For Debate: Should We Worry about Hematospermia in Adolescents and Young Men? A Report of Six Cases and Review of the Literature.

Hematospermia or hemospermia is defined as the presence of blood in ejaculate. The true prevalence of the condition is unknown because many cases escape the patient's notice, and remain unrecognized and unreported. There are two main aims in the patient evaluation: first, to ensure that there is no specific condition that is treatable; second, to reassure the patient's parents that no causative factor is present. Many physicians are unfamiliar with this disorder and this forms the basis for our current review. We performed an essentially English language search (Medline since 1966 to present and reference list of articles) for "hematospermia", or "hemospermia" in combination with "adolescents", "young adults", "genital diseases", "management" and "review". The authors' personal experience with 6 adolescents and young men (up to the age of 20 years) is also reported. Several anatomical structures contributing to the ejaculate may be the source of the hematospermia: seminal vesicles, prostate, testis and epididymis. Hematospermia is a generally benign and self-limited condition that is infrequently associated with significant underlying pathology. Once the diagnosis is clear, it is important to reassure the adolescent about the benign nature and self-limiting course of the condition and to provide appropriate treatment to help ensure the adolescent's normal sexual development.

Final height and body mass index in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated without cranial radiotherapy: a retrospective longitudinal multicenter Italian study.

BACKGROUND: Young adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with protocols including cranial radiotherapy demonstrate a persistent weight gain and reduced final height. Published reports on the effects on growth of different oncologic therapies are conflicting and difficult to interpret because they combined children treated with both cranial irradiation and multi-agent chemotherapy. Our study investigated the effect of chemotherapy alone on body mass index (BMI) and on growth at the achievement of final height in a homogeneous cohort of Italian childhood ALL survivors. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 162 Caucasian patients treated on the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology protocols without radiotherapy between 1989 and 2000 at five Italian centers with 107 inclusions (58 males). Height- and BMI-standard deviation score (SDS) were collected at diagnosis of ALL, at the end of treatment and at the achievement of final height. Changes in height SDS and BMI SDS with time were analyzed using dependent sample Student's t-test. RESULTS: A significant reduction of height-SDS was documented during treatment in both genders. This reduction of height-SDS was not followed by an appropriate catch-up growth, despite the achievement of a mean final height within the normal range. At diagnosis females showed a lower mean BMI-SDS than males. During treatment, in the whole population, BMI-SDS increased significantly. After it, while males lost BMI-SDS, females showed its persistent increase. CONCLUSIONS: Survivors of childhood ALL generally seemed to achieve a normal final height with a BMI within the normal range. These parameters appeared to be only minimally affected by chemotherapy. Nevertheless, height catch-up growth was not completed after chemotherapy in both genders and all patients experienced an increase of BMI-SDS during chemotherapy that only females seemed to conserve until the achievement of final height.

Recurrent pericarditis in Myhre syndrome.

Myhre syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by pre- and postnatal short stature, brachydactyly, facial dysmorphism (short palpebral fissures, maxillary hypoplasia, prognathism and short philtrum), thick skin, muscular-appearing body build, decreased joint mobility, mixed hearing loss, and cleft lip and palate. Other clinical features include skeletal dysplasia, developmental delay with intellectual disability and/or behavioral disturbance, cardiac defects, cryptorchidism, and bone anomalies. The disease is caused by recently identified SMAD4 mutations. Here we describe a 7-year-old boy with a molecularly proven Myhre syndrome who presented life-threatening recurrent pericarditis and systemic inflammatory symptoms that required treatment with steroid and recombinant interleukin-1 receptor antagonist.

Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) in children and adolescents of immigrated families in Emilia-Romagna (Italy).

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: The etiology and natural history of T1DM are still unknown but certainly both genetics and environmental factors contribute to the development of the disease. Migration studies are an important tool to better understand the role of the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate some variables in diabetic children of immigrant families living in Emilia-Romagna compared with Italian diabetic children living in the same region. METHODS: We recruited 73 diabetic children from immigrant families and 707 Italian diabetic children. All children were cared by Pediatric Diabetes Units of Emilia-Romagna (10 centers). The investigated variables were: gender, current age, place of birth, parents' country of origin, age at diagnosis, HbA1c and insulin regimen. RESULTS: No significant difference with reference to gender neither among the two ethnic groups, nor in the current mean age was observed. Mean age at diagnosis in the Italian children was lower than in immigrant patients born outside Italy--group A- (7.4 vs. 9.6, p < 0.000) and higher compared to those born in Italy--group B- (7.4 vs. 5.7 p < 0.003; A vs. B p < 0.000). The immigrant patients showed higher mean HbA1c than Italian patients (8.8 vs. 8.2, p < 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: A younger age at diagnosis of T1DM in immigrant children, born in Italy compared with those born in the country of origin, and with Italian patients, suggests the existence of some environmental determinants acquired with a more westernised lifestyle. Immigrant children have significantly poorer metabolic control compared with western patients. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pediatric obesity: consensus position statement of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology and the Italian Society of Pediatrics.

The Italian Consensus Position Statement on Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents integrates and updates the previous guidelines to deliver an evidence based approach to the disease. The following areas were reviewed: (1) obesity definition and causes of secondary obesity; (2) physical and psychosocial comorbidities; (3) treatment and care settings; (4) prevention.The main novelties deriving from the Italian experience lie in the definition, screening of the cardiometabolic and hepatic risk factors and the endorsement of a staged approach to treatment. The evidence based efficacy of behavioral intervention versus pharmacological or surgical treatments is reported. Lastly, the prevention by promoting healthful diet, physical activity, sleep pattern, and environment is strongly recommended since the intrauterine phase.

Efficacy of propranolol treatment in thyroid dysfunction associated with severe infantile hepatic hemangioma.

Infantile hepatic hemangioma can be associated to consumptive hypothyroidism due to overexpression of type 3 deiodinase in the endothelium of vascular tumor, which catalyzes the conversion of T4 to reverse T3 (rT3) and of T3 to T2, both of which are biologically inactive. Here, we report an infant with a massive biopsy-proven infantile hepatic hemangioma who developed thyroid dysfunction without a typical biochemical profile consistent with severe consumptive hypothyroidism, despite the large tumor burden. Our patient was treated with propranolol that rapidly resolved both hepatic hemangioma and thyroid dysfunction. We propose propranolol as a first-line therapy of thyroid dysfunction associated with infantile hepatic hemangioma, in order to avoid interference with neurological development caused by hypothyroidism in the first months of life.