Publications by authors named "Salvatore Savasta"

Background: Houge-Janssens syndrome 1 is a condition with onset in early childhood caused by heterozygous pathogenic variants in the gene, which encodes a B56 regulatory subunit of the serine/threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). There is evidence that the PP2A-PPP2R5D complex is involved in regulating the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signalling pathway, which is crucial for several cellular processes, including the pathogenesis and progression of haemangiomas.

Case Presentation: We report the first -related neurodevelopmental disorder case from Sardinia, a child with transient hypoglycaemia, facial dysmorphisms, and multiple haemangiomas.

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Background: Acute neuropsychiatric disorders are heterogeneous conditions resulting from interaction between genetic and environmental features. Among these, post infectious forms like Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) are common. Preclinical studies suggest a role of CNS T-helper-17/interleukin-17 (IL-17) inflammatory mediated response in the pathogenesis of these disorders.

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  • - Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disorder caused by a mutation that leads to issues like vascular and neurological abnormalities.
  • - Serious complications can include moyamoya syndrome, which causes the progressive narrowing of brain arteries, and renal artery stenosis, a common cause of high blood pressure in NF1 patients.
  • - The article reviews clinical cases of NF1 vasculopathy, focusing on diagnosis, management, and potential future strategies for screening and treatment options.
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  • Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) are disorders that can be caused by new mutations in a specific gene, leading to different symptoms, from severe conditions to milder ones like autism.
  • A case study of a six-year-old boy showed he had a new mutation in that gene, but he did not develop epilepsy and had a normal brain scan over five years.
  • This case helps us understand that not everyone with mutations in this gene will have serious problems, which is important for doctors to know when diagnosing developmental delays.
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Sydenham's chorea (SC), an autoimmune disorder affecting the central nervous system, is a pivotal diagnostic criterion for acute rheumatic fever. Primarily prevalent in childhood, especially in developing countries, SC manifests with involuntary movements and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Predominantly occurring between ages 5 and 15, with a female bias, SC may recur, particularly during pregnancy or estrogen use.

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  • The study investigates long-term epilepsy outcomes in pediatric patients who experienced acute central nervous system complications during hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).
  • Data was collected from 94 patients, revealing that common acute complications included posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome and infections, with a notable incidence of acute symptomatic seizures.
  • Findings indicate that 9.6% of patients were diagnosed with long-term epilepsy, especially those who experienced acute symptomatic status epilepticus, highlighting the need for specialized neurological follow-up in these cases.
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CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) is a complex clinical condition resulting from non-functional or absent CDKL5 protein, a serine-threonine kinase pivotal for neural maturation and synaptogenesis. The disorder manifests primarily as developmental epileptic encephalopathy, with associated neurological phenotypes, such as hypotonia, movement disorders, visual impairment, and gastrointestinal issues. Its prevalence is estimated at 1 in 40,000-60,000 live births, and it is more prevalent in females due to the lethality of germline mutations in males during fetal development.

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Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) is a rare, neurodevelopmental genetic disorder caused by mutations in the TCF4 gene. This gene encodes a ubiquitous, class I, basic helix-loop-helix factor, which is implicated in various developmental and regulatory processes. Predominant clinical manifestations of PTHS include facial dysmorphisms, intellectual disability, absence of expressive language, epilepsy, as well as visual and musculoskeletal impairments.

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Background: Neurodevelopmental disorders have a multifactorial etiology, since biological, genetic, psychosocial and environmental risk factors are involved. Recent studies have been linking neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disability with a variety of genes, some of which encoding neuronal cell-adhesion molecules. Among these, KIRREL3 is known to play a role in CNS development, and his variants have recently been related to intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, cerebellar hypoplasia and mild dysmorphic features.

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Even today, tuberculosis in childhood is a disease that is often undiagnosed and undertreated. In the absence of therapy with antituberculosis drugs, children in the first years of life have a high degree of severe forms and mortality. In these children, symptoms are often not very specific and can easily be confused with other diseases of bacterial, viral or fungal etiology, making diagnosis more difficult.

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Hybrid quantum systems in the ultrastrong, and even more in the deep-strong, coupling regimes can exhibit exotic physical phenomena and promise new applications in quantum technologies. In these nonperturbative regimes, a qubit-resonator system has an entangled quantum vacuum with a nonzero average photon number in the resonator, where the photons are virtual and cannot be directly detected. The vacuum field, however, is able to induce the symmetry breaking of a dispersively coupled probe qubit.

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Background: Preschool age (i.e. children under six years of age) represents a red flag for requiring neuroimaging to exclude secondary potentially urgent intracranial conditions (PUIC) in patients with acute headache.

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  • - Deleterious variants in collagen genes are a primary cause of hereditary connective tissue disorders (HCTD), and there's a need for better adaptations of existing classification criteria by ACMG/AMP.
  • - A multidisciplinary team developed tailored ACMG/AMP specifications for key collagen genes, effectively classifying pathogenic variants, particularly focusing on null alleles and certain glycine substitutions.
  • - The new criteria aim to clarify the interpretation of genetic variants in HCTD, helping reduce ambiguities and improving the clinical application of molecular testing by fostering better collaboration between labs and clinicians.
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Pure dephasing originates from the nondissipative information exchange between quantum systems and environments, and plays a key role in both spectroscopy and quantum information technology. Often pure dephasing constitutes the main mechanism of decay of quantum correlations. Here we investigate how pure dephasing of one of the components of a hybrid quantum system affects the dephasing rate of the system transitions.

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In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the diagnosis of asymptomatic Late-Onset Pompe Disease (LOPD) patients, who are detected via family screening or Newborn Screening (NBS). The dilemma is when to start Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT) in patients without any clinical sign of the disease, considering its important benefits in terms of loss of muscle but also its very high cost, risk of side effects, and long-term immunogenicity. Muscle Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is accessible, radiation-free, and reproducible; therefore, it is an important instrument for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with LOPD, especially in asymptomatic cases.

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We show that spontaneous Raman scattering of incident radiation can be observed in cavity-QED systems without external enhancement or coupling to any vibrational degree of freedom. Raman scattering processes can be evidenced as resonances in the emission spectrum, which become clearly visible as the cavity-QED system approaches the ultrastrong coupling regime. We provide a quantum mechanical description of the effect, and show that ultrastrong light-matter coupling is a necessary condition for the observation of Raman scattering.

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  • This text is a correction to a previously published article with the DOI: 10.1515/nanoph-2021-0718.
  • The correction likely addresses errors or inaccuracies found in the original paper.
  • Such amendments are important for maintaining the integrity and accuracy of academic research.
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  • IgG antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG-IgG) are linked to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein associated disorders (MOGAD), which may flare up over time, but there's limited info on predicting these relapses.* -
  • This study analyzed 102 MOGAD patients by measuring MOG-IgG titres over time and found that higher titres during remission indicated a greater risk of future relapses.* -
  • The findings suggest that monitoring MOG-IgG levels could help identify patients who might need long-term treatment to prevent relapse, especially those with persistent positivity or high remission titres.*
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  • The study aimed to identify early indicators of relapse and outcomes in pediatric patients with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disorders (MOGAD).* -
  • Researchers analyzed data from 75 children, finding differences in disease presentation based on age; younger patients were more likely to present with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, while older patients saw more cases of optic neuritis.* -
  • Results highlighted specific early treatment factors, such as starting immunotherapy within 7 days or prolonged corticosteroid use, as associated with lower relapse risks; 21.1% of patients had moderate to severe disability at final follow-up, particularly among those with relapsing disease.*
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Purpose: Triple X syndrome, is an often undiagnosed chromosomal abnormality with an incidence of 1/1000 females. Main associated disorders are urogenital malformations, premature ovarian failure or primary amenorrhea, gastrointestinal problems, psychiatric disorders and epilepsy. To date, triple X is not related to a specific epileptic syndrome.

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Sydenham's chorea (SC) is a post-streptococcal autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system, and it is a major criterium for the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever (ARF). SC typically improves in 12-15 weeks, but patients can be affected for years by persistence and recurrencies of both neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms. We enrolled 48 patients with a previous diagnosis of ARF, with or without SC, in a national multicenter prospective study, to evaluate the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms several years after SC's onset.

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Background: Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) is a rare functional gastrointestinal disorder, which has a considerable burden on quality of life of both children and their family. Aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic modalities and therapeutic approach to CVS among Italian tertiary care centers and the differences according to subspecialties, as well as to explore whether potential predictive factors associated with either a poor outcome or a response to a specific treatment.

Methods: Cross-sectional multicenter web-based survey involving members of the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (SIGENP) and Italian Society of Pediatric Neurology (SINP).

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  • The study investigates the neurodevelopmental outcomes in patients with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE), focusing on the relationship between neurodevelopment and epilepsy.
  • Researchers analyzed clinical data from 48 patients and found that seizure onset age influences developmental progress, with later onset linked to better outcomes, while seizure duration and remission age did not significantly affect development.
  • The results highlight two main disease trajectories—either early seizure remission or drug-resistant epilepsy—suggesting a wide range of neurodevelopmental impacts and the need for more focused future research on DEE.
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