MENTOR: a Bayesian Model for prediction of mental retardation in newborns.

Mental retardation (MR) is a diagnosis that is made with extreme caution because of the many uncertainties in its etiology and prognosis. In fact, most physicians will delay the diagnosis for months or years so that substantial evidence is available to rule the diagnosis in or out. MENTOR is a Bayesian Model for the prediction of MR in newborns that provides probabilities for the full range of cognitive outcomes, ranging from MR to superior intelligence. Using the model to confirm clinical judgment could help physicians decide when to proceed with diagnostic tests. The physician and family could discuss the probabilities for MR, borderline, normal, and superior intelligence, given the child's status in infancy and base their decision about additional testing, in part, on this information.

[Usefulness of protein C in the early diagnosis of acute infection in newborn infants at risk]. / L'utilità della proteina C nella diagnosi precoce di infezione acuta nei neonati a rischio.

The serum concentration of protein C reactive (PCR) in preterm and term children was assessed on the first, fifth, eighth and fifteenth day of life. The data obtained show that in all cases characterised by PCR values higher than 10 mg/l on the first day of life a serious infectious pathology was present which required antibiotic treatment, monitored by subsequent PCR samplings. In all cases in which PCR was negative on the first day of life and in later samples, none had presented infectious pathologies. Analysis of the results showed that so-called borderline values (greater than 2 mg/l less than 10 mg/l) were present in some newborns at risk for the development of infectious pathologies. These children were subjected to antibiotic therapy as prophylaxis and in subsequent samples PCR became totally negative.

[The collodion baby. Nosographic assessment and description of 2 clinical cases]. / Collodion baby. Inquadramento nosografico e descrizione di due casi clinici.

Newborns with clinically evident forms of congenital ichthyosis are generally classified as "collodion babies" in view of the particular appearance of their skin that looks rather like a membrane of dried cellophane. This is an extremely rare clinical picture that may be the expression of various types of ichthyosis. The present paper describes two cases of collodion baby with a report on the latest discoveries about the physiopathology of the condition and the current classification of its congenital forms.