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Background: Endotracheal tube (ETT) placement is crucial for neonates with respiratory failure. Ultrasonography (US) has emerged as a valuable tool to detect ETT positioning, competing with traditional methods. Nurses, being front-line caregivers, can perform basic ultrasound examinations. This study aimed to assess whether a nurse inexperienced in US could identify the correct ETT position in neonates after a brief ultrasound training. Methods: This study included intubated neonates hospitalized in a NICU with a postmenstrual age of under 45 weeks. A NICU nurse, following a short ultrasound training, measured the distance of the ETT tip to the right pulmonary artery and aortic arch. Chest X-rays (CXRs) confirmed the ETT position. The neonates' ages, genders, weights, and examination times were recorded. Results: This study involved 67 neonates, including 40 (59.7%) males, with 39 (58.2%) weighing below 1500 g. The median time for correct ETT placement confirmation by CXR was 12.6 min, while US-assisted ETT recognition took 6 min initially and 5.1 min at the end of the training, which was a significant difference. No major differences were found in US distance based on the neonate's weight and age. Gender marginally influenced US distance (β = -0.089, p = 0.056). Conclusions: The NICU nurse responded well to ultrasound training, showing results comparable with CXR. Further studies with more patients and additional studied factors are needed to fully assess US's reliability in determining ETT positioning.

Background: This retrospective study aimed to combine the clinical signs, laboratory values, and ultrasound images of 199 children with acute appendicitis in order to create a new predictive score for complicated appendicitis in children., Methods: The study included children who had clinical examination of abdominal pain (description of pain, anorexia, body temperature, nausea or vomiting, duration of symptoms), laboratory findings on admission (white blood cell, platelets, neutrophils, C-reactive protein), preoperative abdominal ultrasound, and histopathological report after an operation for appendicitis in their records during the period from January 2016 to February 2022., Results: According to the statistical analysis of the values using multivariate logistic regression models, the patients with appendiceal diameter ≥ 8.45 mm, no target sign appearance, appendicolith, abscess, peritonitis, neutrophils ≥ 78.95%, C-reactive protein ≥ 1.99 mg/dL, body temperature ≥ 38 °C, pain migration to right lower quadrant, and duration of symptoms < 24 h were more likely to suffer from complicated appendicitis. The new score was comprised of the 10 variables that were found statistically significant in the multivariate logistic model. Each of these variables was assigned a score of 1 due to the values that were associated with complicated appendicitis., Conclusions: A cutoff value of ≥4 has been a good indicator of the final score. The sensitivity with the usage of this score is 81.1%, the specificity 82.4%, the PPV 73.2%, the NPV approaches 88% and finally the accuracy is 81.9%. Also, the pros and cons of this score are discussed in this study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home regulations have increased child home injuries. This study illustrates the type and frequency of child home injuries in Greece during the COVID-19 lockdown. Moreover, the survey reports the results on parents' proposals regarding child injuries at home during the COVID-19 quarantine. A community-based, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted from November to December 2021 in Greece. Parents were asked to voluntarily complete an anonymous questionnaire, designed for the needs of the research. A statistical analysis of the data was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests for a normal distribution, a chi-squared (χ 2 ) test to compare percentages among different groups and a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test to determine the differences in Likert scale variables between two groups. A total of 130 parents with at least one child were questioned through an online questionnaire survey. Of the parents, 39.3%, stated that the number of accidents in their home increased. The most frequent accidents were injuries (49.3%). Most of the accidents occurred inside the house (75.8%) and were observed among children aged 0-4 years. A high percentage of children's accidents was observed in rural/island areas or in the suburbs. Children who were with either their father or mother had one accident, and a higher number of accidents occurred when the children were with their grandparents, with the nanny or alone. For those parents who had difficulty supervising their child, child accidents increased compared to parents who had the ability to supervise. It was noticed that parents who knew how to provide a safe home stated that the number of accidents remained the same. Parents must organize a safer home. Authorities should educate parents on child injury prevention and provide them with financial facilities to provide a safer house.

Objective: This study compares the preoperative ultrasound findings of all children with a clinical picture of acute appendicitis on the basis of intraoperative and histopathological findings to assess the feasibility of this approach in preoperatively distinguishing between uncomplicated and complicated cases., Methods: This retrospective study includes 224 pediatric patients who underwent ultrasound prior to appendectomy at our institution between January 2016 and February 2022. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between sonographic and intraoperative histopathological findings., Results: Of the 224 participants, 61.1% were intraoperatively diagnosed with uncomplicated appendicitis (59.8% male). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with a higher appendiceal diameter, presence of appendicolith, and peritonitis were more likely to suffer from complicated appendicitis. Finally, the common anatomical position of the appendix and an appendiceal diameter greater than 6 mm had the highest sensitivity (94.6% and 94.5%, respectively) for predicting complicated appendicitis, with the most specific (99.3%) sonographic finding being the existence of an abscess., Conclusions: Preoperative abdominal ultrasound in children with a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis can distinguish between uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis in most cases of pediatric appendicitis. A higher appendiceal diameter, the presence of appendicolith, and peritonitis are parameters noted by ultrasound that strongly predict complicated appendicitis.