Hymenoptera venom allergy in children.

From a taxonomic point of view, Hymenoptera are subclassified into families: Apidae, including honeybees (Apis mellifera) and bumblebees (Bombus), and Vespidae, which, in turn, are divided into the subfamilies of Vespinae (wasps, including hornets, vespules, dolichovespules) and Polistinae (paper wasp). Hypersensitivity to Hymenoptera venom can be linked to immunological (IgE-mediated or non-IgE-mediated) and non-immunological mechanisms. Reactions are classified into local reactions, large local reactions, systemic reactions, toxic reactions, and unusual reactions.

Pidotimod in pediatrics: new evidence and future perspectives.

Pidotimod is a synthetic dipeptide that exerts immunomodulatory activity, modifying innate and adaptive immunity. Pidotimod firstly acts on Toll-like receptors, then on antigen-presenting cells and other immunocompetent cells. Pidotimod also affects immunoglobulin production and their switching.

Allergic rhinitis management: a Delphi Consensus promoted by the Italian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (SIAIP).

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the most frequent IgE-mediated disease, mainly in children and adolescents. Management of AR in the pediatric age may be heterogeneous, and the available guidelines do not adequately consider this issue. As a result, the Italian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (SIAIP) promoted a Delphi Consensus to define and evaluate the most relevant aspects of AR management in the pediatric setting in Italy.

Predicting paediatric asthma exacerbations with machine learning: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Background: Asthma exacerbations in children pose a significant burden on healthcare systems and families. While traditional risk assessment tools exist, artificial intelligence (AI) offers the potential for enhanced prediction models.

Objective: This study aims to systematically evaluate and quantify the performance of machine learning (ML) algorithms in predicting the risk of hospitalisation and emergency department (ED) admission for acute asthma exacerbations in children.

Treatment of acute pharyngitis in children: an Italian intersociety consensus (SIPPS-SIP-SITIP-FIMP-SIAIP-SIMRI-FIMMG).

Sore throat represents one of the main causes of antibiotic overprescription in children. Its management is still a matter of debate, with countries considering streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis a benign and self-limiting condition and others advocating for its antibiotic treatment to prevent suppurative complications and acute rheumatic fever. Italian paediatricians frequently prescribe antibiotics on a clinical basis regardless of microbiological results.

RIAIT (Italian Registry of Allergen Immunotherapy): Protocol for a New Tool in a New Vision of Disease-Modifying Therapy for Allergists.

Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated responses to clinical parameters, but a significant proportion of allergy patients in real-life settings would have been excluded from such studies. Therefore, real-world research is needed, and there is a growing body of information on allergen immunotherapy's long-term effectiveness and safety. Real-world evidence can be a valuable instrument to better understand the patient's journey and the effectiveness and safety of therapies.

IPINeT Ped-unPAD Study: Goals, Design, and Preliminary Results.

An unclassified primary antibody deficiency (unPAD) is a widely heterogeneous clinical entity, recently identified within the spectrum of Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEIs). Since unPAD has been traditionally considered as a mild condition, it has incorrectly received little attention, resulting in the paucity of extensive and comparable studies describing its natural history. To address the gaps in characterizing, understanding, and managing pediatric unPAD patients, the Italian Primary Immunodeficiency Network (IPINet) Ped-unPAD study has recently been launched.

Intersocietal survey on real-world asthma management in Italian children.

Pediatric asthma management is a compelling challenge for every pediatrician. Different aspects require attention and definition. The present Intersocietal Survey aimed to collect real-world experiences from a sample of Italian pediatricians.

An Updated Reappraisal of Dupilumab in Children and Adolescents with Severe Asthma.

Severe asthma (SA) is still a demanding challenge in clinical practice. Type 2 inflammation is the most common phenotype in children and adolescents with SA. As a result, anti-inflammatory drugs, mainly corticosteroids (CSs), represent the first choice to reduce type 2 inflammation.

Machine learning-enhanced HRCT analysis for diagnosis and severity assessment in pediatric asthma.

Objectives: Chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is conditionally recommended to rule out conditions that mimic or coexist with severe asthma in children. However, it may provide valuable insights into identifying structural airway changes in pediatric patients. This study aims to develop a machine learning-based chest HRCT image analysis model to aid pediatric pulmonologists in identifying features of severe asthma.

New perspectives on the role of biological factors in anorexia nervosa: Brain volume reduction or oxidative stress, which came first?

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder (ED) that has seen an increase in its incidence in the last thirty years. Compared to other psychosomatic disorders, ED can be responsible for many major medical complications, moreover, in addition to the various systemic impairments, patients with AN undergo morphological and physiological changes affecting the cerebral cortex. Through immunohistochemical studies on portions of postmortem human brain of people affected by AN and healthy individuals, and western blot studies on leucocytes of young patients and healthy controls, this study investigated the role in the afore-mentioned processes of altered redox state.

An updated reappraisal of dupilumab in children and adolescents with moderate-severe atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is still a demanding challenge in clinical practice. Type 2 inflammation is the most common inflammatory pathway in children and adolescents with AD. Anti-inflammatory drugs, mainly corticosteroids (CS) and immunomodulant agents are the primary therapeutic approach to dampening type 2 inflammation.

Critical reappraisal of short-acting bronchodilators for pediatric respiratory diseases.

Short-acting bronchodilators are a class of medications commonly used to treat asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other respiratory conditions. The use of these medications has evolved over time as we have gained a better understanding of their effectiveness and safety in the pediatric population. This comprehensive review synthesizes the current understanding of short-acting β2-agonists and short-acting anticholinergics in children.

Sequence analysis of respiratory syncytial virus cases reveals a novel subgroup -B strain circulating in north-central Italy after pandemic restrictions.

Background: Following the pandemic restrictions, the epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has changed, leading to intense hospitalization peaks.

Objectives: This study, conducted at multiple sites in Italy, aimed to describe the temporal dynamics of two post-COVID-19 RSV epidemics. Additionally, the circulating RSV-A and -B lineages were characterized and compared to those found in 2018 and 2019.

Paediatric Atopic Dermatitis: The Unexpected Impact on Life with a Specific Look at the Molecular Level.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a condition with a multifactorial aetiology that affects the skin. It most often begins at preschool age and involves the skin. The disease's main symptom is intense itching, which occurs especially at night and affects the child's sleep, negatively impacting the quality of life of affected children and, consequently, their families.

Production of donor-derived cytotoxic T lymphocytes with potent anti-leukemia activity for adoptive immunotherapy in high-risk pediatric patients given haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background Aims: Somatic cell therapy based on the infusion of donor-derived cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) able to recognize patients' leukemia blasts (LB) is a promising approach to control leukemia relapse after allogeneic HSCT. The success of this approach strongly depends on the ex vivo generation of high-quality donor-derived anti-leukemia CTL in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). We previously described a procedure for generating large numbers of donor-derived anti-leukemia CTL through stimulation of CD8-enriched lymphocytes with dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with apoptotic LB in the presence of interleukin (IL)-12, IL-7 and IL-15.

From evidence to practice: A systematic review-based diagnostic algorithm for paediatric eosinophilia across socioeconomic context.

Aim: Paediatric eosinophilia is a common clinical dilemma, often leading to resource- and time-consuming assessments. We aim to evaluate the main aetiologies of eosinophilia in children from different socioeconomic settings and propose a diagnostic algorithm.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted through PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library.