomic ends, identified in a mouse genomic library, and sequenced. Multiple potential binding sites for universal and tissue-specific transcription factors were suggestive of a promoter region within this DNA sequence. Potential promoter activity was confirmed by coupling the new sequence to the open reading frame of a luciferase reporter gene in transient expression experiments with nerve and muscle cells.

Cloning of a human ortholog (RPH3AL) of (RNO)Rph3al from a candidate 17p13.3 medulloblastoma tumor suppressor locus.

Allelic loss of 17p13.3 is observed in approximately 40% of medulloblastomas, suggesting the presence of a tumor suppressor gene in this region. Deletion mapping has defined a region of common loss flanking the telomeric marker D17S34, and a recent report delineated a 9-kb homozygous deletion within the D17S34 locus in one such tumor.

Sporadic medulloblastomas contain oncogenic beta-catenin mutations.

The beta-catenin, glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK-3beta), and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene products interact to form a network that influences the rate of cell proliferation. Medulloblastoma occurs as part of Turcot's syndrome, and patients with Turcot's who develop medulloblastomas have been shown to harbor germ-line APC mutations. Although APC mutations have been investigated and not identified in sporadic medulloblastomas, the status of the beta-catenin and GSK-3beta genes has not been evaluated in this tumor.

Neurite differentiation is modulated in neuroblastoma cells engineered for altered acetylcholinesterase expression.

Previous observations from several groups suggest that acetylcholinesterase (AChE) may have a role in neural morphogenesis, but not solely by virtue of its ability to hydrolyze acetylcholine. We tested the possibility that AChE influences neurite outgrowth in nonenzymatic ways. With this aim, antisense oligonucleotides were used to decrease AChE levels transiently, and N1E.

Slow accumulation of acetylcholinesterase in rat brain during enzyme inhibition by repeated dosing with chlorpyrifos.

When given to rats, O,O'-diethyl-O-[3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridyl]- phosphorothionate (chlorpyrifos), a common insecticide, causes an unusually lengthy dose-dependent fall in the activity of brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.

[Transrectal echography in the diagnosis of non-palpable prostatic carcinoma].

285 affected by BPH have been evaluated by transrectal ultrasound. All the patients had a palpably normal prostate without abnormality suggestive of cancer. 56 patients (19.

Effect of copulation on the hypothalamic content of gonadotrophic hormone-releasing hormone in the vole, Microtus agrestis.

There was a drop of 56% in the hypothalamic content of Gn-RH in female voles 5 min after mating compared with that in unmated but receptive animals. This suggests that the surge of LH in vole plasma associated with reflex ovulation is evoked by a massive release of Gn-RH.

Immunoreactive luteinizing hormone releasing factor (LRF) in pituitary stalk plasma from female rats: effects of stimulating diencephalon, hippocampus and amygdala.

1. Previous studies on the effect of preoptic and median eminence stimulation on the immunoreactive LRF content of pituitary stalk blood from pro-oestrous rats have been extended. Stimulation of the suprachiasmatic nuclei and anterior hypothalamic area produced increments in LRF which were 66 and 18% respectively, of that produced by preoptic stimulation, and 38 and 9%, respectively, of that produced by stimulation of the median emience.

Releasing factor and hormonal changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadotrophin and -adrenocorticotrophin systems before and after birth and puberty in male, female and androgenized female rats.

The hypothalamic content of LH releasing factor (RF), pituitary ACTH and pituitary and plasma LH and FSH were measured by radioimmunoassay from foetal Day 15 to postnatal Day 65. Bioassayable corticotrophin releasing activity was also measured during the postnatal period. Hypothalamic LH-RF was detectable as early as foetal Day 15, increasing gradually until postnatal Day 2 and then steeply between Days 5 and 16.

Hypothalamic luteinizing hormone releasing factor and corticotrophin releasing activity in relation to pituitary and plasma hormone levels in male and female rats.

Hypothalamic corticotrophin releasing (CR) activity and LH-releasing factor (RF) content, and pituitary and plasma LH, FSH and ACTH were measured in adult male and female Wistar rats maintained under 14 h light per day. Hypothalamic LH-RF and pituitary and plasma hormones were estimated by radioimmunoassay while CR-activity was assessed by the amount of ACTH released from hemipituitaries in vitro. Two experiments were carried out on male animals.