Publications by authors named "Spaggiari S"

Disorders of Arousal (DOA) are non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias traditionally regarded as unconscious states. However, recent research challenges this assumption. This narrative review aims to explore the presence and qualitative features of conscious experiences in patients with DOA during their episodes.

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: The literature reports that emotional disorders in asthmatic children and their parents may affect asthma control. This research explores the baseline psychological well-being of asthmatic children and their mothers' and fathers' psychological functioning, focusing on the influence of the parents' anxiety and separation anxiety on children's asthma. : In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled children with non-severe asthma and their parents, and a group of healthy children and their parents.

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The onset of chronic diseases in childhood represents a stressful event for both young patients and their caregivers. In this context, coping strategies play a fundamental role in dealing with illness-related challenges. Although numerous studies have explored coping strategies employed by parents of children with chronic diseases, there remains a gap in the understanding of children's coping strategies and their correlation with their and their parents' anxiety.

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Background: Although Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), separation anxiety, and negative affectivity seem theoretically interrelated, no empirical study has considered them jointly so far. However, deepening this topic is clinically relevant, especially during the delicate phase of emerging adulthood. This study aimed to pinpoint psychological profiles based on IU, separation anxiety symptoms, and negative affectivity in a group of Italian non-clinical emerging adults.

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Face mask wearing is a low-cost preventative measure for the Covid-19 pandemic. In Italy, face masks are no longer mandatory indoors from the 1 of May 2022. Some research focused on factors that influence the choice of using masks, but less is known about mask-wearing when non-mandatory.

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  • Chronic illnesses like type 1 diabetes and cancer in children are linked to poorer sleep quality, impacting both the children’s and their caregivers' psychological and physical health.
  • * The study involved 150 participants (56 with T1D, 33 with cancer, and 61 healthy) who completed surveys about sleep disturbances, anxiety, and well-being.
  • * Results showed that children with cancer had the worst sleep quality, which negatively affected their psychological adjustment, while their caregivers also experienced higher anxiety and sleep issues related to their children's sleep problems.*
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many families had to manage new difficulties, especially those of chronically ill children. More and more research has focused on the negative effects of the pandemic on psychological wellbeing, while less is known about the resources. The present study aimed to explore the role of time spent with mothers in chronically ill children's populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A headache is the most common neurological symptom in children. Its subtypes are migraine (MH) and tension-type headache (TTH). Internalizing rather than externalizing symptoms are more frequent in children with headaches, but little is known about the reasons why.

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Emerging adulthood concerns the transition from adolescence to adulthood. It foresees the separation from the family and the creation of new significant relationships, whereby specific attachment styles might be triggered when facing these challenges. The present study investigates the influence of retrospective memories associated with childhood separation anxiety symptoms upon emerging adults' romantic avoidant vs.

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In children affected by malignancies and/or who received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), acute kidney injury (AKI) may occur causing a high mortality rate, despite the implementation of renal replacement therapy (RRT). We performed a nationwide, multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study including consecutive patients between January 2010 and December 2019. One hundred and fourteen episodes of AKI requiring RRT coming from nine different Italian centers were included.

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Having cancer in childhood is a risk factor for separation anxiety symptoms, with negative effects on the disease and psychological wellbeing. The Covid-19-pandemic-related concerns could have a negative effect. The present study explores the interplay between separation anxiety symptoms and COVID-19-related worries in pediatric cancer patients and their mothers, compared to a group of healthy children and their mothers, during the pandemic.

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  • Imaging flow cytometry enables detailed analysis of fluorescent signals at the subcellular level, specifically for assessing autophagic flux.
  • U2OS osteosarcoma cells are used as a biosensor cell line, featuring a fusion protein with red and green fluorescent proteins plus LC3 for studying autophagy.
  • The methodology includes tools to differentiate between autophagosomes (with both red and green fluorescence) and autolysosomes (only red fluorescence), facilitating efficient quantification of autophagic activity.
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  • In March 2020, the Italian Government enforced home confinement due to COVID-19, prompting a study on its impact on children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) and their caregivers.
  • The study involved 71 children (ages 7-13) and assessed their psychological well-being, anxiety levels, and medical data before and after the lockdown, revealing significant changes in their health and emotional states.
  • Findings indicated 32.9% of children experienced clinically relevant separation anxiety, linked to factors such as younger age, female gender, newer T1D diagnosis, poorer metabolic control, and increased fear of COVID-19.
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Italy was the first European country to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. To limit the transmission of the virus, the Italian Government imposed strict domestic quarantine policies and temporary closure of non-essential businesses and schools from March 10th,2020. Although more and more literature is exploring the impact of the pandemic on non-referred children and families, only a few studies are focused on the psychosocial impact of Covid-19 in chronically ill children and their caregivers.

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Background: The lockdown imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a completely different style of life with possible effects on the attitude toward their disease in patients with chronic lung disease, such as asthma. The aim of our study was to investigate in asthmatic children the level of asthma control and the maintenance therapy used during the lockdown.

Methods: Among asthmatic children attending our clinic, we identified those who had been prescribed the same therapy in March-April 2019 and March-April 2020.

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Correct technique with a pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) equipped with a valved holding chamber (VHC) or spacer provides an important advantage for adequate control of asthma and virus-induced wheezing in young children. The aim of this study was to assess the ability and knowledge of physicians and nurses to use a pMDI with a masked VHC in two pediatric emergency units. Study design: Two-center observational study.

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Salbutamol pressurised metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs) are not equipped with dose counters outside the USA. The aim of this study was to describe a simple reproducible method for determining the number of doses remaining in a pMDI based on scale weight. With a laboratory scale, the mean weight of the canisters was 28.

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Cellular viability is usually determined by measuring the capacity of cells to exclude vital dyes such as 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), or by assessing nuclear morphology with chromatinophilic plasma membrane-permeant dyes, such as Hoechst 33342. However, a fraction of cells that exclude DAPI or exhibit normal nuclear morphology have already lost mitochondrial functions and/or manifest massive activation of apoptotic caspases, and hence are irremediably committed to death. Here, we developed a protocol for the simultaneous detection of plasma membrane integrity (based on DAPI) or nuclear morphology (based on Hoechst 33342), mitochondrial functions (based on the mitochondrial transmembrane potential probe DiOC6(3)) and caspase activation (based on YO-PRO®-3, which can enter cells exclusively upon the caspase-mediated activation of pannexin 1 channels).

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Immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducers can be defined as agents that exert cytotoxic effects while stimulating an immune response against dead cell-associated antigens. When initiated by anthracyclines, ICD is accompanied by stereotyped molecular changes, including the pre-apoptotic exposure of calreticulin (CRT) on the cell surface, the lysosomal secretion of ATP during the blebbing phase of apoptosis, and the release of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) from dead cells. By means of genetically engineered human osteosarcoma U2OS cells, we screened the 879 anticancer compounds of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Mechanistic Diversity Set for their ability to promote all these hallmarks of ICD in vitro.

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Although chemically non-reactive, inert noble gases may influence multiple physiological and pathological processes via hitherto uncharacterized physical effects. Here we report a cell-based detection system for assessing the effects of pre-defined gas mixtures on the induction of apoptotic cell death. In this setting, the conventional atmosphere for cell culture was substituted with gas combinations, including the same amount of oxygen (20%) and carbon dioxide (5%) but 75% helium, neon, argon, krypton, or xenon instead of nitrogen.

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Septic shock remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children, mainly due to acute hemodynamic compromise and multiple organ failures. In the last decade, international guidelines for the management of septic shock, as well as clinical practice parameters for hemodynamic support of pediatric patients, have been published. Early recognition and aggressive therapy of septic shock, by means of abundant fluid resuscitation, use of catecholamines and other adjuvant drugs, are widely considered of pivotal importance to improve the short and long-term outcome of these patients.

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Neonatal and paediatric intensive care are usually provided in distinct units, characterized by highly specialized staffs dedicated either to critically ill newborns (NICUs) or to critically ill children (PICUs). However, such a model may be not suitable or even applicable to all medical organisations or to different local needs. Actually, in Europe there are several PICUs which routinely provide care also to neonatal patients, including extremely preterm infants.

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A patient who suffered a transient global amnesia (TGA) attack underwent regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) SPECT imaging and neuropsychological testing in the acute phase, after one month and after one year. Neuropsychological testing in the acute phase showed a pattern of anterograde and retrograde amnesia, whereas memory was within age normal limits at follow up. SPECT data were analysed with a within subject comparison and also compared with those of a group of healthy controls.

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Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are frequently associated with adverse reactions, related to inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX) in tissues where prostaglandins exert physiological effects, such as gastric mucosal defense and renal homeostasis. The discovery of two COX isoforms, namely COX-1 constitutively expressed in most tissues and COX-2 induced at sites of inflammation, led to the development of selective COX-2 inhibitors ("coxibs"), with the hope of significantly reducing the gastrointestinal toxicity associated with acute and chronic NSAID use. However, the increased knowledge of physiological roles of COX-2 enzyme in a variety of tissues, including stomach and kidney, together with the withdrawal from the market of rofecoxib and valdecoxib because of cardiovascular toxicity, have challenged the benefits of selective COX-2 inhibition.

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Background: Recent studies have revealed that cyclooxygenase-2 is involved in the protection of the damaged gastric mucosa, mediating, in particular, the acceleration of ulcer healing and angiogenesis; therein, it has been suggested that selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, although safe in healthy stomach, may have deleterious effects on the injured gastric mucosa. Moreover, no information is available about direct effects of these drugs on gastric surface epithelium.

Aims: To investigate the gastric effects of the selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, celecoxib, in healthy and damaged rat gastric mucosa.

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