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Childhood obesity is increasing all over the world. It is associated with a reduction in quality of life and a relevant burden on society costs. This systematic review deals with the cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of primary prevention programs on childhood overweight/obesity, in order to benefit from cost-effective interventions.We screened and evaluated all the studies with a cost-effectiveness analysis on childhood obesity primary prevention program by PUBMED and Google Scholar, using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of the studies was assessed by Drummond’s checklist.Ten studies were included. Two of them examined the cost-effectiveness of community-based prevention programs, four focused only on school-based programs while four more studies examined both community-based and school-based programs. The studies were different in terms of study design, target population, health and economic outcomes. Seventy per cent of the works had positive economic results.The majority of the studies showed effective economic outcomes applying primary prevention programs on childhood obesity. It is important to increase homogeneity and consistency among different studies.

A Nasal Provocation Test allows the differentiation of allergic and non-allergic rhinitis, but it is difficult and expensive. Therefore, nasal cytology is taking hold as an alternative. We carried out a cross-sectional study, including 29 patients with persistent rhinitis according to ARIA definition and negative skin prick tests. Nasal symptoms were scored from 0 to 5 using a visual analogue scale, and patients underwent blood tests to investigate blood cell count (particularly eosinophilia and basophilia), to analyze serum total and specific IgE and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), and to perform nasal cytology. We performed a univariate logistical analysis to evaluate the association between total serum IgE, serum eosinophilia, basophils, and ECP and the presence of eosinophils in the nasal mucosa, and a multivariate logistic model in order to weight the single variable on the presence of eosinophils to level of the nasal mucosa. A statistically significant association between serum total IgE levels and the severity of nasal eosinophilic inflammation was found (confidence interval C.I. 1.08–4.65, odds ratio OR 2.24, p value 0.03). For this reason, we imagine a therapeutic trial with nasal steroids and oral antihistamines in patients with suspected LAR and increased total IgE levels, reserving nasal cytology and NPT to non-responders to the first-line therapy.

pathogenesis. Clinical heterogeneity and confounding factors also impair the search for alternative mechanisms. Therefore, we studied the CSF of 13 patients with neurological symptoms during the acute phase of their hospitalization, looking for clues suggesting a specific dysimmune phenomenon. MethodsCSF underwent conventional analysis and RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2; a in-house HEK293 cell-based assay was also arranged to identify anti-spike antibodies. Albumin ratio, IgG index and oligoclonal bands were also assessed, along with a screening for autoimmune antibodies. First, commercial immunofluorescence and lineblot were used to detect common neuronal surface and intracellular antibodies, respectively; secondly, immunohistochemistry was performed on rat brain sections; lastly, CSF was incubated with fixed murine neuron and astrocyte cultures to confirm a potential auto-reactivity. ResultsCSF analysis disclosed a slightly increased protein level with a non-significant cell count (0-10 cells/uL). Neither SARS-CoV-2 nor common neuronal antibodies were detectable in the CSF, but we recognized anti-spike IgGs. 69% of the samples also showed neuropil staining, some of which had a common staining pattern involving the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Rodent primary cultures confirmed the presence of autoreactive antibodies against epitopes that are expressed in cortical neurons and/or astrocytes in most samples. ConclusionsA strong immunoreactivity against spike protein was found in the CSF of those patients, even without a significant blood brain barrier permeability. The detection of auto reactivity with two different techniques could thus represent a dysimmune response to COVID-19 infection, perhaps suggesting molecular mimicry.

Diabetes is considered as a disease with a wide and continuous clinical spectrum, ranging from Type 1 (T1D) and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) with complex multifactorial causes. In the last years, particular attention has been focused on the predictive value and therapeutic potential of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNPs can alter the seed-sequence in miRNA’s loci and miRNA target sites causing changes in the structure and influencing the binding function. Only few studies have investigated the clinical influence of SNPs, in particular potassium inwardly rectifying channel, subfamily J, member 11 (KCNJ) gene variants in T1D population. The aim of the study is to investigate the occurrence and the possible metabolic significance of KCNJ polymorphism in a group of pediatric patients with T1D. The study was performed in a cohort of 90 Caucasian children and adolescents with T1D and 93 healthy subjects. Rs5210 polymorphism has been analyzed with a prevalence of the GG genotype in the patient group suggesting its association with T1D. Therefore, a relationship was found between GG genotype and body mass index (BMI) at diagnosis and insulin requirement (IR) after 6 months. The study suggested an action for rs5210 in determining the metabolic features of T1D pediatric patients, by showing some clues of insulin resistance in patients carrying that polymorphism.