The Evolution of the Plateau, an Optical Coherence Tomography Signature Seen in Geographic Atrophy

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Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma of the Kidney Treated with Nephrectomy and Adjuvant Radiotherapy: A Case Report

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) usually presents in the extremities or retroperitoneum. Cases involving the kidney are rare and portend a poor prognosis. Although radical nephrectomy is the most beneficial curative choice for this neoplasm, patients are often treated with adjuvant chemotherapy due to high risk of local recurrence and distant metastases. We describe a case of a 68-year-old woman affected by MFH, treated with both nephrectomy and radiotherapy without systemic therapy showing an unexpected twenty-four-month postsurgery survival outcome

Primary Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the parotid gland

Primary malignant lymphomas in the salivary glands are relatively rare. Clinical presentation is not characteristic and the disease is often overlooked resulting in diagnosis and treatment delays. Aim To stress the importance of the diagnostic process and combined management, we present a series of eight patients with malignant lymphoma of the parotid who were diagnosed only after surgery and managed with radiation and chemotherapy. Methods Retrospective series of patients with primary malignant lymphoma of the parotid gland managed with radiotherapy and diagnostic surgical partial resection. Results After treatment completion we achieved a loco-regional control rate of 87.5%. Toxicity was charted according to the Common Toxicity Criteria and it was seen in six patients (75%). Six patients are still alive without evidence of recurrent disease in their last follow-up. Conclusion Our study confirms that primary early stage Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma of the parotid gland is a disease with an excellent prognosis and a good local control rate, with minimal morbidity

The impact of age on prevalence of positive skin prick tests and specific IgE tests

SummaryAging is associated with modifications of the immune system, defined as immunosenescence. This could contribute to a reduced prevalence of allergic disease in the elderly population. In this regard, atopy has rarely been considered in the clinical assessment of the geriatric respiratory patient. This article is a review of the available literature assessing the impact of age on atopy. In the majority of papers, we found a lower prevalence of atopy in the most advanced ages, both in healthy subjects and in individuals affected by allergic respiratory diseases. Unfortunately, no large, longitudinal studies performed in the general population have been conducted to further explore this observation. Although available data seem to favor the decline of allergen sensitization with age, the prevalence of allergic sensitizations in the elderly population with respiratory symptoms is substantial enough to warrant evaluation of the atopic condition. From a clinical perspective, allergic reactions in older adults can have the same or even worse manifestations compared to young people. For this reasons, the evaluation of the atopic condition also in the geriatric patient is recommended. Thus, the role of atopy as it pertains to the diagnosis, therapy (adoption of preventive measure such as removal of environmental allergen or immunotherapy), and prognosis (influence on morbidity and mortality) of chronic respiratory illnesses in the elderly is addressed

Upper airway involvement in pediatric COVID-19

The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection is mixed. It ranges from asymptomatic cases, medium-intensity forms with mild to moderate symptoms, to severe ones with bilateral lung involvement and respiratory distress, which can require transfer to ICUs and intubation. In most cases, the clinical picture is characterized by a persistent fever, cough, dyspnoea, expectoration, myalgias, arthralgias, headache, gastrointestinal symptoms, nasal congestion, and pharyngodynia. The spread of COVID-19 in Europe has highlighted an atypical presentation of disease involving upper airways and, above all, dysfunction of olfactory and gustatory senses. There is ample evidence that COVID-19 is significantly less severe in children than in adults. However, due to difficulties in assessing the disorder in children, especially among very young patients, the olfaction and gustatory dysfunctions remain open issues. This article sheds light on the upper airway involvement in pediatric COVID-19 subjects

1-Year Results of Paclitaxel-Coated Balloons for Long Femoropopliteal Artery Disease

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Cross-sectional survey on impact of paediatric COVID-19 among Italian paediatricians: report from the SIAIP rhino- sinusitis and conjunctivitis committee

Background: There is ample evidence that COVID-19 is significantly less severe in children than in adults and asthma and allergy, the most common chronic disorders in children, are not included in the top 10 comorbidities related to COVID-19 fatalities. Nevertheless, concerns about asthma and allergy are still high.. In order to evaluate the impact of paediatric COVID-19 among Italian paediatricians, we sent a 20-questions anonymous internet-based survey to 250 Italian paediatricians with particular address to allergic symptoms and those affecting the upper airways. Methods: The questionnaire was conceived and pretested in April 2020, by a working group of experts of the Italian Paediatric Society for Allergy and Immunology (SIAIP), and structured into different sections of 20 categorized and multiple choice questions. The first part included questions about epidemiological data follows by a second part assessing the way to manage a suspected COVID-19 infection and personal experiences about that. The third part concerned questions about patients’ clinical characteristics and clinical manifestations. The survey was emailed once between April and mid-May 2020. Results: A total 99 participants had participated in our survey and provided responses to our electronic questionnaire. The distribution of patients reported per month varies significantly according to the geographical area (P = 0.02). Data confirmed that in the North part of Italy the rate of patients referred is higher than in the rest of Italy. Almost all respondents (98%) reported caring for up to a maximum of 10 infected children and the last 2% more than twenty. Among these patients, according to the 75% of responders, a maximum rate of 20% were affected by allergic rhino-conjunctivitis and in particular in the North of Italy while in the Centre and in the South there was a higher incidence (P = 0.09). Almost the same applies for asthma, 83% of responders declared that up to a maximum of 20% of affected children were asthmatic, from 20 to 40% for the 13,5% of responders and from 40 to 60% for the last 3,5%. As for the allergic conjunctivitis also for asthma, we found a higher incidence in the Centre and in South than in the North (P = 0.03). Conclusions: This study is the first to provide a comprehensive review of COVID-19 knowledge and impact among paediatricians in Italy about allergic asthma and upper airway involvement. From our point of view, it provides important information clearly useful for improving a good practice

Macular perfusion parameters in different angiocube sizes: does the size matter in quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography?

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Determinants of European parents' decision on the vaccination of their children against measles, mumps and rubella: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Low measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunization levels in European children highlight the importance of identifying determinants of parental vaccine uptake to implement policies for increasing vaccine compliance. The aim of this paper is to identify the main factors associated with partial and full MMR vaccination uptake in European parents, and combine the different studies to obtain overall quantitative measures. This activity is included within the ESCULAPIO project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Health. ORs and CIs were extracted, sources of heterogeneity explored and publication bias assessed. Forty-five papers were retrieved for the qualitative study, 26 of which were included in the meta-analysis. The following factors were associated with lower MMR vaccine uptake: misleading knowledge, beliefs and perceptions on vaccines (OR 0.57, CI 0.37-0.87); negative attitudes and behaviors toward vaccination (OR 0.71, CI 0.52-0.98); demographic characteristics, such as different ethnicity in Southern populations (OR 0.44, CI 0.31-0.61), higher child's age (OR 0.80, CI 0.76-0.85); low socio-economic status (OR 0.64, CI 0.51-0.80), especially low income (OR 0.39, CI 0.25-0.60) and education (OR 0.64, CI 0.48-0.84), high number of children (OR 0.54, CI 0.42-0.69), irregular marital status (OR 0.80, CI 0.66-0.96). The factors explaining heterogeneity were country location, administration modality, collection setting and responses reported on MMR alone or in combination. Findings from this study suggest policy makers to focus communication strategies on providing better knowledge, correct beliefs and perceptions on vaccines, and improving attitudes and behaviors in parents; and to target policies to people of ethnic minority from Southern Europe, low educated and deprived, with higher number of children and non-married marital status

Fire Characterization by Using an Original RST-Based Approach for Fire Radiative Power (FRP) Computation

Fire radiative power (FRP) is a basic parameter for fire characterization since it represents the heat emission rate of fires. Moreover, its temporal integration (fire radiative energy, FRE) is used as a proxy for estimating biomass burning and emissions. From satellite, FRP is generally computed by comparing the Medium InfraRed (MIR) signal of the fire pixel with the background value on the event image. Such an approach is possibly affected by some issues due to fire extent, clouds and smoke over the event area. The enlargement of the background window is the commonly used gimmick to face these issues. However, it may include unrepresentative signals of the fire pixel because of very different land use/cover. In this paper, the alternative Background Radiance Estimator by a Multi-temporal Approach (BREMA), based on the Robust Satellite Technique (RST), is proposed to characterize background and compute FRP. The approach is presented using data from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) onboard the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) platform. Moreover, BREMA is here combined with the RST-FIRES (RST for FIRES detection) technique for fire pixel identification and the -SEVIRI retrieval algorithm for transmittance evaluation. Results compared to the operational SEVIRI-based FRP-PIXEL product, although highly correlated in terms of background radiance (r2=0.95) and FRP values (r2=0.96), demonstrated a major capability of BREMA to estimate background radiances regardless of cloudiness or smoke presence during the event and independently on fire extent. The possible impact of the proposed approach on the estimates of CO2 emissions was also evaluated for comparison with the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4s)