1,720,979 research outputs found
Ocular involvement in an HIV-infected patient: not always an infectious disease. An interesting case without apparent cause
No full textWe describe the case of a young girl with HIV infection vertically transmitted who presented a long-lasting ocular involvement characterized by several relapses and remissions. Good viral and immunological status made infective or neoplastic facts unlike; diagnosis was really challenging and finally spontaneous remission was observed after several months. Clinical and histopathological findings made idiopathic orbital inflammatory syndrome the most probable diagnosis for our patient
Burden of Congenital CMV Infection: A Narrative Review and Implications for Public Health Interventions
Full text linkCytomegalovirus causes the most common congenital infection worldwide. With most infants asymptomatic at birth, the few affected may present with variable clinical scenarios, from isolated hearing loss to severe neurologic impairment. Public health interventions include all actions at the health system, community, and individual levels that aim at reducing the burden of congenital Cytomegalovirus. This review examines the literature on maternal and neonatal screening programs in light of current evidence for treatment and the development of vaccines against Cytomegalovirus. Potential biases and benefits of these interventions are outlined, with the objective of increasing awareness about the problem and providing readers with data and critical tools to participate in this ongoing debate
Clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in Children who experienced a mild to moderate disease during Parental, Delta, and Omicron pandemic waves
No full textopenIntroduzione:
le caratteristiche del COVID-19 sono cambiate con la variante Omicron negli adulti ma i dati sulla popolazione pediatrica sono scarsi e limitati al primo mese dell’ondata Omicron.
Scopo dello studio:
Questo studio si propone di descrivere le caratteristiche cliniche del COVID-19 nei bambini e negli adolescenti che hanno avuto un’infezione lieve-moderata da SARS-CoV-2 durante le ondate delle varianti Parental, Delta e Omicron.
Metodi:
E’ stato condotto uno studio osservazionale prospettico monocentrico su individui di età compresa tra 0 e 20 anni, afferenti all’ambulatorio COVID-19 di follow-up clinico familiare presso il Dipartimento di Salute della Donna e del Bambino dell’Azienda Ospedale-Università di Padova da Aprile 2020 a Dicembre 2022.
I casi COVID-19 confermati sono stati definiti tramite il riscontro della positività della rilevazione molecolare e/o sierologica del SARS-CoV-2; per determinare l’esordio dell’infezione sono stati considerati i sintomi del paziente/famiglia e la positività virologica.
Le variabili sono state raggruppate usando la statistica descrittiva e sono stati fatti confronti tra le varianti e le classi d’età usando il test appropriato.
Risultati:
Sono stati studiati 509 casi in totale, di cui il 46% femmine, età mediana 8 anni [IQR: 4-12]). 387 (76%), 52 (10%) e 70 (14%) soggetti hanno avuto il COVID-19 durante le ondate Parental, Delta e Omicron, rispettivamente. 26 su 509 avevano avuto ricevuto in precedenza la vaccinazione anti-SARS-CoV-2. La maggior parte dei soggetti ha sviluppato una malattia asintomatica (27%) o lieve (71%).
Complessivamente, i sintomi più frequenti sono stati la febbre (47%) e la rinite (21%), che hanno mostrato una significativa tendenza all’incremento dall’ondata Parental a Omicron (p<0,001). Al contrario, la diarrea era più comune durante le varianti Parental e Delta (p=0,03).
Stratificando i sintomi in base alle classi d’età, la febbre, la rinite e le eruzioni cutanee erano più frequenti nei neonati/bambini piccoli; astenia e cefalea invece erano più frequenti nei bambini di età superiore ai cinque anni.
La durata dei sintomi è risultata simile tra le differenti varianti; al contrario, il numero di sintomi variava in base alle classi di età (p<0,0001).
Conclusioni:
questo studio ha mostrato differenze nella presentazione clinica del COVID-19 tra neonati, bambini ed adolescenti e ha confermato che l’infezione da Omicron è maggiormente associata a sintomi a carico delle vie respiratorie superiori e del tratto gastrointestinale. Tuttavia, sono necessari ulteriori studi sulla popolazione a sostegno di questi dati. Inoltre, la sorveglianza attiva giocherà un ruolo cruciale nella valutazione della gravità di malattia data dalle future varianti del virus.Background:
COVID-19 features changed with the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) in adults; however, data on pediatric population are scarce and limited to the early month of the Omicron wave.
Aim:
This study aims to describe COVID-19 clinical features in children and adolescents who experienced a mild-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Parental, Delta, and Omicron eras.
Methods:
A single-centre, prospective, observational study was conducted on individuals aged 0-20 years, attending the COVID-19 follow-up clinic at the Department of Women's and Children's Health of the University Hospital of Padua (Italy) from April 2020 to December 2022. Confirmed COVID-19 cases were defined by positive SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection and/or serology; patient/family symptoms and virological positivity werw considered to determine the infection onset. Variables were summarized using descriptive statistics and compared among VOCs and age classes using the appropriate test.
Results:
A total of 509 cases (46% female, median age eight years [IQR: 4-12]) were studied. Three-hundred-eighty-seven (76%), 52 (10%), and 70 (14%) subjects experienced COVID-19 during the Parental, Delta, and Omicron waves, respectively. Only 26/509 underwent a breakthrough infection. Most subjects developed an asymptomatic (27%) or mild (71%) disease. Overall, the most frequent symptoms were fever (47%) and rhinitis (21%), which showed a significant increasing trend from the Parental to Omicron waves (p<0.001). Conversely, diarrhea was commonest during the Parental and Delta variants (p=0.03). Stratifying symptoms according to age classes, fever, rhinitis, and skin rashes were higher in infants/toddlers; conversely, asthenia and headache were more frequent in children older than five years (table). Symptoms’ duration was similar across different VOCs; conversely, symptoms’ numbers varied according to age classes (p<0.0001).
Conclusions:
This study showed differences in COVID-19 clinical presentation among infants, children, and adolescents and confirmed Omicron infection is more likely to be associated with upper respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. However, further population-based studies are needed to support these findings. In addition, active surveillance will play a crucial role in assessing the disease severity of future VOCs
Premature aging and immune senescence in HIV-infected children
Full text linkObjective: Several pieces of evidence indicate that HIV-infected adults undergo premature aging. The effect of HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) exposure on the aging process of HIV-infected children may be more deleterious since their immune system coevolves from birth with HIV.
Design: Seventy-one HIV-infected (HIV+), 65 HIV-exposed-uninfected (HEU), and 56 HIV-unexposed-uninfected (HUU) children, all aged 0–5 years, were studied for biological aging and immune senescence.
Methods: Telomere length and T-cell receptor rearrangement excision circle levels were quantified in peripheral blood cells by real-time PCR. CD4+ and CD8+ cells were analysed for differentiation, senescence, and activation/exhaustion markers by flow cytometry.
Results: Telomere lengths were significantly shorter in HIV+ than in HEU and HUU children (overall, P < 0.001 adjusted for age); HIV+ ART-naive (42%) children had shorter telomere length compared with children on ART (P = 0.003 adjusted for age). T-cell receptor rearrangement excision circle levels and CD8+ recent thymic emigrant cells (CD45RA+CD31+) were significantly lower in the HIV+ than in control groups (overall, P = 0.025 and P = 0.005, respectively). Percentages of senescent (CD28-CD57+), activated (CD38+HLA-DR+), and exhausted (PD1+) CD8+ cells were significantly higher in HIV+ than in HEU and HUU children (P = 0.004, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, respectively). Within the CD4+ cell subset, the percentage of senescent cells did not differ between HIV+ and controls, but programmed cell death receptor-1 expression was upregulated in the former.
Conclusions: HIV-infected children exhibit premature biological aging with accelerated immune senescence, which particularly affects the CD8+ cell subset. HIV infection per se seems to influence the aging process, rather than exposure to ART for prophylaxis or treatmen
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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