Spread of Respiratory Pathogens During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Children in the Northeast of Italy.

The social distancing measures adopted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a profound change in the behavioral habits of the population. This study analyzes the impact of restriction measures on the shaping of the epidemiology of common winter respiratory pathogens in the pediatric population of northeast of Italy. From August 2020 to March 2021, a total of 1,227 nasopharyngeal swabs from symptomatic pediatric patients were tested for the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza A and B, adenovirus, other coronaviruses, parainfluenza virus 1-4, enterovirus, bocavirus, metapneumovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, , , and .

Ethical dimensions of translational developmental neuroscience research in autism.

Background: Since the 1990s, increasing research has been devoted to the identification of biomarkers for autism to help attain more objective diagnosis; enable early prediction of prognosis; and guide individualized intervention options. Early studies focused on the identification of genetic variants associated with autism, but more recently, research has expanded to investigate neurodevelopmental markers. While ethicists have extensively discussed issues around advances in autism genomics, much less ethical scrutiny has focused on research on early neurodevelopment and on the interventions being developed as a result.

Real-time model predictive control of a wastewater treatment plant based on machine learning.

Two separate goals should be jointly pursued in wastewater treatment: nutrient removal and energy conservation. An efficient controller performance should cope with process uncertainties, seasonal variations and process nonlinearities. This paper describes the design and testing of a model predictive controller (MPC) based on neuro-fuzzy techniques that is capable of estimating the main process variables and providing the right amount of aeration to achieve an efficient and economical operation.

Co-producing research with youth: The NeurOx young people's advisory group model.

Context: The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have the right to be heard in all matters affecting them. The Convention inspired a surge in research that investigates young people's perspectives on health and wellness-related concerns and that involves children as 'co-researchers'. Young people's advisory groups (YPAGs) are a widely used method to enable young people's involvement in all research stages, but there is a lack of academic literature to guide researchers on how to set up, run and evaluate the impact of such groups.

Can Your Phone Be Your Therapist? Young People's Ethical Perspectives on the Use of Fully Automated Conversational Agents (Chatbots) in Mental Health Support.

Over the last decade, there has been an explosion of digital interventions that aim to either supplement or replace face-to-face mental health services. More recently, a number of automated conversational agents have also been made available, which respond to users in ways that mirror a real-life interaction. What are the social and ethical concerns that arise from these advances? In this article, we discuss, from a young person's perspective, the strengths and limitations of using chatbots in mental health support.

Correction to: Predictive Psychiatric Genetic Testing in Minors: An Exploration of the Non-Medical Benefits.

The article [Title], written by [AuthorNames], was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on [date of OnlineFirst publication] without open access.

Predictive Psychiatric Genetic Testing in Minors: An Exploration of the Non-Medical Benefits.

Predictive genetic testing for susceptibility to psychiatric conditions is likely to become part of standard practice. Because the onset of most psychiatric diseases is in late adolescence or early adulthood, testing minors could lead to early identification that may prevent or delay the development of these disorders. However, due to their complex aetiology, psychiatric genetic testing does not provide the immediate medical benefits that current guidelines require for testing minors.

High-dose vincristine, fractionated total-body irradiation and cyclophosphamide as conditioning regimen in allogeneic and autologous bone marrow transplantation for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in second remission: a 7-year Italian multicentre study.

We investigated the feasibility and efficacy of high-dose vincristine (4 mg/m2 over 4 d) combined with fractionated total body irradiation (F-TBI) (200 cGy x 2 over 3 d) and cyclophosphamide (60 mg/kg for 2 d) as a preparative regimen in allogeneic (AlloBMT) and autologous (ABMT) bone marrow transplantation for 75 consecutive children (median age at transplant 8.5 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in second complete remission (CR). Median duration of first CR was 26 and 25 months in the AlloBMT and ABMT group, respectively.

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.

[Acute inflammatory polyradiculoneuritis during bone marrow transplantation. A report of 2 cases].

Acute polyradiculoneuritis (AP) is a self-immunity based disease of the peripheral nerve caused by macrophages, usually activated by T-lymphocytes. Recent clinical and experimental evidence show that early high dose treatment with Ig slows disease progression. In this study, two cases of AP with different onset in two patients showing definitely compromised cellular and/or humoral immunity, are reported.

[Fournier's syndrome: diagnostic and therapeutic assessment].

Fournier's syndrome is a disorder involving perineum and scrotum caused by invasive anorectal infection. Aerobic and anaerobic bacteraemia can lead to septic toxicity. Hence the importance of the multidisciplinary treatment and urgent surgical procedures including drainage and necrotic tissue removal is stressed.

Low incidence of GvHD and rejection after pharmacological ex vivo modulation of bone marrow in 2-3 antigens mismatched BMT.

2-3 antigens mismatched BMT were performed on 32 children without a matched sibling donor. In the light of previous in vitro studies, which suggested a role of Vincristine and Methilprednisolone ex vivo treatment in modulating alloreactivity of T cells, bone marrow was treated with such a pharmacological cocktail before being infused. Acute GVHD 2 degrees to 4 degrees degree occurred in 46% of cases, chronic GVHD in 28%, graft failure in 13%.

Early deaths in children after BMT. Bone Marrow Transplantation Group of the Italian Association for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) and Gruppo Italiano Trapianto di Midollo Osseo (GITMO).

In order to determine the incidence and causes of death during the first 100 days after BMT (early deaths) in a pediatric population we have examined data reported in the AIEOP BMT Registry. Up to July 1990, data on 486 children who underwent allogeneic (180) or autologous (306) BMT were evaluable. The children had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (148 cases), acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia (127 cases), neuroblastoma (82 cases), chronic myelogenous leukemia (15 cases), aplastic anemia (nine cases), solid tumors, lymphoma, immunodeficiency or storage diseases.

Functional depletion of T cells by vincristine and methylprednisolone as an in vitro model for the prevention of graft versus host disease.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS. The outcome of mismatched bone marrow transplantation is still severely hampered by graft versus host disease (GVHD) and graft rejection. Procedures for the recognition and selective elimination of T cells are still unsatisfactory due to the increased incidence of graft failure and late rejection.

[Bone marrow transplantation in pediatrics: its current status, the problems and prospects].

Notwithstanding the high proportion that achieve a cure after chemotherapy, there are still a case in which only a BMT can offer a chance of cure. This minority of patients can undergo an allogeneic BMT if a HLA matched donor is available or an autologous BMT if a good remission is achieved before the BMT. Not all the patients comply with these criteria.

[Neutropenia caused by low-dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in children with chronic pathology of the urinary tract].

Neutropenia is the most common hematologic abnormality detected as consequence of Trimethoprim Sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) therapy. Its incidence is evaluated in 27 children affected by urinary tract anomalies and treated with low doses of TMP SMX (2 + 10 mg/kg/die) for more than one month. A slight neutropenia was detected in 8 children (6 of these were in their first two years of life).

Immunological patterns in monoarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Seven pediatric patients with monoarticular arthritis, three of whom had a recent onset form and the remaining four a disease of longer duration, were examined for possible modifications of their immunological parameters. The diagnosis of JRA was made on all these patients according to the ARA criteria after a follow-up of at least two years. Humoral and cellular abnormalities of the immune system were searched for in peripheral blood, synovial fluid and synovial membrane.

[Long-term remission induced by measles infection and followed by immunosuppressive therapy in a case of refractory juvenile rheumatoid arthritis].

A case of severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, polyarticular type, refractory to FANS and long acting therapy which showed a quick remission after measles is described. An immunosuppressive therapy to strengthen the immunosuppression induced by virus infection was performed for six months. The remission has been maintained for 4 years and appears up to now to be stable with no therapy.

[Comparative study of the frequency of 6 primitive reflexes in a hospitalized population of aged patients].

110 elderly patients, 57 with and 53 without acquired neurological lesions, were examined for the presence of the grasping, snout, sucking, palmomental, glabellar and bulldog reflexes. The results were statistically analyzed by means of the chi2 method. The percentages of the positive reflex responses, although not negligible in the neurologically healthy patients, turned out far higher in the patients with organic cerebral disorders.