Oral health inequalities in Italian schoolchildren--a cross-sectional evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate which of the following indicators of socio-economic status (SES) has the strongest association with dental caries status in a 6-year-old population: the educational level of each parent (individual-level); the mean price of housing/m2 in the area where the family resides; or the mean per capita income in the area where the family lives (area-level). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Dental caries was recorded in 2,040 schoolchildren (42.5% boys, 57.5% girls) using decayed/missed/filled surface index (d3 level) in primary dentition. Parents filled in a standardised questionnaire regarding nationality, level of education, frequency of dental check-up and perception of child's oral health and child's oral hygiene habits. RESULTS: At the individual-level of SES, mothers' educational level was associated with their children's caries severity (chi2(9) = 147.51 p < 0.01): as educational level rose the proportion of children with high numbers of carious lesions fell. The two income indicators (area-level SES) were not associated. A multinomial logistic regression model was run for caries risk factors. Caries severity was used as dependent variable and the model was stratified by mothers' educational level. Mothers' perception of child's oral health was the only covariate that was always associated in every caries severity strata and for each level of mothers' education. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that mothers' educational level is a useful individual SES indicator for caries in Italian children living in a low-income population.

Molecular surveillance of pandemic influenza A(H1N1) viruses circulating in Italy from May 2009 to February 2010: association between haemagglutinin mutations and clinical outcome.

Haemagglutinin sequences of pandemic influenza A(H1N1) viruses circulating in Italy were examined, focusing on amino acid changes at position 222 because of its suggested pathogenic relevance. Among 169 patients, the D222G substitution was detected in three of 52 (5.8%) severe cases and in one of 117 (0.9%) mild cases, whereas the D222E mutation was more frequent and evenly distributed in mild (31.6%) and severe cases (38.4%). A cluster of D222E viruses among school children confirms reported human-to-human transmission of viruses mutated at amino acid position 222.

[Evaluation of the immune status of children never treated wtih chemoantibiotics (children 3 to 6 years old)]. / Valutazione dello stato immunitario di bambini mai sottoposti a terapia chemioantibiotica (bambini dai 3 ai 6 anni).

Six children aged between three and six years, born from undamaged families and free from malformative, chronic, degenerative or metabolic diseases, never treated with chemoantibiotics, were checked for their immune status. They were compared with other six children with the same somatic characteristics, the same health status and the same economical-social condition as the first six ones; but frequently treated with chemoantibiotics (not less than three therapy periods during each year of their life). The comparative study was performed by checking various parameters (lymphocyte blastization; rosette "E"; T3, T4, T8 lymphocytes with T4/T8 ratio; B lymphocytes; NK cells, chemotaxis; phagocytosis; killing; serum immunoglobulins A, G, M; C3; C4) index of immune functions, in uniform conditions. Results were statistically elaborated by means of "t-Student between groups test", "on ordinal ranks test", "t-Student for paired data test" and "Pearson's correlation coefficient" calculation. Significative differences by means of "t-Student between groups test" were recorded for what C3 is concerned, higher in never treated children, for PWM stimulation Blastization, lower in never treated children, for unstimulated blastization, chemotaxis and plasma IgM lower in frequently treated children. By means of "t-Student for paired data test" the above mentioned differences were confirmed and significantly higher values of plasma Immunoglobulin G and B lymphocyte in never treated children were pointed out. The differences between the last children and the controls are much higher than those previously recorded between similar groups 6-12 years old.

[Effect of the emotional state on immune functions: study on firstborn children on the occasion of the birth of a sibling]. / Influenza degli stati emotivi su funzioni immunitarie: studio in bambini primogeniti in occasione della nascita di un fratello.

The eventuality that a particular emotional involvement could weigh heavily on a person's psychophysical welfare, assuming a complementary role in the appearance of clinically noticeable pathologies (infections, allergies, neoplasms) has been object of several hypotheses which have been confirmed in researches on animals. Our research, by examining an unavoidable and surely natural situation like that one of the birth of a brother for a first born, a particularly severe for what affectivity is concerned, had the aim to evidence if there were some biological expressions, able to quantitatively settle the eventual immune functions' alterations indicative of a preexistent equilibrium. With this purpose have been examined several biological expressions indicative of immune functions (B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, NK cells, lymphocyte transformation, chemotaxis, phagocytosis, C3 Complement fraction) in three first-born children with 2 to 3 years of age, whose mothers had in course a second pregnancy, during a period of about 20 months (from III pregnancy month to XIV month of age of the brother). The evolution of these immune functions evidence, during the whole period of observation, a non univocal performance. In the most of the cases was evidenced a variation towards diminution of the biological expression of some functions (lymphocyte transformation, T3 lymphocytes, T4 lymphocytes, T4/T8 rate, "E" Rosettes, chemotaxis and phagocytosis), while in the case of NK cells there were also variations towards augmentation. Particularly important were the variations towards diminution, that biological expressions as lymphocyte transformation and "E" Rosettes undergo. In two children the variations, towards diminution, showed themselves already before the birth of the brother. The variation of the T3 and T4 lymphocytes, of the T4/T8 rate, of chemotaxis and of phagocytosis were more limited. The values of the other examined biological expressions (T8, B7, C3) were in the normal range during the whole period of observation. Our results let us to attribute to emotional events, as in experimented model, the capacity to affect the biological expression that measures some immune functions, by depressing them in most of the cases, so in way to adulterate the immune equilibrium, and by setting the premises to upset the capability of immune defense in the examined persons. Our observations lead us to think that effectively, an event during which an important emotional state is induced, by upsetting the immune equilibrium, could more predispose a child (in this case the first born) to the action of pathogens.