Use of HFNC for oxygen administration is feasible for infants with moderate-severe bronchiolitis in a general pediatric ward. In these children, HFNC therapy improves oxygen saturation levels and seems to be associated with a decrease in both ETCO2 and RR.

Purpose The current gold standard for chronic endometritis (CE) diagnosis is immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD-138. However, IHC for CD-138 is not exempt from diagnostic limitations. The aim of our study was to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of MUM-1 IHC, as compared with CD-138. Methods This is a multi-centre, retrospective, observational study, which included three tertiary hysteroscopic centres in university teaching hospitals. One hundred ninety-three consecutive women of reproductive age were referred to our hysteroscopy services due to infertility, recurrent miscarriage, abnormal uterine bleeding, endometrial polyps or myomas. All women underwent hysteroscopy plus endometrial biopsy. Endometrial samples were analysed through histology, CD138 and MUM-1 IHC. The primary outcome was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MUM-1 IHC for CE, as compared with CD-138 IHC. Results Sensitivity and specificity of CD-138 and MUM-1 IHC were respectively 89.13%, 79.59% versus 93.48% and 85.03%. The overall diagnostic accuracy of MUM-1 and CD-138 IHC were similar (AUC = 0.893 vs AUC = 0.844). The intercorrelation coefficient for single measurements was high between the two techniques (ICC = 0.831, 0.761-0.881 95%CI). However, among CE positive women, MUM-1 allowed the identification of higher number of plasma cells/hpf than .80] vs 5.05 [SD 3.37]; p = 0.017). Additionally, MUM-1 showed a higher inter-observer agreement as compared to CD-138. Conclusion IHC for MUM-1 and CD-138 showed a similar accuracy for detecting endometrial stromal plasma cells. Notably, MUM-1 showed higher reliability in the paired comparison of the individual samples than CD-138. Thus, MUM-1 may represent a novel, promising add-on technique for the diagnosis of CE.

In a selected population of preterm infants with moderate/severe respiratory distress syndrome who could not be extubated in the first 3 days of life, infants who were reintubated or needed high continuous positive airway pressure settings after extubation had a smaller disaturated phosphatidylcholine pool size than did those who were successfully extubated or needed low continuous positive airway pressure settings.

Aim: Few longitudinal data are available on macronutrient breast milk composition during lactation. There are no studies from Italian lactating mothers.Methods: Thirty lactating mothers (enrolled according to major criteria of normality for mother, delivery and infant) were followed up to 6 months of delivery. Breast milk samples were taken at 1 (T1), 2, 3, 6 (T6) months, at the first feeding in the morning. Fore-and hind milk were collected and frozen (-20 C) until analysis, when were mixed. Total fats were determinated gravimetrically and fatty acid (FA) methyl esters extracted from lipids according to Folch were separated by GLC. Total protein and carbohydrate content were evaluated by turbidimetric assay and HPLC, respectively. Breast milk macronutrient concentrations were further categorized in tertiles. Statistics: Analysis of variance for repeated measures and Friedman test. Significance: PϽ0.05.Results: Concentration of breast milk macronutrients changed significantly over time for protein (PϽ0.0001), total fat (Pϭ0.026) but not for lactose (Pϭ0.169). Among total fat, variation was significant for saturated FA (Pϭ0.022) No significant longitudinal within-subject change was found with respect to tertiles of any macronutrient concentration (protein, Pϭ0.47; fat, Pϭ0.96; lactose, Pϭ0.89).Conclusions: In this study we have found a reduction in breast milk protein concentrations over time, in agreement with previous studies. Differently than other studies, we further have found significant variation in total fat concentrations. The lack of a specific, detectable within-subject trend in pattern of macronutrients in breast milk confirms that many factors may influence the milk composition in the first six months of lactation. 401 DEPARTMENT OF CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND MICROBIOLOGY, SAN PAOLO HOSPITAL, UNIVERSITY OF MI-LAN (ITALY)Background: The relationship between Pro12Ala variant of peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 (PPAR-gamma2), insulin sensitivity and plasma fatty acids is unclear.Aim: To examine whether an association of PPAR-gamma2 Pro12Ala with insulin sensitivity and plasma fatty acids may exist in obese children.Methods: One-hundred and twelve obese children (mean age [SD], 10.4 [2.8] y), were included into this observational study. Obesity was defined in accordance with the International Obesity Task Force. BMI z scores were calculated and adjusted by using the LMS-method of Cole. Fasting blood samples were taken for measurements of glucose, insulin levels, lipid profile, total and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fatty acids (FA) composition. Insulin resistance (IR) was estimated by the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR). Genomic DNA was obtained from peripheral blood using standard methods, and the Pro12Ala PPARgamma2 variant was detected by PCR polymorphism analysis.Results: Prevalence of Ala carriers was 19%. Multiple logistic-regression analysis disclosed that the Pro12Ala genotype was independently associated with lower values of 1. fasting insulin levels (pϭ0.032), 2. HOMA-...