Clinical features of COVID-19 in Italian outpatient children and adolescents during Parental, Delta, and Omicron waves: a prospective, observational, cohort study.

Introduction: COVID-19 features changed with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in adults. This study aims to describe COVID-19 symptoms in children and adolescents during the Parental, Delta, and Omicron eras.

Methods: A single-centre, prospective observational study was conducted on individuals aged 0-20 years attending the University Hospital of Padua (Italy) from April 2020 to December 2022.

Cardiac Function Evaluation after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination in Children and Adolescents: A Prospective Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography Study.

Background: Possible cardiac impairment after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination is a common driver of parental vaccine hesitancy. We performed a comprehensive echocardiographic evaluation of biventricular function in vaccinated children with or without previous COVID-19 compared to healthy controls.

Methods: We conducted a single-center, prospective, case-control study enrolling children and adolescents aged 5-18 years attending the pediatric clinic of the University Hospital of Padua from April to June 2022.

Mid- and Long-Term Atrio-Ventricular Functional Changes in Children after Recovery from COVID-19.

Background: Although most children may experience mild to moderate symptoms and do not require hospitalization, there are little data on cardiac involvement in COVID-19. However, cardiac involvement is accurately demonstrated in children with MISC. The objective of this study was to evaluate cardiac mechanics in previously healthy children who recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in a long-term follow-up by means of two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE).

Perceived Psychological Impact on Children and Parents of Experiencing COVID-19 Infection in One or More Family Members.

SARS-CoV-2 infection may impair behavior and mental health; we explored the psychological impact on parents and children who experienced COVID-19 within their families. A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted on families attending the COVID-19 Follow-up Clinic at the Department for Women’s and Children’s Health, Padua (Italy). From April 2020 to August 2021, 75 surveys were collected from 66 families (97 parents and 129 children); almost 70% of participants had COVID-19, mostly asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic, and the median time from infection to survey compilation was 164.

Preliminary Evidence on Pulmonary Function after Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 in Children.

Background: While it has been described that adults can develop long-lasting deterioration in pulmonary function (PF) after coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), regardless of disease severity, data on the long-term pneumological impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children are lacking.

Methods: Performing a single-center, prospective, observational study on children aged 6-18 years with a previous diagnosis of asymptomatic/mild COVID-19, we evaluated the long-term impact of mild severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in children.

Results: A total of 61 subjects underwent spirometry after a mean time of 10 ± 4 months from asymptomatic or mild infection.

Long-term Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Children and Adults After Mild Infection.

Importance: Understanding the long-term immune response against SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is crucial to optimize vaccination strategies. Although it is known that SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may persist in adults 12 months after infection, data are limited in the pediatric population.

Objective: To examine long-term anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain (S-RBD) IgG kinetics in children after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Protective SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response in Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: To date, there's no evidence of an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or more severe COVID-19 in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, whether COVID-19 alters the clinical course of IBD or whether IBD treatment affects the immunological response to SARS-CoV-2 is still under investigation, especially in children.

Aim: To assess the serological response to SARS-CoV-2 in children with IBD, and to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the clinical course of IBD.

Left ventricular longitudinal strain alterations in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic paediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Aims: Compared with adult patients, clinical manifestations of children's coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) are generally perceived as less severe. The objective of this study was to evaluate cardiac involvement in previously healthy children with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

Methods And Results: We analysed a cohort of 53 paediatric patients (29 males, 55%), mean age 7.

Mild SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Neutralizing Antibody Titers.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 may persist over time; however, knowledge regarding pediatric subjects is limited.

Methods: A single-center, prospective observational study was conducted on 57 family clusters of coronavirus disease 2019, including children of neonatal and pediatric age attending the University Hospital of Padua (Italy). For each patient, blood samples were collected for both the quantification of nAbs through a plaque reduction neutralizing test and the detection of antinucleocapsid-spike protein immunoglobulin G and/or immunoglobulin M.

Age-dependent tendency to become sensitized to other classes of aeroallergens in atopic asthmatic children.

Background: Several longitudinal studies report that allergic sensitization increases with age from childhood to adulthood.

Objective: To evaluate whether an age-dependent tendency to become sensitized to new classes of allergens is present in atopic children, we studied retrospectively the changes in allergic sensitization in 165 asthmatic patients, monosensitized (ie, sensitized to only one class of allergens) in the first survey.

Methods: All the children (18 months to 8 years at enrollment), attended our outpatient clinics twice, at time intervals ranging from 2 to 10 years.

Cetirizine reduces ICAM-I on epithelial cells during nasal minimal persistent inflammation in asymptomatic children with mite-allergic asthma.

It has been recently demonstrated that individuals who suffer from mite allergy present mucosal inflammation even when asymptomatic. This situation is characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells (eosinophils and neutrophils) and by ICAM-I expression on epithelial cells. It has been called 'minimal persistent inflammation' (MPI) for its relationship with natural exposure to allergen, which is continuous in the case of mite allergy.

Paediatric AIDS: a new child abuse.

In relation to youth rights, a new view has been created in recent decades that is included in the fundamental law of the child: the recognition of the right to education and the chance to develop a mature personality capable of creativity and liberty. Because of HIV infection it is very important to pay particular attention to the rights of the seropositive child and children born to seropositive mothers, which may be hampered not only in developing countries but also in the industrial world. HIV-affected children and their families are becoming abused and at high risk of becoming abused and this encroaches upon youth rights.

The use of antibiotics in the treatment and prevention of infection in HIV-infected children.

Children with HIV infection have an unusual susceptibility to bacterial infection, related to several immune abnormalities. Selection of initial antibiotic therapy must be individualized in these children. Patients with community-acquired disease are most likely to have infection by polysaccharide-encapsulated bacterial organism, most commonly Streptococcus pneumoniae and less frequently by Haemophilus influenzae type b.

Prognostic significance of immunologic changes in 675 infants perinatally exposed to human immunodeficiency virus. The Italian Register for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Children.

Neutrophil, lymphocyte, and T-cell subset numbers and immunoglobulin levels were evaluated at birth to age 2 years in 675 children born to mothers infected with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (58 infected symptom-free subjects (P-1), 203 infected subjects with symptoms (P-2), and 414 uninfected subjects). The P-2 patients had (even at birth to age 1 month) lower CD4+ lymphocyte and higher IgA and IgM values than P-1 and uninfected children had. Increased IgG values (from 1 to 6 months of age) and increased CD8+ lymphocyte numbers (at 13 to 24 months of age) were also observed.

How frequent and how early does the neurological involvement in HIV-positive children occur? Preliminary results of a prospective study.

To study the natural history of the neurological involvement in pediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, 77 children born to seropositive mothers have been followed up since birth. The median follow-up time has been 17.5 months.