[Osteochondrodysplasia: nosologic assessment and report of 6 clinical cases]. / Osteocondrodisplasie: inquadramento nosologico e descrizione di sei casi clinici.

Osteochondrodysplasias represent an important group of disease affecting cartilage and/or bone. The clinical evidence of disarmoniuous low stature, of a disproportion between trunk and limbs length, of a big skull can suggest this diagnosis and the necessity to carry out all the instrumental investigations. The diagnostic suspect can be placed, some time, already in the neonatal period. The complexity of problems regarding the osteochondrodysplasias bearer child and his family requires a multidisciplinary approach. The Authors present a personal experience of six cases of osteochondrodysplasias observed in a period of fifteen years.

[An ovarian mass in childhood: a case report]. / Massa ovarica in età pediatrica: descrizione di un caso.

Ovarian tumors are a very heterogeneous group of neoplasms that rarely occur in pediatric age. When it happens, they are usually very malignant germ cell tumors such as embryonal carcinoma, endodermal sinus tumor or choriocarcinoma. We describe a case of a 14 years old girl who came to our observation because of an abdominal enlargement without others symptoms. The abdominal palpation revealed a big, round, painless mass from pelvic to epigastric region. A specific and accurate diagnosis was made by ultrasound. The histological examination of the surgical removed mass revealed a mucous cystadenoma that's a benign epithelial ovarian tumor.

[Lead concentrations in breast milk of women living in urban areas compared with women living in rural areas]. / Concentrazione del piombo nel latte materno di donne residenti in aree urbane rispetto a donne residenti in aree rurali.

In the last twenty years a great interest has grown up about the accumulation of lead in the environment, because many studies have found relationship between exposure to low lead doses and neuropsychological impairment of children. The Authors have measured and then compared the lead content of milk from women living in city-areas and women living in rural areas, not having professional lead exposure. 34 samples of women milk from the rural areas and 20 samples from the city areas were examined: the lead mean concentration of the rural areas milk samples was 45.62 microgr/l with a range from 0 to 425 microgr/l; the mean concentration of the city areas samples was 126.55 microgr/l with a range from 1 to 472 microgr/l. The data were compared with the Student t-test and the difference was statistically significant at p = 0.01. The Authors examine the correlations between environmental lead accumulation and increased lead concentration in woman milk, laying stress on the possible hazard to health and neuropsychological development of children, mostly of those living in urban areas with heavy road traffic and industrial activity.