Impact of HIV-1 Infection and Antiretroviral Therapy on Bone Homeostasis and Mineral Density in Vertically Infected Patients.

Daily assumption of antiretroviral drugs and HIV-related immune activation lead to important side effects, which are particularly evident in vertically infected patients. Bone homeostasis impairment and reduction of bone mineral density (BMD) is one of the most important side effects. Primary aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of bone homeostasis alterations in a group of vertically infected patients; secondary aim is to analyze the relationship between bone homeostasis alterations and anthropometric data, severity of HIV infection, and antiretroviral therapy. We studied 67 patients with vertically transmitted HIV-1 (aged 6-31 years), followed by the Pediatric Infectious Disease Unit of the University Hospital of Padua, Italy. We analyzed bone turnover markers (P1NP and CTx) and we performed lumbar spine and femoral dual energy X-ray absorption densitometry (DXA). Personal and anthropometric data and information on HIV-infection severity and antiretroviral therapy were collected for all patients. We found that BMD values recorded by DXA showed a significant correlation with age, race, BMI, physical activity, and antiretroviral therapy duration. P1NP was increased in 43% of patients, while CTX in 61% of them. P1NP alteration was related to age, race, BMI, physical activity, therapy duration, and ever use of protease inhibitors and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors. CTX alteration was found to be correlated only with age. In conclusion, our study confirms that a wide percentage of HIV vertically infected patients show reduced BMD and impaired bone homeostasis. Strict monitoring is needed in order to early identify and treat these conditions.

Osteomyelitis in Cat-Scratch Disease: A Never-Ending Dilemma-A Case Report and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: We performed a review of published case studies of osteomyelitis associated with cat-scratch disease to consolidate existing information on clinical presentation, diagnostic tools, therapy, and outcome, as well as presenting a case of disseminated cat-scratch disease in a 12-year-old female with skull osteomyelitis and spleen involvement. METHODS: A search for articles indexed in PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar was performed with the search terms "Bartonella," "bone," "osteomyelitis," "osteolytic," and "cat-scratch disease" limited to the immunocompetent pediatric population and articles in English. RESULTS: 51 cases were identified. The average age was 7.8 years with equal sex distribution. Fever (84.3%), often with a prolonged course (64.7%), and osteoarticular pain (88.2%) were the most common clinical findings. Lymphadenopathy was present in 64.7% of patients. Vertebral body was mainly involved (51.9%). MRI (50%) and bone scintigraphy (48.1%) were favored to confirm osteomyelitis, while serology was the preferred microbiological diagnostic. Various antibiotics were prescribed in combined or sequential regimens, with median duration of therapy of 23 days. About 12.5% of patients did not receive any treatment. Most patients had excellent prognosis; in particular, all patients not receiving any therapy showed complete recovery and no recurrence of symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Bartonella henselae should be considered in differential diagnosis of localized lymphadentitis. Osteoarticular pain or limitation during cat-scratch disease in children should always be investigated for bone spreading. Owing to good prognosis, invasive procedures to obtain the bone material should be avoided. Serology is the gold standard diagnostic tool and MRI is the best radiographic technique to define bone and surrounding tissue involvement. Treatment represents a never-ending dilemma: surgical intervention or use of antibiotics is still controversial, and more studies are needed to define the best antimicrobial regimen.

Antibiotics Prescriptions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: How to Overcome Everyday Challenges.

Antimicrobial prescriptions in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) represent a point of concern for the emergence of MDROs and for morbidity associated with prolonged antibiotic exposure (e.g., invasive candidiasis, necrotizing enterocolitis, and late-onset sepsis). Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have shown to be a valuable tool for the prevention of resistance with the goals of optimizing clinical outcomes while decreasing unnecessary prescribing. The most frequent ASP strategies include the correct collection and interpretation of microbiological specimens, prescription of the narrowest-spectrum antibiotic appropriate for a particular case, and de-escalation or discontinuation of therapy in defined situations. A robust ASP requires everyday multidisciplinary collaboration between ID physicians, neonatologist, clinical pharmacists, clinical microbiologists, infection control professionals, hospital epidemiologists, and information services specialists. Education and clinical pathways (e.g., sepsis or surgical prophylaxis pathways) are an excellent starting point if followed by proactive interventions such as prospective audits and feedback and formulary restriction with prior antimicrobial authorization. The current review outlines the problems faced in NICU antimicrobial prescribing and presents various solutions from the literature.

Community-Acquired Rotavirus Gastroenteritis Compared with Adenovirus and Norovirus Gastroenteritis in Italian Children: A Pedianet Study.

Background. Rotavirus (RV) is the commonest pathogen in the hospital and primary care settings, followed by Adenovirus (AV) and Norovirus (NV). Only few studies that assess the burden of RV gastroenteritis at the community level have been carried out. Objectives. To estimate incidence, disease characteristics, seasonal distribution, and working days lost by parents of RV, AV, and NV gastroenteritis leading to a family pediatrician (FP) visit among children < 5 years. Methods. 12-month, observational, prospective, FP-based study has been carried out using Pedianet database. Results. RVGE incidence was 1.04 per 100 person-years with the highest incidence in the first 2 years of life. Incidences of AVGEs (1.74) and NVGEs (1.51) were slightly higher with similar characteristics regarding age distribution and symptoms. Risk of hospitalisation, access to emergency room (ER), and workdays lost from parents were not significantly different in RVGEs compared to the other viral infections. Conclusions. Features of RVGE in terms of hospitalisation length and indirect cost are lower than those reported in previous studies. Results of the present study reflect the large variability of data present in the literature. This observation underlines the utility of primary care networks for AGE surveillance and further studies on community-acquired gastroenteritis in children.

Assessing sedation in a pediatric intensive care unit using Comfort Behavioural Scale and Bispectral Index: these tools are different.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper was to monitor comfort in pediatric critical ill patients which is necessary to adequate analgesic and sedative therapy. The primary objective of this prospective observational study was to measure the level of sedation in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of a tertiary care Hospital, using Comfort Behavioural Scale (CBS) and Bispectral Index (BIS), evaluating the agreement between these tools; secondly we analyzed the correlation of an adequate level of sedation and patient's outcome. METHODS: We enrolled 46 patients, mechanically ventilated for almost 12 hours, monitored at a basal level and during a stimulus (tracheal suctioning). As outcome variables we analyzed: length of ventilation and PICU stay, duration of sedative therapy and weaning, time between beginning of sedative administration and start of weaning, presence of infection. RESULTS: Twenty-six percent (doctor CBS score), 34.8% (nurse CBS score) and 73.9% (BIS) of our population were found adequately sedated; none state of undersedation was reported. During the stimulus the percentage of adequately sedated patients according to CBS became 78.2%. CBS level of agreement versus BIS was weak. No significative difference was found between doctor and nurse CBS score. Length of PICU stay and duration of sedative administered were significant shorter in patients adequately sedated at Bispectral Index monitoring; no outcome variable resulted significant looking at CBS score. CONCLUSION: Our data support the risk of oversedation in critically ill patients and the difference between CBS and BIS, especially in evaluating light oversedation state. The presence of an excessive level of sedation evaluated by BIS was associated with duration of hospitalization and sedative administration.