The urgent need to extend the appropriate use of ultrasound in Africa and worldwide. Overview, experiences and perspectives.

It is known that in African countries the health condition is problematic, both from a diagnostic and therapeutic point of view. Patients have to travel long distances to access medical care. Many cannot afford the cost of transportation to a medical facility.

Safety and Efficacy of Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction: Multicentre Retrospective Study on Echocardiographic Parameters and Biomarkers of Heart Congestion.

: Dapagliflozin has shown efficacy in clinical trials in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, real-world data on its use and outcomes in routine clinical practice are limited. We aimed to evaluate the utilisation and safety profile of dapagliflozin in a real-world population of HFrEF patients within the Marche region.

A new score to predict Clostridioides difficile infection in medical patients: a sub-analysis of the FADOI-PRACTICE study.

Medical divisions are at high risk of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) due to patients' frailty and complexity. This sub-analysis of the FADOI-PRACTICE study included patients presenting with diarrhea either at admission or during hospitalization. CDI diagnosis was confirmed when both enzyme immunoassay and A and B toxin detection were found positive.

Point prevalence survey of antibiotic use and healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals: a comprehensive report from the Marche Region of Italy.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are serious health challenges. Point prevalence surveys (PPSs) are valuable tools for monitoring HAIs and AMR.

Aim: To describe results of the ECDC PPS 2022 dealing with the prevalence of HAIs, antimicrobial consumption, and associated factors, in acute care hospitals.

Pediatric hypersensitivity pneumonitis: literature update and proposal of a diagnostic algorithm.

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is a rare disease in childhood with the prevalence of 4 cases per 1 million children and an incidence of 2 cases per year. The average age of diagnosis at pediatric age is approximately 10 years. The pathogenesis of HP is characterized by an immunological reaction caused by recurrent exposure to triggering environmental agents (mostly bird antigens in children).

Open Issues and Practical Suggestions for Telemedicine in Chronic Pain.

Telemedicine represents a major opportunity to facilitate continued assistance for patients with chronic pain and improve their access to care. Preliminary data show that an improvement can be expected of the monitoring, treatment adherence, assessment of treatment effect including the emotional distress associated with pain. Moreover, this approach seems to be convenient and cost-effective, and particularly suitable for personalized treatment.

Pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis: a review for the clinician.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic clinical-pathologic disease characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the esophageal epithelium with esophageal dysfunction symptoms.EoE can occur at any age and has different clinical manifestations depending on the age onset.To date, esophago-gastroduodenal endoscopy (EGD) with biopsy is the gold-standard for EoE diagnosis.

Acute myocarditis following Comirnaty vaccination in a healthy man with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Myopericarditis following mRNA Covid-19 vaccination has recently been reported to health authorities in a lot of countries. They can occur in very rare cases after either the Moderna (mRNA-1273 - Spikevax) or Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2 - Comirnaty) vaccination. Cases predominately occur in younger adult men within 14 days following the second dose.

Epidemiology of rare allergic diseases in children.

Allergic diseases have different frequencies. In particular, allergic rhinitis and asthma have high frequencies of about 20% and 10%, respectively. Other allergic diseases have lower frequencies; for example, food allergy has a frequency of 1%-4%.

HDL cholesterol protects from liver injury in mice with intestinal specific LXRα activation.

Background And Aims: Liver X receptors (LXRs) exert anti-inflammatory effects even though their hepatic activation is associated with hypertriglyceridemia and hepatic steatosis. Selective induction of LXRs in the gut might provide protective signal(s) in the aberrant wound healing response that induces fibrosis during chronic liver injury, without hypertriglyceridemic and steatogenic effects.

Methods: Mice with intestinal constitutive LXRα activation (iVP16-LXRα) were exposed to intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl ) for 8 weeks, and in vitro cell models were used to evaluate the beneficial effect of high-density lipoproteins (HDL).

Hymenoptera venom allergy among children in Italy: time for pediatricians to take action.

Hymenoptera venom allergy (HVA) is one of the most frequent causes of anaphylaxis following a bee, vespid or ant sting. Real-life data regarding the management of HVA in children are lacking. To address this unmet need, we carried out a survey defining the current management of HVA in children among pediatric allergists in Italy.

Clinical practice guidelines adaptation for internists - An EFIM methodology.

The rising number of clinical guidelines poses a new challenge to the internists. The main problems are: 1) available documents suffer from heterogeneous methodological quality, and 2) most of clinical guidelines target an 'ideal' patient affected by a single condition, while in real practice internists must face with comorbid patients typically undergoing a polypharmacy. To help address this challenge, EFIM Clinical Practice Working Group started a project aimed to answer a series of relevant clinical questions, by selecting the best available guidance containing recommendations applicable to complex patients under polypharmacy.

A proposal for a comprehensive approach to infections across the surgical pathway.

Despite evidence supporting the effectiveness of best practices in infection prevention and management, many healthcare workers fail to implement them and evidence-based practices tend to be underused in routine practice. Prevention and management of infections across the surgical pathway should always focus on collaboration among all healthcare workers sharing knowledge of best practices. To clarify key issues in the prevention and management of infections across the surgical pathway, a multidisciplinary task force of experts convened in Ancona, Italy, on May 31, 2019, for a national meeting.

Management of chronic urticaria in children: a clinical guideline.

The aim of this guidance is to provide recommendations to clinicians and other interested parties on chronic urticaria in children. The Italian Society for Pediatrics (SIP), the Italian Society for Allergy and Immunology (SIAIP), the Italian Society for Pediatric dermatology (SIDerP) convened a multidisciplinary panel that prepared clinical guidelines for diagnosis and management of chronic urticaria in childhood. Key questions on epidemiology, natural history, diagnosis, and management were developed.

Lipidomic biomarkers and mechanisms of lipotoxicity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents the most common form of chronic liver disease worldwide (about 25% of the general population) and 3-5% of patients develop non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), characterized by hepatocytes damage, inflammation and fibrosis, which increase the risk of developing liver failure, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The pathogenesis of NAFLD, particularly the mechanisms whereby a minority of patients develop a more severe phenotype, is still incompletely understood. In this review we examine the available literature on initial mechanisms of hepatocellular damage and inflammation, deriving from toxic effects of excess lipids.

Clinical features, outcomes and treatment in children with drug induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), which can be considered a late-onset allergic reaction, can cause serious long-term sequelae. SJS/TEN are considered a spectrum of life-threatening adverse drug reactions. They have the same clinical manifestations and the only difference is in the extent of epidermal detachment.

Is food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome only a non IgE-mediated food allergy?

Food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) is classified as non-IgE-mediated or cell-mediated food allergy, although there is an atypical phenotype so defined for the presence of specific IgEs. All diagnostic criteria for FPIES include the absence of skin or respiratory symptoms of IgE-mediated type. We present four cases that suggest that specific IgEs may have a pathogenic role, resulting in the existence of different FPIES phenotypes.

Effect of 1-y oral supplementation with vitaminized olive oil on platelets from healthy postmenopausal women.

Objective: Olive oil is the main fat source in the Mediterranean diet and shows a protective role against aging and related diseases. Osteoporosis represents a serious health problem worldwide and is associated with an increased risk for fractures and mortality. Nutrition should be part of bone disease prevention strategies, especially in light of the aging population and the effect of diet on bone health.

Matrix effect on baked milk tolerance in children with IgE cow milk allergy.

Background: Children with IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy (IgE-CMA) often tolerate baked milk within a wheat matrix. In our study we evaluated the impact of wheat matrix and of little standardised cooking procedures on tolerance of baked milk. We also tested tolerance versus parmigiano reggiano (PR) and whey-based partially hydrolysed formula (pHF).

Matrix effect on baked egg tolerance in children with IgE-mediated hen's egg allergy.

Background: Children with IgE-mediated hen's egg allergy (IgE-HEA) often tolerate baked egg within a wheat matrix.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of wheat matrix and the effects of little standardized cooking procedures on baked egg tolerance.

Methods: Fifty-four children with IgE-HEA were enrolled.

Effect of 1-year dietary supplementation with vitaminized olive oil on markers of bone turnover and oxidative stress in healthy post-menopausal women.

Osteoporosis represents a serious health problem worldwide associated with an increased risk of fractures and mortality. Nutrition should form part of bone disease prevention strategies, especially in the light of the population ageing and the diet effect on bone health. Thus the study aimed at verifying whether 1 year of oral supplementation with either extra virgin olive oil (VOO) enriched with vitamins D3, K1 and B6 (VitVOO) or VOO used as placebo (PlaVOO) is able to modify some bone turnover and oxidative stress markers.

Fatal necrotizing angiotropic Epstein-Barr virus-negative large B-cell lymphoma: a case report with unusual clinicopathological features in-between lymphomatoid granulomatosis and T-cell/histiocyte-rich large B-cell lymphoma.

In the spectrum of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL), both T-cell/histiocyte-rich large B-cell lymphoma (TCHRBCL) and most lymphomatoid granulomatosis (LG) cases are characterized by the relative rarity of the neoplastic B-cell population, with respect to the overwhelming non-neoplastic counterpart of T cells or histiocytes. Here we report a case of aggressive B-cell lymphoma with unusual clinicopathological features partially overlapping these two entities. The patient was a previously healthy 55-year-old male, presenting with a computed tomography finding of a pelvic mass, inguinal lymphadenopathies, and pulmonary nodules.

Three-dimensional sonographic study of breast nodules.

Purpose: We examined breast nodules with three-dimensional (3D) sonography and power-Doppler to identify new parameters that might be useful in differentiating benign and malignant lesions.

Materials And Methods: Breast nodules in 34 women were examined with a Voluson-GE 730 scanner and a 7.5 MHz linear-array dedicated 3D probe.