Epidemiology, prevention and control of oral diseases in pediatric subjects

Caries and periodontal diseases are a neglected epidemic by millions of Italians who suffer unnecessarily from them. Both diseases are preventable and the combination of high prevalence, high morbidity and relative inattention from the National Health Service (NHS), makes caries and periodontal disease a significant public health problem. In this perspective, the World Health Organization and the University of Milan have promoted a national epidemiological study aimed at a sample of 4, 6 and 12-years-old students from schools in the North, Central and South of Italy. The study provides for the administration of a questionnaire to parents and a dental examination carried out at school by dentists trained by the WHO. In our town the epidemiological study planning and the survey were carried out by professors of the School of Specialization in "Pediatric Dentistry" (Prof. G. Giuliana and Prof. G. Pizzo) supported by specialist dentists from the same School, calibrated according to the WHO methodology. The survey was carried out between 2017 and 2019 involving 2701 children attending schools in the 8 districts of the town. The parents were sent a letter which explained the nature of the survey and contained a pre-printed form for the issue of informed consent to participate in the survey with a questionnaire regarding the family nuclear, the oral hygiene and eating habits of the minor and the child's previous dental experiences. The ICDAS (International Caries Detection and Assessment System) was used to detect the prevalence of carious lesions. The dentist used for each child visited a dental mirror and the CPI (Community Periodontal Index) index for periodontal assessment. Preliminary results showed that 25.3% of 12-years-old students had gingival bleeding and 41.1% had tartar. The caries index (ICDAS) shows us that as early as 4 years, 20% of children have initial carious lesions, 37% have dentine caries and that 34.38% have highly destructive caries. At 12 years, 34.95% had initial carious lesions, 46% had cavities that already affected dentin and that 42.44% had highly destructive cavities. The exigence to implement a program of prevention / early treatment of caries/gingivitis in pediatric subjects living in Palermo, since the first months of child's life, was born from the data analysis. The project "Un sorriso per 54 tutti i bambini", carried out at the U.O. of "Pediatric Dentistry" of Policlinico Paolo Giaccone in Palermo, was therefore finalised in order to 1) improve efficiency and effectiveness in the promotion of the oral health of minors, through the creation of a preventive / assistance route of significant social health impact; 2) assess the effectiveness of the preventive methodologies adopte

A Scan-to-BIM Approach for the Management of Two Arab-Norman Churches in Palermo (Italy)

The paper shows the results of the research activities carried out by the Department of Engineering at the University of Palermo (Italy), which assessed the application of the Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) methodology through a Scan-to-BIM approach to two local churches belonging to the medieval period. This project was motivated by a renewed interest from the city administrators towards the conservation of cultural heritage dating back to the Arab-Norman domination in Sicily since one of the two buildings was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 2015. The morpho-typological style of the churches has been acquired by high-detailed 3D surveys, which provided the base for two HBIM models suited to render the peculiarity of these buildings at their best. The BIM environment allowed both the geometrical representation of all the architectural elements and their further enrichment with the integration of non-geometric data and semantic signification through a knowledge-based workflow. This process led to a hierarchical organization of two high-accuracy digital replicas and to the creation of a database containing all of the architectural items typical of the Arab-Norman style, aimed to share the awareness of its conservation and to match all of the Cultural Heritage requirements. In the future, the features in this database can be shared with other specialists as reference objects for further studies on cultural heritage sites in the UNESCO list

Separaxion anxiety in pediatric migraine without aura: A pilot study

Background: Separation anxiety (SA) can be defined as the fear reaction and protest manifested by children when the main caregivers move away from him/her or in front of unfamiliar person. SA near eight months may be considered as an important and normal phase of the correct and typical social neurodevelopment. Aims of the present pilot study is assessing the prevalence of separation anxiety in a population of patients with migraine without aura (MwA). Materials and methods: 119 children (69 males) suffering from MwA (mean age 1.78 ± 7:59) were consecutively recruited. The control population consisted of 231 (114 males) healthy subjects similar for age (7.64 ± 1:34; p = 0.768) and gender (p=0.987) The Screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED) test was used to assess the prevalence of separation anxiety among MwA children. Results: Healthy individuals are on average less affected (mean 4.72 ± 0:32) of the Separation Anxiety Disorder respect of MwA children (mean 6.83 ± 0.97; p < 0.001) (Figure 1). Conclusion. MwA presents many psychiatric comorbidities and among ones separation anxiety may be considered in the clinical and therapeutic management of pediatric primary headache

Application of design for environment principles combined with LCA methodology on automotive product process development: The case study of a crossmember

none4noThe existing Community regulation pushes the carmakers to design eco-sustainability of the vehicle over its life cycle to limit the consequences of the current state and the expected growth of the sector. In this sense, one of the primary aim is reducing raw materials consumption and emissions through the adoption of innovative materials and technologies. This implies the need for the carmakers to integrate Design for Environment (DfE) principles at the early Research and Development (R&D) stage. The article presents a concreate example of integration of DfE and LCA methodology application in the R&D process of a vehicle component produced by Magneti Marelli. The study allowed drawing a balance between the advantages of a lightweight solution with respect to the standard one both from performance and environmental point of view.openMaltese, S.; Delogu, M.; Zanchi, L.*; Bonoli, A.Maltese, S.; Delogu, M.; Zanchi, L.*; Bonoli, A

Silent Sinus Syndrome and Williams Syndrome: Two Rare Diseases Found in a Pediatric Patient

Silent sinus syndrome (SSS) is a rare disease process characterized by progressive enophthalmos and hypoglobus due to ipsilateral maxillary sinus hypoplasia and orbital floor resorption. Patients may also present with eye asymmetry, unilateral ptosis, or diplopia. Most reported cases in the literature describe its occurrence in adults, but it can also affect children. The etiology remains speculative, even though the most accepted theory is that during the first or second decade of life, occlusion of the maxillary ostium causes an interruption in normal sinus development. Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic, multisystem disorder characterized by a constellation of distinctive phenotypic features, including psychomotor delay and cardiovascular abnormalities. We report a case of a 7-year-old female diagnosed at 1 year old with WS and who gradually developed SSS. This last condition was diagnosed at 7 years of age, when she started showing progressive facial asymmetry in addition to typical facial features of WS; subsequent neuroimaging definitively supported the diagnosis. This case report describes for the first time in the literature an uncommon situation in which SSS and WS, both rare syndromes, are present in the same pediatric patient. We speculate that the particular facial features typical of WS could either be the basis of the development of SSS in our patient or make the SSS clinical course more severe, with signs presenting at the age of 7 years. This case report shows for the first time that facial asymmetry in WS can be caused by SSS and highlights the need for early identification of this complication in patients with syndromes characterized by dysmorphic facial features. Further studies are needed to understand whether there is a link between the two syndromes as well as to evaluate the prevalence of SSS in patients with facial dysmorphisms and define the best management

Behavioural disorders in children and adolescents: A conceptual review about the therapeutic alliance with family and school

Aim: In disruptive behavioral disorders, given the wide range of symptomatic manifestations and the complexity of the sociofamiliar contexts in which they develop, it is now proven that more visible and more stable results can be achieved over time through multimodal and multidimensional interventions. These are accomplished through the integration of psychotherapeutic interventions for the child and parents, counseling interventions for all the various practitioners who come into contact with the child in school, sports, and social settings, through the possibility of organizing multiple settings in patient can be followed by several health professionals such as child and adolescent neuropsychiatrist, neuropsychomotricist, occupation therapist, psychologist

A Review of Selected Applications of GNSS CORS and Related Experiences at the University of Palermo (Italy)

Services from the Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) provide data and insights to a range of research areas such as physical sciences, engineering, earth and planetary sciences, computer science, and environmental science. Even though these fields are varied, they are all linked through the GNSS operational application. GNSS CORS have historically been deployed for three-dimensional positioning but also for the establishment of local and global reference systems and the measurement of ionospheric and tropospheric errors. In addition to these studies, CORS is uncovering new, emerging scientific applications. These include real-time monitoring of land subsidence via network real-time kinematics (NRTK) or precise point positioning (PPP), structural health monitoring (SHM), earthquake and volcanology monitoring, GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) for mapping soil moisture content, precision farming with affordable receivers, and zenith total delay to aid hydrology and meteorology. The flexibility of CORS infrastructure and services has paved the way for new research areas. The aim of this study is to present a curated selection of scientific papers on prevalent topics such as network monitoring, reference frames, and structure monitoring (like dams), along with an evaluation of CORS performance. Concurrently, it reports on the scientific endeavours undertaken by the Geomatics Research Group at the University of Palermo in the realm of GNSS CORS over the past 15 years

Review about comorbidities of behavioural disorders in children and adolescents: The focus on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) present high comorbidity rate mainly for opposite-defiant disorders that are frequent among children, adolescents and adults affected by with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), probably as result of common temperamental risk factors such as attention, distraction, impulsivity. ADHD tend to manifest in about 50% of individuals diagnosed as disruptive behavioral disorders

The behavioral parenting interventions (BPT) for support and mandatory integrative therapy for children and adolescents affected by disruptive behavioural disorders: A brief review

The behavioral parenting interventions (BPT), commonly abbreviated as parent training, is a program conducted by an expert with the specific purpose of improving or modifying parental practices in order to promote the child's well-being, increasing parenting skills in the daily management of the child, problem solving and reducing the level of parenting and family stress. BPT presents many positive effects on children or adolescents affected by neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD, autism and cognitive dysfunction but BPT appears to improve also other proximal outcomes such as parenting competence and parenting stress