Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure increases hospitalizations for bronchiolitis in infants

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) is a worldwide health problem and it is considered a risk factor for pregnant women's and children's health, particularly for respiratory morbidity during the first year of life. Few significant birth cohort studies on the effect of prenatal TSE via passive and active maternal smoking on the development of severe bronchiolitis in early childhood have been carried out worldwide. METHODS: From November 2009 to December 2012, newborns born at ≥ 33 weeks of gestational age (wGA) were recruited in a longitudinal multi-center cohort study in Italy to investigate the effects of prenatal and postnatal TSE, among other risk factors, on bronchiolitis hospitalization and/or death during the first year of life. RESULTS: Two thousand two hundred ten newborns enrolled at birth were followed-up during their first year of life. Of these, 120 (5.4%) were hospitalized for bronchiolitis. No enrolled infants died during the study period. Prenatal passive TSE and maternal active smoking of more than 15 cigarettes/daily are associated to a significant increase of the risk of offspring children hospitalization for bronchiolitis, with an adjHR of 3.5 (CI 1.5-8.1) and of 1.7 (CI 1.1-2.6) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm the detrimental effects of passive TSE and active heavy smoke during pregnancy for infants' respiratory health, since the exposure significantly increases the risk of hospitalization for bronchiolitis in the first year of lif

Analysis of highly accurate rain intensity measurements from a field test site

In the course of the recent WMO international instrument intercomparison in the field and the associated specific laboratory tests, highly accurate rainfall intensity measurements have been collected and made available for scientific investigation. The resulting high quality data set (contemporary one-minute rainfall intensity data from 26 gauges based on various measuring principles) constitutes an important resource to provide insights into the expected behaviour of rain intensity gauges in operational conditions and further useful information for National Meteorological Services and other users. A few aspects of the analysis of one-minute resolution rain intensity measurements are discussed in this paper, focusing on the observed deviations from a calculated reference intensity based on four pit gauges. Results from both catching and non-catching type gauges are discussed in relation with suitable tolerance limits obtained as a combination of the estimated uncertainty of the reference intensity and the WMO accuracy limits for rainfall intensity measurements. It is shown that suitably post-processed weighing gauges and tipping-bucket rain gauges had acceptable performance, while none of the non-catching rain gauges agreed well with the reference

ATP/P2X7 axis modulates myeloid-derived suppressor cell functions in neuroblastoma microenvironment

Tumor microenvironment of solid tumors is characterized by a strikingly high concentration of adenosine and ATP. Physiological significance of this biochemical feature is unknown, but it has been suggested that it may affect infiltrating immune cell responses and tumor progression. There is increasing awareness that many of the effects of extracellular ATP on tumor and inflammatory cells are mediated by the P2X7 receptor (P2X7R). Aim of this study was to investigate whether: (i) extracellular ATP is a component of neuroblastoma (NB) microenvironment, (ii) myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) express functional P2X7R and (iii) the ATP/P2X7R axis modulates MDSC functions. Our results show that extracellular ATP was detected in NB microenvironment in amounts that increased in parallel with tumor progression. The percentage of CD11b+/Gr-1+ cells was higher in NB-bearing mice compared with healthy animals. Within the CD11b/Gr-1+ population, monocytic MDSCs (M-MDSCs) produced higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), arginase-1 (ARG-1), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and stimulated more potently in vivo tumor growth, as compared with granulocytic MDSCs (G-MDSCs). P2X7R of M-MDSCs was localized at the plasma membrane, coupled to increased functionality, upregulation of ARG-1, TGF-β1 and ROS. Quite surprisingly, the P2X7R in primary MDSCs as well as in the MSC-1 and MSC-2 lines was uncoupled from cytotoxicity. This study describes a novel scenario in which MDSC immunosuppressive functions are modulated by the ATP-enriched tumor microenvironment. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved

A case of Noonan syndrome with unusual clinical severity and familial factor XII deficiency

We report the case of a term infant with cystic hygroma revealed by fetal ultrasound scanning and characteristic craniofacial dysmorphism at birth, compatible with a clinical picture of Noonan syndrome. The infant had a significant factor XII deficiency, found also in his parents. In the following months, a worsening of cardiorespiratory function, due to a rapidly progressive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, occurred, causing the death of the infant