Microbiome and diversity indices during blood stem cells transplantation - new perspectives?

Objective: The human body is colonized by bacteria, fungi and viruses. Resident commensal bacteria are a fundamental line of resistance to colonization by exogenous microbes. They actively regulate the production of nutrients by the host through a negative feedback mechanism, in order to prevent the availability of nutrients for potential pathogens.

Thrombogenesis in Thrombophilic Pregnancy: Evaluation of Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin Prophylaxis.

The aim of this study is to investigate thrombogenesis and the hypercoagulable changes in pregnant women affected by thrombophilia who received low-molecular-weight heparin (LWMH) prophylaxis. We included 21 pregnant women affected by thrombophilia treated with LWMH and 20 nontreated normal pregnant women as the control group. The sample group of thrombophilic pregnant women included different conditions (factor V Leiden mutation, protein C deficiency, protein S deficiency, antiphospholipid antibodies syndrome, and combined defects).

Manual accidents, biological risk control, and quality indicators at a children's hospital in north-east Italy.

Background: Working in health care carries the risk of transmission of infected blood to patients by hospital workers and to other health personnel in the form of occupational infections. Conscientious application of the standard precautions is the main method used to avoid needle stick injuries, contamination of skin and mucous membranes, cuts with sharp tools, and inadequate disposal and recapping of needles. The aim of this work was to investigate in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in north-east Italy, the enhancement carried out to prevent situations of biologic risk for health care workers, and to verify the related laboratory analyses.

Hematology point of care testing and laboratory errors: an example of multidisciplinary management at a children's hospital in northeast Italy.

Involvement of health personnel in a medical audit can reduce the number of errors in laboratory medicine. The checked control of point of care testing (POCT) could be an answer to developing a better medical service in the emergency department and decreasing the time taken to report tests. The performance of sanitary personnel from different disciplines was studied over an 18-month period in a children's hospital.

Public banking of umbilical cord blood or storage in a private bank: testing social and ethical policy in northeastern Italy.

Background: In northeastern Italy, according to Italian legislation, authorized public facilities can accept the donation and preservation of cord blood stem cells (CB-SC). Attitudes and knowledge in pregnant women differs between the local and immigrant (non-European Union [EU]) population. In this study we assessed the choices that pregnant women have with respect to the public and private harvesting system and the main reasons driving their decisions.

Autologous cord blood harvesting in North Eastern Italy: ethical questions and emerging hopes for curing diabetes and celiac disease.

Background: The Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), a region of North Eastern Italy, has passed legislation (Decree No 2324/2010) to regulate the banking of umbilical cord blood samples for personal, autologous, or family-directed use, and to implement the Agreement of the State-Regions Permanent Conference (Decree No 62/CSR/2010). This paper aims to identify the formalities and the reasons why families collect and bank their cord blood in foreign banks for both personal and private use.

Methods: To this end, at the Institute for Maternal and Child Health of Trieste (the regional capital city of the FVG), Italy, which assists about 1800 pregnant women a year, 129 questionnaires, drafted from January 2010 to December 2011 and concerning the granting of authorization to export samples, were examined.

Application of reticulated platelets to transfusion management during autologous stem cell transplantation.

Background: The immature (or reticulated) platelet fraction (IPF) is rich in nucleic acids, especially RNA, and can be used as a predictive factor for platelet recovery in platelet immunomediated consumption or in postchemotherapy myelosuppression. Our aim was to determine if transfusions with IPF-rich solutions, during autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, reduce the occurrence of bleeding and hemorrhagic complications.

Patients And Methods: Transfusions were administered to 40 children, affected with hematological pathologies, who underwent autologous peripheral hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation.

Management of immigration and pregnancy screening in northeastern Italy.

This study assesses the impact of immigration in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region of northeastern Italy, on the epidemiological features of hemoglobin patterns and on prothrombotic and trisomy risk in pregnancy for patients of non-Italian origin. This study follows a series of studies on the incidence of thalassemia and other hemoglobinopathies with reduced globin chain synthesis, that were performed during the postwar (1939-45) period in Friuli Venezia Giulia following immigration into the region from Istria and Sardinia (regions of northern and central Italy). Current data show that today's constantly growing immigration into the region differs from previous decades, in terms of origin and quantity of migrants, who mainly come from third world countries.

Serum anti-Müllerian hormone as a predictive marker of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Background: The anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a dimeric protein secreted by the female ovaries and has two fundamental roles in follicle genesis. It delays the entrance of the primordial follicle into the pool of follicles in growth and diminishes the sensitivity of the ovarian follicle towards follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). The purpose of this work was to study the AMH (nv 2.

Celiac disease and immigration in Northeastern Italy: the "drawn double nostalgia" of "cozonac" and "panettone" slices.

Many investigators consider children's drawings to be an important test in the evaluation of stress and anxiety, but few studies have examined the reliability and validity of indicators of emotional distress in children's projective drawings. In this report, we describe screening tests in children coming to the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Northeastern Italy from non-European Union regions and suspected to have celiac disease, the problems involved in diagnosis of the disease, and the "drawn double nostalgia" of Romanian children for both Italian food and traditional Romanian foods. Of 3150 Western European cases, we found 712 with positive antibodies for IgA/IgG antitransglutaminase, 174 with a positive antiendomysium antibody confirmation test, and 20 with an IgA deficit.

Leukocyte peroxidase and leptin: an associated link of glycemic tolerance and bronchial asthma?

Recent observations suggest the presence of an interaction between leptin and the inflammatory system during bronchial asthma. Although there is evidence of a positive association between asthma and obesity in adults and children, little is yet known about the role of serum leptin, as a potential mediator for bronchial epithelial homeostasis, and intraleukocyte myeloperoxidase (MPO), a hemoprotein with a molecular weight of 140 kDa, expression of the inflammatory system, in asthmatic children. Glycemic tolerance is an important pathogenetic element in developing type 2 mellitus diabetes and a confirmed predictor of incident asthma-like symptoms in adults.

Correlation between the immunological condition and the results of immunoenzymatic tests in diagnosing infectious mononucleosis.

Background And Aim Of The Work: A symptom-based diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis is not sufficiently accurate, since some clinical symptoms of infectious mononucleosis are also detected in other virally induced diseases. Moreover, not all patients suffering from infectious mononucleosis show circulating atypical lymphocytes, which are considered characteristic of this disease. Therefore, when this disorder is suspected, serum analyses are carried out to detect the presence of certain immunoglobulins associated with infectious mononucleosis in the patient's blood.

Antiphospholipid antibodies and lipoprotein(a) in obese children.

Aim: Antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies, Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and obesity are considered three independent risk factors for development of cardiovascular diseases. We investigate the presence of aPL antibodies and the Lp(a) concentration in 190 obese and 30 healthy children divided into prepubertal and pubertal, compared with healthy adults.

Results: aPL antibodies were detected in 2.

A problem solving in driving tests which method for carbohydratedeficient transferrin (cdt) in adolescents affected by celiac disease?

This study aimed at evaluating the relationships among pathologies and methods employed to detect transglutaminase (tTG) and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in 33 celiac subjects presenting either high or low levels of tTG. Elevated tTG values were associated with increased CDT levels. A significant correlation was found between CDT and tTG values (r=0.

Parametric evaluation of heart rate variability during the menstrual cycle in young women.

Evaluation of heart rate variability (HRV) is based on analysis of consecutive R-R intervals and may provide quantitative information on the modulation of cardiac vagal and sympathetic efferent activities. In particular, power spectral analysis as well as the fractal dimension of HRV represent non-invasive measures that reflect brain-heart interaction in different physiopathological conditions. This study was performed to investigate the relationship between autonomic nervous cardiac influence and three phases (menses, follicular phase and luteal phase) of the menstrual cycle.