Publications by authors named "Villani A"

Introduction: Despite the generally mild course of COVID-19 in children, immunocompromised patients may experience complications or severe infection. This study reports the clinical outcomes of pediatric patients treated with nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (N/R) for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: We retrospectively reported the data of children with any immunodeficiency with COVID-19 who received N/R treatment between March 2022 and June 2023 at the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital.

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Athletes seek healthy diets for their health and performance. The Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) has been widely studied for its health benefits. We conducted a scoping review of the scientific literature for studies reporting on the relationship between MedDiet adherence and performance and health outcomes in athletes.

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Background: Infant meningitis, particularly caused by , remains a life-threatening condition, especially in premature and low-weight infants. Infections of the central nervous system can be fatal, necessitating prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Acute infections caused by various pathogens, including , often present with similar clinical symptoms.

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Background: Gliomas are a major cause of cancer-related death among children, adolescents, and young adults (age 0-40 years). Primary mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) is a pan-cancer mechanism with unique biology and therapeutic opportunities. We aimed to determine the extent and impact of primary MMRD in gliomas among children, adolescents, and young adults.

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  • A study was conducted to explore the types and frequency of herbs and spices used in cooking by Australian households, recognizing their potential health benefits.
  • The research involved a survey with 400 adult participants, mainly women aged 25-64, revealing that about two-thirds used herbs and spices 1-2 times daily, primarily during meals.
  • The findings indicated that basil, pepper, and garlic were the most commonly used, and a moderate to high adherence to the Mediterranean diet was linked to daily herb and spice consumption.
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Background: SUNSHINE and SUNRISE demonstrated sustained clinical efficacy of secukinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) through 52 weeks. Patients completing the core trials could enter a 4-year extension trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term efficacy, safety/tolerability, and maintenance of clinical response of secukinumab through Week 104 in the extension trial.

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  • The study assessed how well diffusion-weighted MRI can distinguish between malignant neuroblastoma and benign neuroblastic tumors, using different sizes of regions of interest (ROIs).
  • The research involved 40 pediatric patients and compared the imaging results with histopathology to establish diagnostic accuracy, showing strong sensitivity (83%) and specificity (75%) for using the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC).
  • The findings suggest that small ROIs may yield slightly better accuracy in differentiating these tumor types, emphasizing the importance of standardizing ROI sizes in future studies.
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(1) Background: Helmet Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (H-CPAP) has primarily been used in intensive care settings to treat moderate-to-severe bronchiolitis in infants. We aim to report on the feasibility of H-CPAP for selected infants with bronchiolitis in a pediatric ward. (2) Methods: A retrospective, observational, consecutive case series was studied of 26 patients who received H-CPAP on the pediatric ward from October 2022 to February 2023, including a description of patient outcomes and costs.

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and are widely distributed maize pathogens recognized as distinct species with a species-specific chemotype based on patterns of mycotoxins. Recent comparative genomic analysis revealed that genomes of both species carry a complete beauvericin () biosynthetic genes cluster, but the key gene in is not functional likely due to a large insertion (NRPS22ins) and multiple mutations (SNP298 and SNP528). We used the recently published genome sequences for these species to develop PCR markers for investigating the distribution of three main mutations in the gene in a large collection of strains of both species from around the world.

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The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is a global partnership "to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells-the fundamental units of life - as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease." ( https://www.humancellatlas.

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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder amongst reproductive-aged women associated with cardiometabolic, reproductive and psychological abnormalities. Lifestyle modification, including a healthy diet, is considered first-line treatment for management of clinical symptoms. However, there is limited high-quality evidence to support one superior therapeutic dietary intervention for PCOS management that is beyond general population-based dietary guidelines.

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  • Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of cancer treatment, can cause serious side effects, including immune-related myocarditis (irMyocarditis), which can be fatal.
  • Researchers studied immune responses in the heart, tumor, and blood of 28 patients with irMyocarditis using advanced techniques like single-cell RNA sequencing and T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing.
  • Their findings showed an increase in certain immune cells in the heart tissue of irMyocarditis patients and identified specific TCR clones associated with severe cases, shedding light on the disease's biology and potential biomarkers.
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  • - Pregnancy may worsen the severity of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections, but the reasons behind this increased risk are not well understood.
  • - A study involving 226 women, including 152 pregnant and 74 non-pregnant, showed that pregnant women experience significant changes in T cell responses and immune functions after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  • - The study found increased levels of interleukin-27 in pregnant women, which is linked to T cell exhaustion, suggesting that unique immune responses during pregnancy could make them more vulnerable to viral infections.
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Introduction Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a debilitating, inflammatory skin disorder. Treatment strategies in patients with HS are challenging; real-world evidence in a HS population is warranted for greater disease understanding. The objective of this analysis was to describe real-world treatment patterns and treatment satisfaction in patients with HS.

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Wild rocket ( (L.) DC cv. Dallas) is a leafy green vegetable appreciated for its pungent taste and healthy properties, often consumed as a ready-to-eat product.

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Wilms tumors are commonly associated with predisposition syndromes. Many of these syndromes are associated with specific phenotypic features and are discussed in the related article from the AACR Pediatric Cancer Working Group. Guidelines for surveillance in this population were published in 2017, but since then several studies have identified new genes with recurrent pathogenic variants associated with increased risk for Wilms tumor development.

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  • Recent studies on bronchiolitis show that traditional medical therapies have not proven effective, leading to a focus on nutritional support and oxygen therapy instead.
  • High-flow nasal cannulas (HFNC) have gained popularity despite evidence lacking significant benefits over standard oxygen therapy (SOT), prompting a need for more clinical data.
  • A recent quasi-experimental analysis found that HFNC did not reduce the length of oxygen therapy or hospitalization, suggesting it may not be necessary as a first-line treatment for moderate bronchiolitis.
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Actinic keratoses (AK) are common precancerous lesions usually arising on chronic sun-exposed areas. Field of cancerization (FC) is a chronically UV-exposed area in which subclinical multifocal AKs are found. Therapeutic choice is mainly made according to the Olsen grade of AKs.

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  • Microglia are special brain cells that help with brain health and development by cleaning up dead neurons.
  • In a disease called Niemann-Pick type C, microglia change shape and become less effective at their job when a protein called NPC1 is missing.
  • Researchers used zebrafish to show that without NPC1, microglia gather too much cholesterol and their “cleaning spots” get bigger, making them more sensitive to dying brain cells, which could help in understanding the disease better.
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  • - Wilms tumors are linked to various predisposition syndromes, many of which involve overgrowth and an increased risk for other cancers like hepatoblastoma.
  • - In 2017, surveillance guidelines for patients at risk for Wilms tumors were established, and the AACR Pediatric Cancer Working Group recently updated these guidelines based on new research and risk data.
  • - The update aims to inform healthcare professionals—including pediatric oncologists and geneticists—about revised diagnostic criteria and to standardize surveillance recommendations in North America and Australia for patients with relevant syndromes.
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Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most frequent skin cancer, accounting for approximately 20% of all cutaneous malignancies, and with an increasing incidence due to the progressive increment of the average age of life. The diagnosis is usually firstly suspected based on clinical manifestations; however, dermoscopic features may improve diagnostic sensitivity in cases of an uncertain diagnosis and may guide the biopsy, which should be performed to histopathologically prove the tumor. New diagnostic strategies may improve the sensitivity of the cutaneous SCC, such as reflectance confocal microscopy and line-field confocal optical coherence, for which increasing data have been recently published.

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  • The Letter reports the most accurate measurement so far of the matter-antimatter imbalance during Pb-Pb collisions at a high energy level of 5.02 TeV.
  • It utilizes the Statistical Hadronization framework to determine precise values for the electric charge and baryon chemical potentials, μ_{Q} and μ_{B}.
  • The analysis of antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios shows that the collisions create a system that is generally baryon-free and electrically neutral at midrapidity.
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In naive individuals, sensory neurons directly detect and respond to allergens, leading to both the sensation of itch and the activation of local innate immune cells, which initiate the allergic immune response. In the setting of chronic allergic inflammation, immune factors prime sensory neurons, causing pathologic itch. Although these bidirectional neuroimmune circuits drive responses to allergens, whether immune cells regulate the set-point for neuronal activation by allergens in the naive state is unknown.

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