MR and Ultrasound Elastography for Fibrosis Assessment in Children: Practical Implementation and Supporting Evidence- Expert Panel Narrative Review.

Quantitative MRI and ultrasound biomarkers of liver fibrosis have become important tools in the diagnosis and clinical management of children with chronic liver disease (CLD). In particular, MR elastography is now routinely performed in clinical practice to evaluate the liver for fibrosis. Ultrasound shear-wave elastography has also become widely performed for this purpose, especially in young children.

Cohort profile: the Swiss Cerebral Palsy Registry (Swiss-CP-Reg) cohort study.

Background: Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of permanent disorders of movement and posture that follow injuries to the developing brain. It results in motor dysfunction and a wide variety of comorbidities like epilepsy; pain; speech, hearing and vision disorders; cognitive dysfunction; and eating and digestive difficulties. Central data collection is essential to the study of the epidemiology, clinical presentations, care, and quality of life of patients affected by CP.

Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging: normal values of spleen stiffness in healthy children.

Background: Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging is a noninvasive ultrasound elastography technique for evaluating tissue stiffness. The association of liver and spleen stiffness provides additional information in the assessment of portal hypertension. The technique and normal values of spleen stiffness by point shear wave elastography (p-SWE) in pediatrics have not been well documented.

The impact of short-term machine perfusion on the risk of cancer recurrence after rat liver transplantation with donors after circulatory death.

Hypothermic and normothermic ex vivo liver perfusions promote organ recovery after donation after circulatory death (DCD). We tested whether these perfusions can reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence in a 1h-DCD syngeneic transplantation model, using Fischer F344 rats. DCD grafts were machine perfused for 2h with hypothermic perfusion (HOPE) or normothermic perfusion (NORMO), and transplanted.

Synbiotics Combined with Glutamine Stimulate Brain Development and the Immune System in Preterm Pigs.

Background: Preterm infants are born with an immature gut, brain, and immune system, predisposing them to short- and long-term complications.

Objective: We hypothesized that a milk diet supplemented with pre- and probiotics (i.e.

Structural brain maturation differs between preterm and term piglets, whereas brain activity does not.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate whether amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in preterm piglets would provide measures of cerebral functional, microstructural and anatomical maturation, which might reflect the signs of functional brain immaturity, documented in preterm piglets.

Methods: During July-October 2013 at the NEOMUNE Centre, Copenhagen University, Denmark, 31 preterm (90% gestation) and 10 term piglets underwent aEEG on days 1, 2, 4 and 11, and MRI on day 25. Physical activity levels were recorded.

Feasibility, safety, and outcome of recanalization treatment in childhood stroke.

Objective: Intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular therapy (IVT/EVT) are evidence-based treatments for adults with arterial ischemic stroke (AIS). However, randomized controlled trials in pediatric patients are lacking. This study aimed to describe feasibility, safety, and outcome of IVT/EVT in children with AIS.

Fidgety movements in infants born very preterm: predictive value for cerebral palsy in a clinical multicentre setting.

Aim: This study assessed predictive values of fidgety movement assessment (FMA) in a large sample of infants born very preterm for developmental abnormalities, in particular for cerebral palsy (CP) at 2 years in an everyday clinical setting.

Method: This is a multicentre study of infants born preterm with gestational age lower than 32.0 weeks.

The Swiss National Registry for Primary Immunodeficiencies: report on the first 6 years' activity from 2008 to 2014.

The Swiss National Registry for Primary Immunodeficiency Disorders (PID) was established in 2008, constituting a nationwide network of paediatric and adult departments involved in the care of patients with PID at university medical centres, affiliated teaching hospitals and medical institutions. The registry collects anonymized clinical and genetic information on PID patients and is set up within the framework of the European database for PID, run by the European Society of Immunodeficiency Diseases. To date, a total of 348 patients are registered in Switzerland, indicating an estimated minimal prevalence of 4·2 patients per 100 000 inhabitants.

Factors affecting cognitive outcome in early pediatric stroke.

Objective: We examined cognitive performance in children after stroke to study the influence of age at stroke, seizures, lesion characteristics, neurologic impairment (NI), and functional outcome on cognitive outcome.

Methods: This was a prospectively designed study conducted in 99 children who sustained an arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) between the age of 1 month and 16 years. All children underwent cognitive and neurologic follow-up examination sessions 2 years after the insult.

Coping is excellent in Swiss Children with inflammatory bowel disease: results from the Swiss IBD cohort study.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) starting during childhood has been assumed to impair quality of life (QoL) of affected children. As this aspect is crucial for further personality development, the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was assessed in a Swiss nationwide cohort to obtain detailed information on the fields of impairment.

Methods: Data were prospectively acquired from pediatric patients included in the Swiss IBD Cohort Study.

Donor hypernatremia influences outcomes following pediatric liver transplantation.

Introduction: With the rising demand for liver transplantations (LTs), and the shortage of organs, extended criteria including donor hypernatremia have been adopted to increase the donor pool. Currently, there is conflicting evidence on the effect of donor hypernatremia on outcomes following LT. Our aim was to investigate differences in outcome in patients receiving grafts from hypernatremic donors compared with patients receiving grafts from normonatremic donors in the pediatric population.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the lung: a rare cause of atelectasis in children.

Although rare, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is the most common primary lung mass in children. We report the case of an 11-year-old boy investigated for persistent cough and dyspnea with complete left lung atelectasis mimicking pneumonia. CT and MRI showed an endobronchial mass of the left main bronchus.

Performance characteristics of a rapid immunochromatographic assay for detection of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus in children.

Unlabelled: Rapid tests for diagnosis of influenza are valuable assets in the management of influenza in pediatric patients. However, test performance fluctuates with virus subtypes. We assessed the test characteristics of Influenzatop®, a rapid immunochromatographic influenza A and B test, in detecting pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) in children up to 18 years of age, using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as the gold standard.