Rescue one-stage hybrid perventricular and percutaneous device closure of multiple muscular ventricular septal defects using the new multifunctional occluder.

Data on the safety and efficiency of perventricular device closure of complex ventricular septal defects (VSDs) are scarce. We report successful one-stage combined hybrid perventricular and percutaneous closure of the muscular VSDs in a critically ill 4-kg infant, using the new multifunctional occluder.

Cognitive biases in pediatric cardiac care.

Medical practitioners are entrusted with the pivotal task of making optimal decisions in healthcare delivery. Despite rigorous training, our confidence in reasoning can fail when faced with pressures, uncertainties, urgencies, difficulties, and occasional errors. Day-to-day decisions rely on swift, intuitive cognitive processes known as heuristic or type 1 decision-making, which, while efficient in most scenarios, harbor inherent vulnerabilities leading to systematic errors.

Risk of infective endocarditis after hybrid melody mitral valve replacement in infants: the French experience.

Objectives: Surgical management of mitral valve disease is challenging in infants <1 year old. We aimed at reviewing the French experience with Melody mitral valve replacement in critically ill infants.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study reporting the French experience with Melody mitral valve replacement.

Standardized Bench Test Evaluation of Biomechanical Characteristics of Stents Used in Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Revalvulation.

Purpose: Pre-stenting of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) is commonly performed before percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation (PPVI), to relieve obstruction, prevent valved stent fractures, and provide a landing zone. This study aimed to evaluate the biomechanical characteristics of the stents currently used to perform pre-stenting of the RVOT.

Methods: We assessed five commercially available stents: Cheatham-Platinum Stent ("CP Stent"), AndraStent XL, AndraStent XXL, Optimus XL, and Optimus XXL.

Bilateral ductal stenting in an infant with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect, non-confluent pulmonary arteries, and bilateral arterial duct.

Pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect, non-confluent pulmonary arteries, and bilateral arterial duct is a rare and complex CHD. Physiologic ductal closure may lead to life-threatening hypoxia. We present a case of successful bilateral ductal stenting as a bridge to further lower-risk surgical repair.

E-Health: A Game Changer in Fetal and Neonatal Cardiology?

Technological advancements have greatly impacted the healthcare industry, including the integration of e-health in pediatric cardiology. The use of telemedicine, mobile health applications, and electronic health records have demonstrated a significant potential to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance the quality of care. Telemedicine provides a useful tool for remote clinics, follow-up visits, and monitoring for infants with congenital heart disease, while mobile health applications enhance patient and parents' education, medication compliance, and in some instances, remote monitoring of vital signs.

The Increase in Childhood Obesity and Its Association with Hypertension during Pandemics.

There has been a major ongoing health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's lives, including lifestyle and overall health. Enforcement of prevention measures, such as school closures and social distancing, has significantly affected children's daily routines and activities. This perspective manuscript aims to explore the rise in childhood obesity and its association with hypertension during pandemics.

Infective Endocarditis among Pediatric Patients with Prosthetic Valves and Cardiac Devices: A Review and Update of Recent Emerging Diagnostic and Management Strategies.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease of the endocardium, which leads to the appearance of vegetation on the valves, cardiac structures, or, potentially, vascular endothelium of the heart. The risk of IE can be increased more than 140 times by congenital heart disease (50-59% of all IE), particularly if cyanotic. An increase in mortality may result from IE in patients with a complex cardiac pathology or patients with an implanted prosthetic material, most frequently conduits in a pulmonary position.

Late aortic obstruction due to ductal vasoconstriction on pulmonic end after transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus closure in an extremely low-birth-weight infant.

Device-induced aortic obstruction is a known rare complication following transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus in extremely low-birth-weight infants. Various mechanisms have been proposed. We report the first description of late aortic obstruction due to ductal vasoconstriction on pulmonic end causing device to be gradually pushed out of aortic end in a 980-gram premature infant.

Midline crossing right pulmonary veins with dual drainage to the left atrium.

We report the exceptional case of transcatheter treatment of a partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage of the right lung to the innominate vein and dual drainage to the left atrium.

Insights on the Hydrodynamics of Chiari Malformation.

Background: We propose that the appearance of a ptosis of the cerebellar tonsils and syringomyelia is linked to its own hemohydrodynamic mechanisms. We aimed to quantify cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and cerebral blood flow to highlight how neurofluid is affected by Chiari malformations type 1(CMI) and its surgery.

Methods: We retrospectively included 21 adult patients with CMI who underwent pre- and postoperative phase contrast MRI (PCMRI) during the period from 2001 to 2017.

Is smoking linked to positive symptoms in acutely ill psychiatric patients?

Background: The self-medication hypothesis is commonly put forward to explain the high prevalence of smoking in psychiatric patients. However, studies supporting the self-medication hypothesis have most often been carried out on chronic patients stabilized by antipsychotics.

Aim: Given that antipsychotics tend to erase psychiatric symptoms, the present study was undertaken on acutely ill patients usually receiving no medications, or on whom medications are ineffective.

Ligurian experience on neonatal hearing screening: clinical and epidemiological aspects.

Aim: Early identification and rehabilitation of newborns with congenital hearing impairment (HI) by Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening (UNHS).

Methods: The neonatal population was divided into two groups: babies with No Audiological Risk (NAR), and babies With Audiological Risk (WAR). NAR neonates underwent OAE testing, and in case of a doubtful (Refer) result, ABR testing was carried out.

Neonatal hearing screening model: an Italian regional experience.

Objective: To produce a model for routine centralized hearing screening including all aspects of the screening, from diagnosis to psychological counseling and early rehabilitation.

Methods: A prospective observational study on a geographically defined pediatric population (Liguria region, northwestern Italy) and data collection in a data bank. The model proposed was created for the audiological screening of all newborns of the Liguria region.

Comparison of self-reports and biological measures for alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs consumption in psychiatric inpatients.

Background: Asking psychiatric in-patients about their drug consumption is unlikely to yield reliable results, particularly where alcohol and illicit drug use is involved. The main aim of this study was to compare spontaneous self-reports of drug use in hospitalized psychiatric patients to biological measures of same. A secondary aim was to determine which personal factors were associated with the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs as indicated by these biological measures.

Role of active follow-up for early diagnosis of relapse after elective end of therapies.

Objective: To evaluate the role of active follow-up for the detection of relapses occurring after completion of therapy in children with cancer.

Methods: The clinical records of all children who had a cancer relapse more than 3 months after the end of therapies in the period 1985-2000 were reviewed. Relapses were defined "diagnosed at a scheduled visit" or "at an unscheduled visit" based upon how the visit that lead to the suspected diagnosis was scheduled.

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method for the determination of DPC 423, an antithrombotic agent, in rat and dog plasma.

A sensitive and selective LC-MS-MS method for the determination of DPC 423 (I), an antithrombotic agent, is described. This method used a solid-phase extraction from 0.1 ml plasma with an Isolute C(2) cartridge.

c-erbB-2 protein in serum of primary lung cancer patients.

We determined c-erbB-2 protein level in serum of 86 primary lung cancer patients (78 non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC), 3 small cell carcinomas, 5 not histologically defined) and in 61 controls. Aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of c-erbB-2 as marker for lung cancer diagnosis. The protein was measured with a commercially available sandwich enzyme immunoassay.

Involvement of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase in tresperimus metabolism in human and in rat.

The metabolism of tresperimus, a new immunosuppressive agent, was investigated in vivo and in vitro in rat and in human. Two metabolic pathways were identified at each side of the molecule with two deamination reactions on the spermidine moiety and hydrolysis of the amide bond leading to the liberation of guanidinohexylamine. As the major metabolic pathway of the drug seemed to be the oxidative deamination, the capacity of different amine oxidases to metabolize tresperimus was then tested using in vivo experiments in rat and in vitro studies in rat and human plasma.

Preferential pharmacological inhibition of macrophage ACAT increases plaque formation in mouse and rabbit models of atherogenesis.

The cholesteryl ester, foam cell-enriched vulnerable plaque is a principle pharmacological target for reducing athero-thrombosis. Acyl CoA:cholesterol Acyl Transferase (ACAT) catalyzes the esterification of free cholesterol in intestine, liver, adrenal and macrophages, leading in the latter cells to intracellular cholesteryl ester accumulation and foam cell formation in the arterial intima. Previous studies suggested the existence of several isoforms of ACAT with different tissue distribution and this has largely been confirmed by molecular cloning of ACAT-1 and ACAT-2.

Disposition and exposure of the fibrinogen receptor antagonist XV459 on alphaIIBbeta3 binding sites in the guinea pig.

The disposition of XV459, a potent, selective GP IIb/IIIa antagonist, has been examined following intravenous administration of XP280, the benzenesulphonate salt, and 3H-SA202, the trifluroacetic acid salt, to male guinea pigs. A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method was developed and validated for XV459 quantitation in guinea pig plasma with an LLOQ of 0.1 ng/mL.