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In the field of the restoration of monumental heritage, non-destructive geophysical techniques have gained an already widely acknowledged importance. The possibility to understand the state of preservation of the artefacts without resorting to a destructive action is extremely useful in identifying unknown or presumed emergencies in order to better lead the restoration operations. At present geophysics is underutilised and furthermore, common techniques may not be optimal for some specific targets or sites. Therefore, more controlled research is needed to better understand the applicability of these methodologies when searching for cultural heritage applications in various material types. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new approach that involves the joint use of several geophysical methods for the study of the probable causes of deterioration on a monument of considerable historical and artistic importance. The monument is the Basilica of Santa Croce in Lecce. It is a baroque church internationally well-known. The starting point of this research was the evidence that some structures of the façade are more damaged and present signs of subsidence. The study of the causes of damage was dealt with a geophysical survey using ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the choice of the two methods and allow to obtain information on buried structures both inside the church and on the façade and to locate and identify anomalies related to a restoration intervention carried out in the 80s. Furthermore, a microclimatic analysis performed inside the Basilica shows a probable connection between the humidity present on the surface and the conductive layers present in the subsoil and highlighted with the electrical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The condition of the wood structure and its components should be carefully recorded before considering any action. The diagnosis of wood structures in heritage should precede any intervention. It is important to know preliminarily the construction and structural system, the decay condition and the causes. Furthermore, damage or structural failure should be considered. The diagnosis must be based principally on measurements of physical parameters using non-destructive testing, and if necessary on laboratory testing. Water is one of the principal causes of wood decay. In this study, ground-penetrating radar and time domain reflectometry were used to estimate the dielectric permittivity and successively the volumetric water content of several types of wood. An empirical relationship was found between the dielectric constant and volumetric water content. Results were applied to two case studies: the Cathedral of Foggia and the Castle of Carosino. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prune exopolyphosphatase 1 (PRUNE1) is a short-chain phosphatase that is part of the aspartic acid-histidine-histidine (DHH) family of proteins. PRUNE1 is highly expressed in the central nervous system and is crucially involved in neurodevelopment, cytoskeletal rearrangement, cell migration, and proliferation. Recently, biallelic PRUNE1 variants have been identified in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, hypotonia, microcephaly, variable cerebral anomalies, and other features. PRUNE1 hypomorphic mutations mainly affect the DHH1 domain, leading to an impactful decrease in enzymatic activity with a loss-of-function mechanism. In this review, we explored both the clinical and radiological spectrum related to PRUNE1 pathogenic variants described to date. Specifically, we focused on neuroradiological findings that, together with clinical phenotypes and genetic data, allow us to best characterize affected children with diagnostic and potential prognostic implications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationship that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2023 Scorrano, Laura, Spiaggia, Basile, Palmucci, Foti, David, Marinangeli, Mascilini, Comisi, Vittori and Salpietro.)

The WWOX gene encodes a 414-amino-acid protein composed of two N-terminal WW domains and a C-terminal short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) domain. WWOX protein is highly conserved among species and mainly expressed in the cerebellum, cerebral cortex, brain stem, thyroid, hypophysis, and reproductive organs. It plays a crucial role in the biology of the central nervous system, and it is involved in neuronal development, migration, and proliferation. Biallelic pathogenic variants in WWOX have been associated with an early infantile epileptic encephalopathy known as WOREE syndrome. Both missense and null variants have been described in affected patients, leading to a reduction in protein function and stability. The most severe WOREE phenotypes have been related to biallelic null/null variants, associated with the complete loss of function of the protein. All affected patients showed brain anomalies on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), suggesting the pivotal role of WWOX protein in brain homeostasis and developmental processes. We provided a literature review, exploring both the clinical and radiological spectrum related to WWOX pathogenic variants, described to date. We focused on neuroradiological findings to better delineate the WOREE phenotype with diagnostic and prognostic implications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (© 2023 Battaglia, Scorrano, Spiaggia, Basile, Palmucci, Foti, Spatola, Iacomino, Marinangeli, Francia, Comisi, Corsello, Salpietro, Vittori and David.)

Goals: To compare the diagnostic yield and cost-consequences of 2 strategies, screening regardless of symptoms versus case finding (CF), using a point-of-care test (POCT), for the detection of celiac disease (CD) in primary care, to bridge the diagnostic gap of CD in adults., Materials and Methods: All subjects under 75 years of age who consecutively went to their general practitioners' offices were offered POCT for anti-transglutaminase immunoglobulin A antibodies. The POCT was performed on all subjects who agreed, and then a systematic search for symptoms or conditions associated with higher risk for CD was performed, immediately after the test but before knowing the test results. The 2 resulting groups were: (a) POCT positive and (b) symptomatic subject at CF. Subjects were defined as symptomatic at CF in the presence of 1 or more symptoms. All POCT-positive or symptomatic subjects at CF were referred to the CD Centers for confirmation of CD. Data on resource consumption were gathered from patients' charts. Cost of examinations, and diagnostic and laboratory tests were estimated with regional outpatient tariffs (Sicily), and a price of &OV0556;2.5 was used for each POCT., Results: Of a total of 2197 subjects who agreed to participate in the study, 36 (1.6%) and 671 (30.5%) were POCT positive and symptomatic at CF, respectively. The yield from the screening and CF was 5 new celiac patients. The total cost and mean cost for each new CD case were &OV0556;7497.35 and &OV0556;1499.47 for the POCT screening strategy, and &OV0556;9855.14 and &OV0556;1971.03 for the CF strategy, respectively. Assuming consecutive use of both strategies, performing POCT only in symptomatic subjects at CF, the calculated yield would be 4 new diagnoses with a total cost of &OV0556;2345.84 and a mean cost of &OV0556;586.46 for each newly diagnosed patient. Only 1 patient was celiac despite a negative POCT., Conclusions: Testing symptomatic subjects at CF only by POCT seems the most cost-effective strategy to bridge the diagnostic gap of adult CD in primary care.

Aim: Functional abdominal pain (FAP) is a frequent condition affecting 10-20% of children and can be considered within the classification of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). The objective of this study was to determine the effect of daily supplementation with the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 in children with FAP., Methods: The children (aged 6-16 years) were screened for FAP as defined in the Rome III criteria and 60 patients were recruited in this double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The children were randomly allocated to receive either L. reuteri (2×10(8)  CFU/day) or identical placebo for 4 weeks followed by a 4-week follow-up period without supplementation. Frequency and intensity of pain was self-recorded by the subjects., Results: The L. reuteri-supplemented children had significantly lower pain intensity compared with the placebo controls., Conclusions: Supplementation with L. reuteri reduced perceived abdominal pain intensity, which may encourage clinicians to use this probiotic in children with FAP., (© 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).)

In order to define the validity of a screening program for hypertension in schools, aiming to prevent an hypertensive status in adult age, we screened 861 children from schools on the area of our Medical District (U.S.L. 22--Vittoria--Sicily). The object of our study is to search for risk factors of hypertension, detectable at school age and, if existing, which age is more suitable for a screening program. We randomly sampled 861 children from different schools, aging 6, 10 and 13 years. The first step was to define the prevalence of hypertension and obesity in the sample, and the correlation between the two factors (transversal study). We found an overall prevalence of obesity at 6, 10, and 13 years of 6.69%, 18.22% and 17.7% respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was 4.01%, 11.4%, and 6.98% at 6, 10 and 13 years respectively. The second step is to create a personal record of each child, which will be followed up to the age of 18 years, containing familial and nutritional informations, periodic evaluations of height, weight, blood pressure and biologic sampling (longitudinal study). Our preliminary results confirmed the correlation between obesity and hypertension, although they do not help to clarify why the prevalence of hypertension decreases from 10 to 13 years whereas obesity maintains the same prevalence at the mentioned ages.

The infantile hemangioendothelioma of the liver is a rare benign vascular tumor that accounts for some 10% of all primary hepatic masses. Two cases were seen at the Department of Pediatric Surgery of Vicenza's Hospital in the last ten years. Both of patients were females and presented in neonatal period asymptomatic. The first patient was found to have hepatomegaly by pediatrician at six weeks of age, the second was an incidental finding following ultrasound neonatal screening. The Authors outline some difficulties met with differential diagnosis between benign versus malignant hepatic tumors. Explorative laparotomy was considered necessary in both the patients. Liver biopsy was the only surgical procedure performed in the nonresectable tumor. Treatment with corticosteroids finally proved to be successful to determine progressive involution of the tumor. In the resectable form, left hepatic lobectomy was successfully performed because of the progressive size increase of the tumor.

We evaluated hematological parameters in 375 Sicilian adults with Hb S trait: Hb S levels were 41.91 +/- 2.65% in males and 40.92 +/- 2.8% in females. RBC, MCV, PCV, MCH, MCHC and total hemoglobin levels were within the normal range. Only mean Hb A2 and Hb F levels were increased (Hb A2 = 2.78 +/- 0.2%; Hb F = 1.05 +/- 0.18%), although they remained inside the normal ranges when compared to healthy controls (Hb A2 = 2.48 +/- 0.19%; Hb F = 0.93 +/- 0.14%) (p less than 0.0005). We conclude that our population does not show the hematological abnormalities such as microcytosis and decreased Hb levels, observed in the Black, Indian, Saudi Arabian carriers, and that the presence of those abnormalities is probably related to the coexistence of alpha-thalassemia, rarely observed in Sicily.

We examined lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood from children with visceral leishmaniasis both in the active stage of the disease and after recovery. At diagnosis, CD2+ and CD4+ cells showed a significant decrease while CD8+ cells were significantly increased when compared with controls; CD4/CD8 ratio was inverted. All of these alterations returned to normal values 3 months after recovery.