Publications by authors named "M Torsellini"

The coping power universal (CPU) is an evidence-based universal prevention program delivered by teachers, and completely integrated into the school agenda. Previous studies have shown its positive effects, though little is known about its longer-term effects, and no previous study has explored whether teachers' occupational stress could influence the CPU efficacy. The current study aimed to explore the 1 year follow up of the CPU on students' externalizing and internalizing problems and prosocial behavior, and the influence of baseline levels of teachers' stress in a sample of 316 3rd graders and their teachers ( = 32).

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Methods: A bicentre, randomized, prospective open-label study aimed at defining a DNAaemia versus antigenaemia cutoff for guiding preemptive therapy of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) was completed. Overall, 99 patients were enrolled in the DNAaemia arm and 101 patients in the antigenaemia arm. Patients were randomized to be monitored for HCMV infection in the blood by either assay.

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Background: Some diagnostic, epidemiological and clinical features of the recently discovered human metapneumovirus remain to be investigated.

Objectives: To study the best approach for the diagnosis of human metapneumovirus infections by both conventional and molecular methods, along with the human metapneumovirus circulation rate in northern Italy and the severity of human metapneumovirus respiratory infections in a pediatric patient population.

Study Design: Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were taken from 306 pediatric patients during the winter-spring season 2003-2004, and examined for conventional respiratory viruses by direct fluorescent staining and cell culture, while human coronavirus and human metapneumovirus were sought by RT-PCR.

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Unlabelled: In the winter season 2001-2002, 239 nasopharyngeal aspirate and 15 bronchoalveolar lavage samples from 208 patients (135 pediatric and 73 adults, including 19 lung transplant recipients) admitted to hospital because of an acute respiratory tract infection were examined for rapid diagnosis of respiratory viruses by two diagnostic approaches: immunological, using specific monoclonal antibodies (MAb); and molecular, using specific reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assays. Both methods detected influenza viruses A (H1N1 and H3N2) and B, human parainfluenza virus types 1 to 3, human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) types A and B, and human adenoviruses. In addition, human coronavirus (hCoV) groups I (229E-like) and II (OC43-like), as well as the new human metapneumovirus (hMPV), types A and B, were searched for by RT-PCR alone.

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Transplantation Centers using human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) antigenemia-based preemptive therapy will need to replace in the near future the antigenemia assay with a more standardized and automatable assay, such as a molecular assay quantifying HCMV DNA in blood (DNAemia). Thus, in view of replacing antigenemia with clinically safe cutoff values, DNAemia levels corresponding to antigenemia cutoffs guiding HCMV preemptive therapy were determined retrospectively in solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients (HSCTR) using an "in-house" quantitative PCR (QPCR) method. Since preemptive therapy had prevented appearance of HCMV disease in all patients tested, DNA cutoffs determined retrospectively had to be considered as safe clinically as antigenemia cutoffs used prospectively.

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