Introduction of gluten, HLA status, and the risk of celiac disease in children.

Background: The relationship between the risk of celiac disease and both the age at which gluten is introduced to a child's diet and a child's early dietary pattern is unclear.

Methods: We randomly assigned 832 newborns who had a first-degree relative with celiac disease to the introduction of dietary gluten at 6 months (group A) or 12 months (group B). The HLA genotype was determined at 15 months of age, and serologic screening for celiac disease was evaluated at 15, 24, and 36 months and at 5, 8, and 10 years.

Long-term home parenteral nutrition in children with chronic intestinal failure: A 15-year experience at a single Italian centre.

Background And Aims: Chronic intestinal failure is a condition causing severe impairment of intestinal functions; long-term total parenteral nutrition is required to provide adequate nutritional support.

Methods: This is a 15-year follow-up study of paediatric patients with intestinal failure receiving long-term home parenteral nutrition.

Results: Thirty-six patients were included in the study, all aged <16 years.

Beta-cell autoimmunity in pediatric celiac disease: the case for routine screening?

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of beta-cell autoimmunity and the usefulness of a type 1 diabetes screening in patients with celiac disease.

Research Design And Methods: We measured GAD antibodies (GADAs), insulinoma-associated protein 2 antigens (IA-2As), and insulin autoantibodies (IAAs) in 188 young Italian patients with celiac disease (66 male [35.1%]).

Drug-resistant bullous pemphigoid and inflammatory bowel disease in a pediatric case successfully treated by plasma exchange and extracorporeal photochemotherapy.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune skin disease that occurs mainly in elderly patients; onset of BP is rare in childhood. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), by contrast, have a pediatric onset in 25% of presenting cases, requiring expert multidisciplinary management. Here we report a pediatric case of IBD (involving stomach, duodenum, ileum, and colon-rectum) associated with a disseminated form of drug-resistant BP successfully treated by plasma exchange (PEX), extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP), and corticosteroid therapy.

Chronic eosinophilic ascites in a very young child.

Unlabelled: A case of chronic eosinophilic ascites with onset in early infancy is described. An intensive diagnostic work-up ruled out other known causes of ascites in childhood. The final diagnosis was made at 2 years of age when a large number of eosinophils was detected in the ascitic fluid.

A novel case of immunodeficiency, centromeric instability, and facial anomalies (the ICF syndrome): immunologic and cytogenetic studies.

The immunodeficiency, centromeric instability, and facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome is characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia and recurrent bacterial infections. Here we report a novel case of ICF syndrome with hypogammaglobulinemia and an inverted CD4/CD8 ratio. Cytogenetically abnormal cells,that were identified in both CD4+ and CD4- peripheral blood lymphocytes, retained their ability to proliferate in vitro following polyclonal stimulation.