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Pediatric nephrolithiasis is an ancient and complex disorder that has seen a significant rise in recent decades and the underlying causes contributing to stone formation in children may also be shifting. Historically, kidney stones have been linked to factors such as metabolic disorders, congenital abnormalities, and family history. However, the recent increase in incidence appears to be associated with new risk factors, including changes in lifestyle and diet, the growing prevalence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and even climate change. Given this evolving landscape, performing a comprehensive metabolic evaluation during the diagnostic process is essential. A complete metabolic evaluation should thus be performed during the diagnostic assessment to identify any modifiable risk factors predisposing to stone recurrence and reduce the need for surgical management, extrarenal comorbidity, and the increased burden of care.

Zinc is an important trace element for growth and health at pediatric ages. Zinc is fundamental in inflammatory pathways, oxidative balance, and immune function. Zinc exhibits anti-inflammatory properties by modulating Nuclear Factor-kappa (NF-κB) activity and reducing histamine release from basophils, leukocytes, and mast cells. Furthermore, its antioxidant activity protects against oxidative damage and chronic diseases. Finally, zinc improves the ability to trigger effective immune responses against pathogens by contributing to the maturation of lymphocytes, the production of cytokines, and the regulation of apoptosis. Given these properties, zinc can be considered an adjunctive therapy in treating and preventing respiratory, nephrological, and gastrointestinal diseases, both acute and chronic. This review aims to deepen the role and metabolism of zinc, focusing on the role of supplementation in developed countries in pediatric diseases.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a condition with a multifactorial aetiology that affects the skin. It most often begins at preschool age and involves the skin. The disease's main symptom is intense itching, which occurs especially at night and affects the child's sleep, negatively impacting the quality of life of affected children and, consequently, their families. The difficulty in resting during the night leads to many problems during the day, particularly behavioural disorders and difficulties in paying attention at school, which results in learning impairment. The unexpected symptoms of AD are caused by pathophysiological processes that include many molecular pathways and inflammatory cytokines such as IL-31, IL-1, IL-2, TNF-a, and IL-6. Drawing on a comprehensive review of the literature in PubMed/MedLine, our review offers an in-depth exploration of both the psychosocial impacts of AD and the molecular processes that contribute to this disorder.

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. The treatment plays an important role in influencing the patients' quality of life. The basic management consists of appropriate skin cleansing, including bathing and eventually using bathing additives. Recommendations regarding frequency and duration of bathing, water temperature and usefulness of bathing additives are widely different, often leading to confusion among patients. This review aims to give insights into the best bathing practices and the use of bathing additives in atopic dermatitis in children. Several bathing additives, including bleach baths, commercial baby cleansers, bath baby oils and bath salt, appear to be promising adjunctive therapies for atopic dermatitis due to their anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-pruritus and skin barrier repair properties through different mechanisms of action. However, their efficacy and safety are not fully understood in some cases. The usefulness of other bath additives, such as acidic and more natural substances (green tea extracts, pine tar, sodium bicarbonate), is still under investigation. Further studies are needed to determine their optimal use to achieve clinical benefit safely.

Background and Objectives : Hypertension and vascular damage can begin in adolescents affected by Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). This study aimed to evaluate markers of vascular damage and left ventricular geometry in a sample of children with ADPKD. Materials and Methods : Several vascular measurements were obtained: ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid distensibility coefficient (cDC), pulse wave velocity (PWV), and echocardiographic measurements (relative wall thickness (RWT) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI)). Results : Eleven ADPKD children were recruited (four females and seven males, mean age 9.5 ± 3.2 years). Four children were hypertensive at the ABPM, five were normotensive, and for two ABPM was not available. RWT was tendentially high (mean 0.47 ± 0.39). Eight patients had concentric cardiac remodeling, while one patient had cardiac hypertrophy. cIMT was above the 95° percentile for sex and height in 80% of the children (0.5 ± 0.005 mm). The average PWV and cDC were between the normal range (5.5 ± 4.6 m/s and 89.6 ± 16.1 × 10 -3 /KPa, respectively). We observed a positive correlation between the PWV and RWT (r = 0.616; p = 0.044) and a negative correlation between cDC and RWT (r = -0.770; p = 0.015). Cardiovascular damages (cIMT > 95° percentile) were found in normotensive patients. Conclusions : Increased RWT and high cIMT, indicating subclinical organ damage, are already present in ADPKD children. RWT was significantly correlated to that of cDC and PWV, implying that vascular stiffening is associated with cardiac remodeling. None of the children had an alteration in renal function. Subclinical cardiovascular damage preceded the decline in glomerular filtration rate.

Fish is one of the "big nine" foods triggering allergic reactions. For this reason, fish allergens must be accurately specified on food labels. Fish allergy affects less than 1% of the world population, but a higher prevalence is observed in pediatric cohorts, up to 7%. Parvalbumin is the main fish allergen found in the muscles. In childhood, sensitization to fish allergens occurs most frequently through the ingestion of fish, rarely transcutaneously or by inhalation. Fish allergy symptoms usually appear within two hours of the allergen contact. The diagnosis begins with the collection of the history. If it is suggestive of fish allergy, prick tests or the measurement of serum-specific IgE should be performed to confirm the suspicion. The oral food challenge is the gold standard for the diagnosis. It is not recommended in case of a severe allergic reaction. It is important to make a differential diagnosis with anisakiasis or scombroid poisoning, which have overlapping clinical features but differ in pathogenesis. Traditionally, managing fish allergy involves avoiding the triggering species (sometimes all bony fish species) and requires an action plan for accidental exposures. The present review will analyze IgE- and non-IgE-mediated fish allergy in children from epidemiology, pathogenesis to clinical features. Moreover, clinical management will be addressed with a particular focus on potential nutritional deficiencies.

Long Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) refers to the persistence of symptoms related to the infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). This condition is described as persistent and can manifest in various combinations of signs and symptoms, such as fatigue, headache, dyspnea, depression, cognitive impairment, and altered perception of smells and tastes. Long COVID-19 may be due to long-term damage to different organs-such as lung, brain, kidney, and heart-caused by persisting viral-induced inflammation, immune dysregulation, autoimmunity, diffuse endothelial damage, and micro thrombosis. In this review, we discuss the potential and biologically plausible role of some vitamins, essential elements, and functional foods based on the hypothesis that an individual's dietary status may play an important adjunctive role in protective immunity against COVID-19 and possibly against its long-term consequences.

The Julong high-altitude volcanic hot springs in northeast China are of undeniable interest for microbiological studies due to their unique, extreme environmental conditions. The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive analysis of the unexplored fungal and bacterial community composition, structure and networks in sediments and water from the Julong hot springs using a combination of culture-based methods and metabarcoding. A total of 65 fungal and 21 bacterial strains were isolated. Fungal genera Trichoderma and Cladosporium were dominant in sediments, while the most abundant fungi in hot spring water were Aspergillus and Alternaria . Bacterial communities in sediments and water were dominated by the genera Chryseobacterium and Pseudomonas , respectively. Metabarcoding analysis revealed significant differences in the microorganism communities from the two hot springs. Results suggested a strong influence of pH on the analyzed microbial diversity, at least when the environmental conditions became clearly alkaline. Our analyses indicated that mutualistic interactions may play an essential role in shaping stable microbial networks in the studied hot springs. The much more complicated bacterial than fungal networks described in our study may suggest that the more flexible trophic strategies of bacteria are beneficial for their survival and fitness under extreme conditions.