Publications by authors named "Benedetta Chianucci"

Background: Bronchiolitis is a viral respiratory illness affecting children younger than one year of age, and its accurate prognosis in the emergency department (ED) is often difficult. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has been shown to be useful in risk stratification with respect to the likelihood of being admitted to the hospital or high-intensity care units, receiving supplemental oxygen, or non-invasive ventilation (NIV). Our aim is to evaluate the predictive value of point-of-care lung ultrasound performed in a pediatric ED, especially regarding hospitalization, need for oxygen therapy and NIV.

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Backgrounds: Dehydration is among the most common causes of Pediatric Emergency Department admission; however, no clinical signs, symptoms, or biomarkers have demonstrated sufficient sensitivity, specificity, or reliability to predict dehydration.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, monocentric, observational study at Giannina Gaslini Hospital, a tertiary care pediatric hospital. Our study aimed to compare inferior vena cava ultrasound measurement with volume depletion biomarkers to understand if point-of-care ultrasound could help grade, evaluate, and better manage dehydration in children presenting to the pediatric emergency department.

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Vein line positioning represents one of the first diagnostic and therapeutic steps in Pediatric Emergency Department (PED); however, the outcome of this maneuver is frequently not as expected, especially for difficult-to-access (DIVA) patients. The standard technique (visual-palpatory) has a low success rate; hence ultrasound (US) assistance has been suggested for DIVA patients, although controversial results have been obtained. Our study compared the success rate of an intravascular (IV) access procedure at the first attempt, with and without ultrasound assistance, in pediatric DIVA patients.

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In recent years, the knowledge about the immune-mediated impairment of bone marrow precursors in immune-dysregulation and autoimmune disorders has increased. In addition, immune-dysregulation, secondary to marrow failure, has been reported as being, in some cases, the most evident and early sign of the disease and making the diagnosis of both groups of disorders challenging. Dyskeratosis congenita is a disorder characterized by premature telomere erosion, typically showing marrow failure, nail dystrophy and leukoplakia, although incomplete genetic penetrance and phenotypes with immune-dysregulation features have been described.

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Haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) represents a valuable alternative for children with nonmalignant disease and ex vivo negative selection of TCR-αβ cells is an emerging graft manipulation option that carries several potential advantages in terms of reduced risk of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and improved immune reconstitution. We report all consecutive patients with a diagnosis of nonmalignant disease who received a TCR-αβ and CD19depleted haplo-HSCT at "IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini" from 2013 to 2019; the conditioning regimen was myeloablative or non-myeloablative, depending on underlying disease; all patients received antithymocyte globulin and rituximab. No post-transplantation GvHD prophylaxis was given in presence of a TCR-αβ cell dose in the graft lower than the threshold of 1 × 10/kg of the recipient's weight.

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Introduction: In the last few months, some pediatric cases with neurological and neuroradiological pictures related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections have been reported, often associated with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). The most frequently encountered pediatric neurological complications seem to be postinfectious immune-mediated acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)-like changes of the brain, myelitis, neural enhancement, and splenial lesions. Concomitant neurological and cardiac involvement has been reported only in MIS-C, although specific clinical details are often not fully available.

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