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Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental and physical health of the world population. This study aims to investigate incidence of sleep-related difficulties and post-traumatic stress disorder in the school-aged children after 1 year of the pandemic., Methods: A sample of Italian children (6-12 years) was queried about their sleep behaviors after 1 year of the pandemic, answering the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). We also evaluated trauma symptoms with the Children's Impact of Event Scale (CRIES-8)., Results: Among 205 participants, 184 (89.8%) presented sleep-related difficulties. Out of all, 99 (48.3%) had a high risk to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Ninety-five (51.6%) children with sleep-related difficulties also presented an abnormal CRIES-8 total score. A correlation was found between the CSHQ total score and the CRIES-8 total score ( r  = 0.354, P  < .01)., Conclusions: The sleep-related difficulties occurring during COVID-19 outbreak may compound to increase the risk to develop post-traumatic stress disorder among Italian children.

Objectives: The main aim of this study was to evaluate BMI changes in children and adolescent with obesity or overweight, analyzing the possible risk factors that contributed to weight gain during a pandemic-associated lockdown., Material and Methods: The study was conducted at the Pediatric Endocrinology Department of a third-level University Hospital in Rome, including children and adolescents with overweight and obesity. Personal, anthropometrics data and other information about physical activity, eating habits and psychological aspects were collected., Results: We included in our study 64 participants, of which 33 (51.6%) were patients with overweight and 31 (48.4%) with obesity. We divided patients in two groups: patients with pre-versus post-lockdown Δ-BMI > 0 (31, 48.4%) and patients with Δ-BMI < 0 (33, 51.6%). Our data showed that patients whose BMI increased were more sedentary (p=0.024 for physical activity and p=0.005 for hours spent with videogames) during the pandemic. As for the eating habits more than half of the subjects (67.2%) had increased the consumption of homemade desserts, bread, pasta and pizza, and a worse diet was found in patients with BMI gain (p=0.000). Regarding the psychic condition the 80% of patients reported psychological discomfort, and patients with an increase in BMI had episodes of emotional feeding more frequently (p=0.016)., Conclusions: The COVID19 pandemic has had disastrous effects not only directly, but also indirectly through the lockdown especially on some categories, such as adolescents with overweight and obesity. The results indicate that it also causes significant changes in lifestyle, physical inactivity and psychological problems among children and adolescents with obesity/overweight.

Background: Real-life data on the use of R2 MRI for the assessment of liver iron concentration (LIC) remain limited., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis on 363 patients (mean age 35.6 yr, 44.1% men) with hemoglobinopathies (204 β-thalassemia major [TM], 102 β-thalassemia intermedia [TI], and 57 sickle cell disease [SCD]) that were evaluated with R2 MRI as part of LICNET, an MRI network of 13 Italian treatment centers., Results: The mean LIC was 7.8 mg/g (median: 4.0), with high LIC (>7 mg/g) noted in both transfused (TM, TI 37%; SCD 38%) and non-transfused (TI 20%) patients. Ferritin levels correlated with LIC in both transfused (TM, TI, SCD) and non-transfused (TI) patients (P < 0.001), although lower values predicted high LIC in non-transfused patients (1900 vs. 650 ng/mL in TM vs. non-transfused TI). A correlation between LIC and ALT levels was only noted in HCV-negative patients (rs = 0.316, P < 0.001). The proportion of patients with high LIC was significantly different between iron chelators used (P = 0.023), with the lowest proportion in deferasirox (30%) and highest in deferiprone (53%)-treated patients., Conclusions: High LIC values persist in subgroups of patients with hemoglobinopathy, warranting closer monitoring and management optimization, even for non-transfused patients with relatively low ferritin levels., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study reports direct quantification of arabica in roasted and ground coffee blends of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora var. robusta. (1)H-NMR analysis of water extracts of coffee blends were combined with multivariate statistical analysis to obtain an OPLS model with high predictive capability. This approach allowed to evaluate the composition of coffee blends of unknown arabica and robusta content, on the basis of multiple chemical components. Differences in geographical origin of the analyzed samples did not affected the compositional determination of coffee blends. This approach represents a valid tool in authentication procedures of arabica and robusta blends of roasted and ground coffee., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The prognosis for thalassemia major has dramatically improved in the last two decades. However, many transfusion-dependent patients continue to develop progressive accumulation of iron. This can lead to tissue damage and eventually death, particularly from cardiac disease. Previous studies that investigated iron chelation treatments, including retrospective and prospective non-randomised clinical trials, suggested that mortality, due mainly to cardiac damage, was reduced or completely absent in patients treated with deferiprone (DFP) alone or a combined deferiprone-deferoxamine (DFP-DFO) chelation treatment. However, no survival analysis has been reported for a long-term randomised control trial. Here, we performed a multicenter, long-term, randomised control trial that compared deferoxamine (DFO) versus DFP alone, sequential DFP-DFO, or combined DFP-DFO iron chelation treatments. The trial included 265 patients with thalassemia major, with 128 (48.3%) females and 137 (51.7%) males. No deaths occurred with the DFP-alone or the combined DFP-DFO treatments. One death occurred due to graft versus host disease (GVHD) in a patient that had undergone bone marrow transplantation; this patient was censored at the time of transplant. Only one death occurred with the DFP-DFO sequential treatment in a patient that had experienced an episode of heart failure one year earlier. Ten deaths occurred with the deferoxamine treatment. The main factors that correlated with an increase in the hazard ratio for death were: cirrhosis, arrhythmia, previous episode of heart failure, diabetes, hypogonadism, and hypothyroidism. In a Cox regression model, the interaction effect of sex and age was statistically significant (p-value<0.013). For each increasing year of age, the hazard ratio for males was 1.03 higher than that for females (p-value<0.013). In conclusion, the results of this study show that the risk factors for predicting mortality in patients with thalassemia major are deferoxamine-treatment, complications, and the interaction effect of sex and age.

We report a 23-year-old thalassodrepanocytic man who contracted leishmaniasis. The diagnostic difficulties related to some overlapping features between the two conditions are discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported occurrence of leishmaniasis in a thalassodrepanocytic patient.

Neurogenic pulmonary oedema occurs in about 10% of SAH-patients being mainly due to cardiocirculatory changes related to imbalance of the central neurovegetative control. In particular, ESA should induce a sympathetic descending stress causing left ventricle failure. Physiopathologic, diagnostic and therapeutic data are briefly presented.

The development of surgery in regime of day hospital proceeds swiftly, especially in Anglo-saxon countries, so that at the beginning of the second millennium it can be foreseen that in USA alone, 75% of all surgery will be carried out in this manner. From March 1st to September 1st 1994, 100 patients were submitted to operations in ODS (One Day Surgery). We had 3 reconversions into ordinary hospitalization (3%), 2 for social-economic reasons and one for headache and vomiting due to intolerance to local anesthetics. As has been seen we have encountered no important complications, all patients were satisfied. From the analysis of our experience we have deducted useful indications that oblige us to partially modify our attitude: we want to transform our service into a free standing center where the patient can undergo preoperative exams, anesthesiologic examinations and surgery on the same day; we are just about to verify the possibility, thanks to an accurate anamnesis, to not request preoperative routine exams in patients with ASA 1 and 2 physical status; to look for a possible asymptomatic crural hernia in patients that undergo inguinal hernioplasty; we do not submit patients to ODS if they do not have assistance at home; or if they live too far from our service.

Pipecurium bromide, a new non-depolarizing myorelaxant, was administered intravenously, at a dose of 0.06 mg/kg, to 10 patients suffering from expansive endocranial lesions, who had been anesthetised to undergo neurosurgery. The following parameters were recorded simultaneously, before and after drug administration: intracranial pressure, mean arterial blood pressure, central venous pressure, heart rate and end tidal CO2. No statistically significant changes in the above parameters were observed following the administration of the myorelaxant; these observations, which were considered together with the long duration of action, confirm that pipecurium bromide is a valuable tool in anesthesia for neurosurgery.