Monitoring the hospital management of acute asthma: the Italian Pediatric Network experience.

Background: The Study Group on Accreditation and Quality Improvement of the Italian Society of Pediatrics has developed an observational study about the hospital management of pediatric patients affected by severe asthma, in order to evaluate how the Guidelines for severe asthma in childhood are applied in the daily practice.

Methods: This study included patients between 2 and 17 years, hospitalized or under short intensive observation for acute asthma. The data collection was carried out through the compilation of on-line forms.

Evaluation of the quality of guidelines for acute gastroenteritis in children with the AGREE instrument.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument, a validated international tool.

Materials And Methods: CPGs were identified by searching MEDLINE (1966-January 2009) and Embase (1988-January 2009), CPG databases, and relevant Web sites of agencies and organizations that produce and/or endorse guidelines. Included in the study were CPGs in English that addressed the management of acute gastroenteritis in children.

Hypokalemic rhabdomyolysis in congenital tubular disorders: a case series and a systematic review.

Hypokalemia is a recognized cause of rhabdomyolysis but very few reports document its association with inborn renal tubular disorders. We report our experience with hypokalemic rhabdomyolysis in 5 pediatric patients affected by inborn renal tubular disorders and the results of a careful review of the literature disclosing 9 further cases for a total of 14 patients (8 male and 6 female subjects, aged between 1.6 and 46, median 16 years).

Preliminary results of a nutritional survey in a sample of 35,000 Italian schoolchildren.

An investigation of the nutrient intake of a large-scale sample (n = 35,072), drawn from the Italian school-age population (7-10 years) was carried out in a nationwide survey of nutritional patterns. Friuli, the Piedmont, Latium and Sicily regions were selected as representative of the nation's north-south and east-west socio-economic divisions. A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess nutritional intake.