{"title":"Severe hypertransaminasemia during mild SARS-CoV-2 infection: A pediatric case report and literature review.","authors":"Alessandra Palpacelli, Gaia Martelli, Bianca Lattanzi, Alessandro Volpini, Salvatore Cazzato","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12300","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12300","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Liver injury during SARS-CoV-2 infection has a multifactorial pathogenesis and it is frequent in pediatric cases.</p><p><strong>Case presentation: </strong>We report a case with severe hypertransaminasemia associated with mild SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This highlights the potential need of hepatic function evaluation during acute illness and follow-up even in non-critically ill children with COVID-19.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 4","pages":"310-312"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/9f/fa/PED4-5-310.PMC8662248.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39815483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Development levels of pediatric palliative care teams and the extent of palliative care understanding and implementation among pediatric oncologists in China.","authors":"Siyu Cai, Qiaohong Guo, Xianjing Wang, Ruixin Wang, Peiyi Yang, Yuchen Zhou, Yanhui Luo, Xuan Zhou, Xiaoxia Peng","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12291","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12291","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Pediatric palliative care (PPC) is an interdisciplinary collaboration that focuses on the prevention and relief of patient suffering. PPC has emerged as a critical field of medical expertise and practice. However, no information is available regarding the progress of PPC in the Chinese mainland.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study investigated the geographic distribution, team structure, and services of PPC teams in the Chinese mainland. It also investigated the level of understanding and implementation among pediatric oncologists regarding PPC.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The PPC subspecialty group of the Pediatrics Society of the Chinese Medical Association included 45 PPC teams. The team structure and services were investigated using questionnaires mailed to the team leader of each PPC team. In addition, we sent questionnaires regarding the level of PPC understanding and implementation of PPC practices to 170 pediatric oncologists in 11 hospitals.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The geographical distribution of PPC teams is uneven in China. Most PPC teams are concentrated in the eastern provincial capital of China. Most PPC teams had limited staff and services. The level of PPC understanding was considerably limited across all demographics; most pediatric oncologists reported \"some understanding\" (<i>n =</i> 71, 41.8%) or \"poor understanding\" (<i>n =</i> 50, 29.4%). Only 62.9% of pediatric oncologists had experience providing advice to family members regarding PPC matters.</p><p><strong>Interpretation: </strong>China is currently experiencing a critical shortage of PPC resources. Most pediatric oncologists had a limited understanding of PPC and reported limited practical implementation of PPC, which leads to underutilization of PPC resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 4","pages":"265-270"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/f1/86/PED4-5-265.PMC8666946.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39749768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pediatric InvestigationPub Date : 2021-09-22eCollection Date: 2021-09-01DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12294
Huili Hu, Huiling Deng, Jing Bi, Yi Xu, Shuangjie Li, Yue Xie, Xinrong Sun, Dongmeng Wang, Xufang Li, Wenxian Ouyang, Bing Hu, Yufeng Zhang, He Tang, Chunxiao Fang, Hui Zhang, Lingyun Guo, Chen Wang, Tianyi Wang, Fengxia Yang, Tao Jiang, Zhengde Xie, Gang Liu
{"title":"Clinical characteristics and effectiveness of antiviral agents in hospitalized children with infectious mononucleosis in China: A multicenter retrospective study.","authors":"Huili Hu, Huiling Deng, Jing Bi, Yi Xu, Shuangjie Li, Yue Xie, Xinrong Sun, Dongmeng Wang, Xufang Li, Wenxian Ouyang, Bing Hu, Yufeng Zhang, He Tang, Chunxiao Fang, Hui Zhang, Lingyun Guo, Chen Wang, Tianyi Wang, Fengxia Yang, Tao Jiang, Zhengde Xie, Gang Liu","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12294","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12294","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>The clinical characteristics of infectious mononucleosis (IM) in Chinese children have not been evaluated in multicenter studies, and the effectiveness of antiviral treatment are controversial.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To investigate the clinical characteristics of Chinese children with IM and current status of antiviral therapy for affected patients.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Hospitalized patients with IM were enrolled between 2018 and 2020 in five children's hospitals in China. The clinical characteristics were compared among four age groups: <3 years, 3-<6 years, 6-<10 years, and ≥10 years. The clinical characteristics of IM and effectiveness of antiviral therapy were compared among patients receiving acyclovir (ACV), ganciclovir (GCV), and no antiviral therapy (i.e., non-antiviral group).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 499 patients were analyzed; most patients were 3-<6 years of age. The most common symptoms and signs included fever (100%), lymphadenopathy (98.6%), pharyngitis (86.4%), eyelid edema (76.8%), and snoring (72.9%). There were significant differences in rash, hepatomegaly, and liver dysfunction among the four age groups. Patients aged < 3 years had a lower incidence of liver dysfunction and a higher incidence of rash. Among the 499 patients, 50.1% were treated with GCV, 26.3% were treated with ACV, and 23.6% received no antiviral therapy. Compared with the non-antiviral group, patients in the ACV and GCV groups had longer durations of fever (<i>P <</i> 0.001). There were no significant differences in the incidences of complications among the three treatment groups.</p><p><strong>Interpretation: </strong>The incidence of IM in Chinese children peaked at 3-<6 years of age. Clinical features of IM varied according to age. Patients receiving antiviral therapy exhibited more serious clinical manifestations than did patients without antiviral therapy. The effectiveness of antiviral therapy for IM requires further analysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 3","pages":"188-194"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/fa/41/PED4-5-188.PMC8458718.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39471120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pediatric InvestigationPub Date : 2021-09-22eCollection Date: 2021-09-01DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12296
Youyang Yang, Nilesh M Mehta
{"title":"\"Closing the chasm\" - guidelines bridge the gap from evidence to implementation.","authors":"Youyang Yang, Nilesh M Mehta","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12296","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12296","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 3","pages":"163-166"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/43/c8/PED4-5-163.PMC8458711.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39471118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pediatric InvestigationPub Date : 2021-09-22eCollection Date: 2021-09-01DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12295
Shufeng Tian, Jikui Deng, Wenhua Huang, Linlin Liu, Yunsheng Chen, Yongqiang Jiang, Gang Liu
{"title":"<i>FAM89A</i> and <i>IFI44L</i> for distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections in children with febrile illness.","authors":"Shufeng Tian, Jikui Deng, Wenhua Huang, Linlin Liu, Yunsheng Chen, Yongqiang Jiang, Gang Liu","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12295","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12295","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>The current lack of reliable rapid tests for distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections has contributed to antibiotic misuse.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to develop a novel biomarker assay that integrates <i>FAM89A</i> and <i>IFI44L</i> measurements to assist in differentiating between bacterial and viral infections.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This prospective study recruited children with febrile illness from two hospitals between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019. A panel of three experienced pediatricians performed reference standard diagnoses of all patients (i.e., bacterial or viral infection) using available clinical and laboratory data, including a 28-day follow-up assessment. Assay operators were blinded to the reference standard diagnoses. The expression levels of <i>FAM89A</i> and <i>IFI44L</i> were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assessment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 133 potentially eligible patients with suspected bacterial or viral infection, 35 were excluded after the application of exclusion criteria. The resulting cohort included 98 patients: 59 with viral diagnoses and 39 with bacterial diagnoses. The areas under the curve (AUCs) of diagnoses using <i>FAM89A</i> and <i>IFI44L</i> were 0.694 [95% confidence interval (<i>CI</i>): 0.583-0.804] and 0.751 (95% <i>CI</i>: 0.651-0.851), respectively. The disease risk score (DRS) [log<sub>2</sub>(<i>FAM89A</i> expression) - log<sub>2</sub>(<i>IFI44L</i> expression)] signature achieved an improved area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC, 0.825; 95% <i>CI</i>: 0.735-0.915), compared with the AUC generated from individual host RNA. A combination of the DRS and the C-reactive protein (CRP) level achieved an AUC of 0.896 (95% <i>CI</i>: 0.825-0.966). Optimal cutoffs for the DRS and CRP level were -3.18 and 19.80 mg/L, respectively.</p><p><strong>Interpretation: </strong>The DRS was significantly more accurate than the CRP level in distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections; the combination of these two parameters exhibited greater sensitivity and specificity. This study provides information that could be useful for the clinical application of <i>FAM89A</i> and <i>IFI44L</i> in terms of distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 3","pages":"195-202"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/37/01/PED4-5-195.PMC8458721.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39473490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pediatric InvestigationPub Date : 2021-09-22eCollection Date: 2021-09-01DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12292
Varvara Probst, Florinda Islamovic, Ayesha Mirza
{"title":"Antimicrobial stewardship program in pediatric medicine.","authors":"Varvara Probst, Florinda Islamovic, Ayesha Mirza","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12292","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12292","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The rising threats from antimicrobial resistance due to inappropriate utilization of antimicrobial agents in health care including the pediatric population has been a topic of concern at the global level for the last several decades. The antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) is a multidisciplinary institutional initiative focusing primarily on the improvement of antimicrobial prescribing practices and limiting inappropriate use. ASPs play an important role in the implementation of healthcare strategies in pediatrics worldwide to reduce antimicrobial resistance. Many published reports demonstrate how adapted ASPs in pediatrics result in improvement of unnecessary antimicrobial utilization, decreasing drug resistance and treatment failure, minimization of adverse clinical outcomes, decreasing healthcare costs and hospital length of stay, and optimization of diagnostic strategies. However, some barriers in pediatric ASP still exist. This narrative review describes core elements of ASP, the impact of implemented ASPs on pediatric healthcare, and challenges of pediatric ASP as seen by the authors.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 3","pages":"229-238"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/e8/1a/PED4-5-229.PMC8458720.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39473492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pediatric InvestigationPub Date : 2021-09-22eCollection Date: 2021-09-01DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12290
Lijuan Luo, Nan Shen, Wenjuan Chen, Chengjuan Luo, Xiaohang Huang, Yuelian Jiang, Qing Cao
{"title":"<i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection in children after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: A case report and literature review.","authors":"Lijuan Luo, Nan Shen, Wenjuan Chen, Chengjuan Luo, Xiaohang Huang, Yuelian Jiang, Qing Cao","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12290","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12290","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Toxoplasmosis is a life-threatening complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, for several reasons, clinicians know little about <i>Toxoplasma</i> infection.</p><p><strong>Case presentation: </strong>We report a case of toxoplasmosis that was diagnosed by bone marrow smear and metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) after HSCT in a boy. Additionally, we summarize the characteristics of toxoplasmosis after pediatric HSCT reported in the literature published in PubMed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Clinicians should increase their awareness of toxoplasmosis in children after HSCT and implement pre-transplant screening and post-transplant monitoring and prevention in future according to the national conditions of our country.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 3","pages":"239-243"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/14/07/PED4-5-239.PMC8458717.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39473493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pediatric InvestigationPub Date : 2021-08-21eCollection Date: 2021-12-01DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12286
Huiran Lin, Huitong Chen, Ao Lin, Xiaoping Liu, Xiaokai Huang, Jingying Zhou, Li Yuan, Zhenjian Zhuo
{"title":"Associations between <i>LMO1</i> gene polymorphisms and central nervous system tumor susceptibility.","authors":"Huiran Lin, Huitong Chen, Ao Lin, Xiaoping Liu, Xiaokai Huang, Jingying Zhou, Li Yuan, Zhenjian Zhuo","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12286","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ped4.12286","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>LIM domain only 1 (<i>LMO1</i>) gene polymorphisms were previously found to be implicated in the risk of several cancers. No available studies were performed regarding the predisposing effect of <i>LMO1</i> gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on central nervous system (CNS) tumor risk.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>We aimed to determine whether the <i>LMO1</i> gene SNPs were associated with the risk of CNS tumor by applying a case-control study with 191 cases and 248 controls in China.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The contributions of <i>LMO1</i> gene SNPs to the risk of CNS tumor was evaluated by multinomial logistic regression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on the calculations of odds ratio (<i>OR</i>) and 95% confidence interval (<i>CI</i>), we failed to detect a significant relationship between each <i>LMO1</i> gene SNP (rs110419 A>G, rs4758051 G>A, rs10840002 A>G, rs204938 A>G, and rs2168101 G>T) and CNS tumor risk, respectively. A negative association was also found in the combined effects on these five SNPs and CNS tumor risk. The stratification analysis further demonstrated the individuals with rs204938 AG/GG genotype confer to increased risk of CNS tumor compared with those with an AA genotype in males (<i>OR</i>: 1.74, 95% <i>CI</i>: 1.01-2.98, <i>P =</i> 0.046).</p><p><strong>Interpretation: </strong>We concluded that <i>LMO1</i> gene SNPs may not strong enough to influence the risk of CNS tumor in Chinese children. More studies are required to verify this association.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 4","pages":"281-287"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/89/af/PED4-5-281.PMC8666933.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39837835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in children: A review of the current knowledge.","authors":"Filippos Filippatos, Elizabeth-Barbara Tatsi, Athanasios Michos","doi":"10.1002/ped4.12283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ped4.12283","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Host immune responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), especially in children, are still under investigation. Children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) constitute a significant study group of immune responses as they rarely present with severe clinical manifestations, require hospitalization, or develop complications such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The deciphering of children's immune responses during COVID-19 infection will provide information about the protective mechanisms, while new potential targets for future therapies are likely to be revealed. Despite the limited immunological studies in children with COVID-19, this review compares data between adults and children in terms of innate and adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2, discusses the possible reasons why children are mostly asymptomatic, and highlights unanswered or unclear immunological issues. Current evidence suggests that the activity of innate immunity seems to be crucial to the early phases of SARS-CoV-2 infection and adaptive memory immunity is vital to prevent reinfection.</p>","PeriodicalId":19992,"journal":{"name":"Pediatric Investigation","volume":"5 3","pages":"217-228"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/ped4.12283","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39430786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}