Food allergy in children—the current status and the way forward

Food allergy in children is a major health concern, and its prevalence is rising. It is often over-diagnosed by parents, resulting occasionally in unnecessary exclusion of some important food. It also causes stress, anxiety, and even depression in parents and affects the family’s quality of life. Current diagnostic tests are useful when interpreted in the context of the clinical history, although cross-sensitivity and inability to predict the severity of the allergic reactions remain major limitations. Although the oral food challenge is the current gold standard for making the diagnosis, it is only available to a small number of patients because of its requirement in time and medical personnel. New diagnostic methods have recently emerged, such as the Component Resolved Diagnostics and the Basophil Activation Test, but their use is still limited, and the latter lacks standardisation. Currently, there is no definite treatment available to induce life-long natural tolerance and cure for food allergy. Presently available treatments only aim to decrease the occurrence of anaphylaxis by enabling the child to tolerate small amounts of the offending food, usually taken by accident. New evidence supports the early introduction of the allergenic food to infants to decrease the incidence of food allergy. If standardised and widely implemented, this may result in decreasing the prevalence of food allergy.     

What's happening in postgraduate medical education?

"It is a secret, both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things at once." (Francis Bacon, "Of Regiment of Health", Essays, 1625).     

What's happening in postgraduate medical education?

"It is a secret, both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things at once." (Francis Bacon, "Of Regiment of Health", Essays, 1625).     

Preventing medication errors in neonatology: Is it a dream?

Since 1999, the problem of patient safety has drawn particular attention, becoming a priority in health care. A “medication error” (ME) is any preventable event occurring at any phase of the pharmacotherapy process (ordering, transcribing, dispensing, administering, and monitoring) that leads to, or can lead to, harm to the patient. Hence, MEs can involve every professional of the clinical team. MEs range from those with severe consequences to those with little or no impact on the patient. Although a high ME rate has been found in neonatal wards, newborn safety issues have not been adequately studied until now. Healthcare professionals working in neonatal wards are particularly susceptible to committing MEs due to the peculiarities of newborn patients and of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment. Current neonatal prevention strategies for MEs have been borrowed from adult wards, but many factors such as high costs and organizational barriers have hindered their diffusion. In general, two types of strategies have been proposed: the first strategy consists of identifying human factors that result in errors and redesigning the work in the NICU in order to minimize them; the second one suggests to design and implement effective systems for preventing errors or intercepting them before reaching the patient. In the future, prevention strategies for MEs need to be improved and tailored to the special neonatal population and the NICU environment and, at the same time, every effort will have to be made to support their clinical application.     

New developments in neonatology: less severe retinopathy of prematurity?

PURPOSE: To determine the effects of surfactant replacement therapy (SRT), high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV), and general improvements in quality of care on the incidence of severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). METHODS: Retrospective comparison of the incidence and severity of ROP in two groups of preterm infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in two consecutive 5-year periods (1986-1995) and screened for ROP. During the second study period, natural surfactant was introduced in the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and HFOV was used for treatment of respiratory insufficiency of any origin. The effects of these developments and general improvements on the incidence of severe ROP were analyzed with stepwise logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall incidence of ROP from 1986-1990 was not significantly different from the incidence of ROP from 1991-1995. The incidence of severe ROP (ROP stage 3 or greater) was significantly lower in the second period (15.7% versus 6.4%, P=.015). For infants <1000 g, the incidence of overall ROP was increased significantly during the second study period (47.6% versus 60.1 %, P=.045), although the incidence of severe ROP remained unchanged. Only SRT was associated with a decreased risk for severe ROP; HFOV and general improvements in quality of care had no influence on the outcome. In patients with RDS, the incidence of severe ROP decreased significantly during the second period. CONCLUSION: Of the recent new developments in neonatology, only SRT was associated with a decreased risk for severe ROP.     

What caused the epidemic of Pneumocystis pneumonia in European premature infants in the mid-20th century?

An epidemic of interstitial pneumonia principally involving premature infants occurred in Germany and nearby European countries between the 1920s and 1960s. Fatalities were due to Pneumocystis. Because the principal defenses against Pneumocystis are T cells, an acquired T-cell deficiency was postulated. A number of potential causes including malnutrition were considered. All were implausible except for a retrovirus that was benign in adults but virulent in premature infants. Furthermore, we suspect that the virus was imported into Germany from former German African colonies. Premature infants were vulnerable because of the developmental status of their T cells. Given the practices in that part of Europe at that time, the virus was most likely transmitted by contaminated blood transfusions and subsequent contamination of reusable needles and syringes used in injections. Although the epidemic ended 4 decades ago, a search for the postulated retrovirus can be conducted if tissues from affected infants are available.     

Intersex and gender assignment; the third way?

The birth of a new baby is one of the greatest wonders of nature and one of the most exciting events known to man. The first question that is usually posed by the mother or father is "is it a boy or a girl?"; without this information the new parents cannot even formulate the second question which is usually "is he/she alright?". It is no wonder that the birth of a child with complex genital anomalies where the sex of rearing is uncertain at birth, presents difficult clinical and ethical issues.     

Childhood injuries in the European Union: Can epidemiology contribute to their control?

An average of 6000 children (0-14-y-old) died every year from injuries in the European Union during the last decade. Although the trends are overall favorable, injuries continue to represent the leading cause of death in this age group. The aim of this paper is to present childhood-injury-related public health issues and consider possible remedies of contemporary epidemiologic methods as applied to injury epidemiology and prevention. It has been estimated that half of the lives lost to childhood injuries could have been saved if all European Union countries matched the accomplishments of the country with the lowest mortality rate in each injury category. There is no specific pattern of association between Gross Domestic Product and incidence of motor-vehicle accidents by category of road user, whereas fatality from motor-vehicle accidents seems to be inversely, strongly and significantly related to Gross Domestic Product. CONCLUSION: The ongoing development of large injury databases in the European Union is a prerequisite for understanding the complex interactions that lead to a childhood injury. Moreover, possible remedies for overcoming the genuine problems associated with the application of traditional epidemiologic methods to the investigation of the frequently transient in nature causes of injuries should be considered.     

Diagnostic and therapeutic management of vesico-ureteral reflux in pediatric kidney transplantation—Results of an online survey on behalf of the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology

Background

Vesico-ureteral reflux (VUR) is considered to be a risk factor for recurrent febrile urinary tract infections and impaired renal transplant survival.

Methods

An online survey supported by the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology was designed to evaluate current management strategies of VUR in native and transplanted kidneys of recipients aged <18 years.

Results

Seventy-three pediatric transplant centers from 32 countries contributed to the survey. All centers performed urological evaluation prior to pediatric kidney transplantation (KTx) with subsequent interdisciplinary discussion. Screening for VUR in native kidneys (30% in all, 70% in selected patients) led to surgical intervention in 78% (11% in all, 89% in selected patients) with a decided preference of endoscopic intervention over ureterocystoneostomy. Following KTx, continuous antibiotic prophylaxis was applied in 65% of the patients and screening for allograft VUR performed in 93% of selected patients. The main management strategies of symptomatic allograft VUR were continuous antibiotic prophylaxis (83%) and surgical treatment (74%) (endoscopic intervention 55%, redo ureterocystoneostomy 26%).

Conclusions

This survey demonstrates the high variability in the management of VUR in pediatric KTx recipients, points to knowledge gaps, and might serve as a starting point for improving the care for patients with VUR in native and transplanted kidneys.     

Are we performing ultrasound measurements of the wall thickness in hypertrophic pyloric stenosis studies the same way?

Pediatric Surgery International - To retrospectively review imaging planes, number of visible pyloric layers and location of measurements, in infants with suspected (HPS). 103 pyloric ultrasound...     

Investigating the European perspective of neonatal point-of-care echocardiography in the neonatal intensive care unit—a pilot study

Point-of-care functional neonatal echocardiography (fnECHO) is increasingly used to assess haemodynamic status or patency of the ductus arteriosus (PDA). In Australasia, 90 % of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) practice point-of-care fnECHO. The Australian Society of Ultrasound Medicine offers a training certificate for fnECHO. In Europe, the use and indications of fnECHO and the extent of point-of-care fnECHO training and accreditation are unknown. We aimed to assess utilisation and training of fnECHO in Europe. For this, we conducted an email survey of 45 randomly chosen tertiary NICUs in 17 European countries. The recall rate was 89 % (n?=?40). Neonatologists with skills in fnECHO worked in 29 NICUs (74 %), but paediatric cardiologists would routinely perform most fnECHOs. Twenty-four-hour echocardiography service was available in 31 NICUs (78 %). Indications for fnECHO included assessment of haemodynamic volume status (53 %), presence or absence of pulmonary hypertension of the neonate (55 %), indication for and effect of volume replacement therapy (58 %), PDA assessment and monitoring of PDA treatment (80 %). Teaching of fnECHO was offered to trainees in 22 NICUs (55 %). Teaching of fnECHO was provided by paediatric cardiologists (55 %) or by neonatologists (45 %). Only six (15 %) national colleges accredited fnECHO teaching courses. Conclusion: fnECHO is widely practiced by neonatologists across Europe for a broad range of clinical questions. However, there is a lack of formal training and accreditation of fnECHO skills. This could be addressed by designing a dedicated European fnECHO training programme and by agreeing on a common European certificate of fnECHO.