[Gastroesophageal reflux and respiratory pathology]. / Reflusso gastroesofageo e patologia respiratoria.

The prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in 86 children with respiratory disease (recurrent pneumonia, chronic cough, bronchial asthma) has been evaluated by mean of prolonged (22-24 hours) esophageal pH-monitoring. The following parameters were evaluated: the total percentage of time pH < 4 and the percent time the esophageal pH was < 4 while sleeping. None of the children had gastrointestinal symptoms suggesting GER and no neurological disorder was noted in any of the studied patients. The mean age was 68.98 +/- 46.46 months (range 14-189); 53 (61.6%) males and 33 (38.4%) females were considered in the study. Atopy was evidenced in 42/86 (48.8%) children (total IgE > 2SD in 42/86 and prick tests positiveness in 32/86. A pH-metry indicating pathological GER was present in 52/86 (60.5%) children: 39/62 (62.9%) patients with bronchial asthma, 5/10 (50%) subjects with chronic cough and 8/14 (57.2%) children with recurrent pneumonia. No significant difference in the diagnosis of GER was recorded between atopic or non-atopic patients. The children with abnormal pH-metric recording were also evaluated by upper gastrointestinal series and/or endoscopy. A conventional barium radiology was performed in 44/52 patients and confirmed GER in 19/44 (43.2%). Esophagitis was evidenced in 21/46 (45.7%) studied patients. The presence of esophagitis was significantly (p = 0.032) related to the total percentage of time pH < 4, but the most significant (p = 0.002) association was with the percent time the esophageal pH was < 4 during sleep.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Behavior of some liver enzyme activities in newborn infants with jaundice treated with phototherapy]. / Il comportamento di alcune attività enzimatiche del fegato in neonati itterici sottoposti a fototerapia.

The recent hypothesis that phototherapy is capable of altering the liver cell, enough to allow passive diffusion of free bilirubin from the blood to the bile, and the discovery of substantial differences between the breakdown products of bilirubin obtained in vivo and in vitro, has prompted the AA. to investigate the enzymatic values in newborn infants with jaundice undergoing phototherapy. A study was made of the variations of cytolithic enzymes (GPT-GOT-GLDH-SDH) and secretions enzymes (FA-LAP-gammaGT-CHE) before and after phototherapy among different sized groups of infants with jaundice, between the 36th and 40th week of the gestational age, and with body weight varying from 1940 to 4150 g. No significant alteration of the cytolithic enzymes were recorded and among the secretion enzymes only the gammaGT was seen to increase. According to the AA., phototherapy does not alter the presence of a possible transitory cholestasis in newborn infants with physiological jaundice and causes no significant damage to the liver cells.