Low dialysate sodium in children and young adults on maintenance hemodialysis: a prospective, randomized, crossover study.

BACKGROUND: The optimal dialysate sodium concentration (dNa) in children on hemodialysis (HD) is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the effect on interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) and blood pressure (BP) of a low (135 mmol/l) and standard dNa (138 mmol/l) in children and young adults on maintenance HD. METHODS: This prospective single-blind randomized crossover study consisted of a randomized sequence of two phases: "standard dNa" of 138 mmol/L and "low dNa" of 135 mmol/L. Each phase lasted 4 weeks. Inclusion criteria were age < 25 years, hypertension, pre-HD serum Na (sNa) ≥ 130 mmol/L, and occurrence of symptoms in less than 25% of sessions. Primary outcomes were pre-HD systolic and diastolic BP and IDWG. RESULTS: Fifteen patients were recruited, mean age 17.8 ± 4.4 years. Pre-HD SBP and DBP were not different between the two treatments. Mean IDWG was significantly lower with low dNa than with standard dNa: 2.12 ± 1.39% vs. 2.77 ± 1.53%, respectively (p = 0.008). The first-hour refill index (a volume index based on blood-volume monitoring) was significantly lower with dNa 135 mmol/L (p = 0.018). The mean Na gradient (dNa-sNa) was - 2.53 ± 2.4 mmol/L with dNa 135 mmol/L and 0.17 ± 2.8 mmol/L with dNa 138 mmol/L (p = 0.0001). The incidence of symptomatic sessions was similar (1.0% vs. 1.0%). CONCLUSIONS: In a selected population of hypertensive pediatric and young adult HD patients, a dNa of 135 mmol/L was associated with a significant reduction of IDWG compared with a dNa of 138 mmol/L. Furthermore, long-term studies are needed to investigate the effect of lowering dNa on BP. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Nutritional status and volume control in adolescents on chronic hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) are at risk of both malnutrition and fluid overload. This pilot study aimed to assess correlates of normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR) in adolescents on chronic HD, in particular fluid status markers. METHODS: All patients aged 10-18 years on chronic HD in our center between 2017 and 2019 were enrolled. For each patient, mean nPCR was calculated and correlations with the following parameters investigated: dry body weight change in subsequent 3 months in kg (∆BW) and percentage of BW (∆BW%), change in body mass index (∆BMI), preHD systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), residual urine output, biochemistry, and blood volume monitoring-derived first hour refill index (RI), calculated as ratio between ultrafiltration rate and reduction in relative blood volume in first hour of dialysis. RESULTS: Seventy-nine nPCR determinations were collected in 23 patients, median age 14.8 years. nPCR significantly correlated with ∆BW, ∆BW%, ∆BMI, spKT/V, and preHD serum creatinine, and negatively correlated with age, DBP SDS (r=-0.466, p=0.025) and RI (r=-0.435, p=0.043). RI was significantly higher in patients with nPCR <1 than those with nPCR above this threshold: 3.2 (1.9-4.7) vs. 1.4 (0.7-1.8) ml/kg/h/% (p=0.021). At multivariable analysis, nPCR remained positively correlated with creatinine and spKt/V, and inversely correlated with RI. CONCLUSIONS: nPCR is a significant predictor of weight change in adolescents on maintenance HD, and seems associated with creatinine and dialysis adequacy. Inverse correlation with RI suggests possible associations between malnutrition and fluid overload, but larger prospective studies are needed to confirm this. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Femicide and murdered women's children: which future for these children orphans of a living parent?

BACKGROUND: To assess the prevalence of femicides in Italy over the last three years and the potential long lasting effects of these traumatic events for the children of a woman who dies a violent death. METHODS: The data used in this study come from an internet search for the number of femicides occurring in Italy between 1(st) January, 2012 and 31(st) October, 2014. RESULTS: The total number of femicides was 319; the average age of murdered women was 47.50 ± 19.26. Cold arms in the form of sharp object -mostly knives- have caused the death of 102/319 women; firearms were used in 87/319 cases; asphyxiation was the chosen method in 52/319 cases. About the place where the femicides occurred, 209/319 were committed inside the victim's house. Children of women who died a violent death were 417 with a total of 180 minors in less than three years. A total of 52/417 children were witness to the killing and, among these 30/52 were minors; in 18/417 cases, children were murdered together with their mother and among these 9/18 were minors. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term studies are needed to ascertain what happens to these children, to understand what are the most appropriate psychological treatments, the best decisions about the contact with their father and the best placement for these children.

Possible impact of comorbid conditions on the persistence of nocturnal enuresis: results of a long-term follow-up study.

PURPOSE: To describe the natural history of patients with nocturnal enuresis (NE) during a 10-year period and to evaluate possible impact of comorbid conditions on the persistence of NE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-five children (male to female ratio [M:F] 65:30), aged at first visit between 6 and 21 years were included in this study. Of study subjects 75 had primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (PMNE), 3 had secondary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (SMNE) and 17 had non-mono­symptomatic nocturnal enuresis (NMNE). Demographic and NE-related details were assessed from electron­ic medical records and by telephone interview at the times 3, 6, 12 months and 3, 5, 10 years after the first examination. Sixty-seven of 95 patients were enrolled, of whom 57 had PMNE (M:F ratio 39:18, mean age 9.35 ± 2.81 years, mean age at improvement 11.5 ± 4.08 years), 8 had NMNE (M:F ratio 4:4, mean age 10.1 ± 2.64 years, mean age at improvement 12.6 ± 1.68 years) and 2 had SMNE (M:F ratio 1:1, mean age 12 years, mean age at improvement 13.5 ± 2.12 years). RESULTS: The mean duration of follow up was 7.2 ± 2.5 years. All of the 67 children had 5 years follow up. Only 29 of 67 patients (19 with PMNE, 8 with NMNE and 2 with SMNE) had 10 years follow up and 4 of 19 with PMNE were still affected by NE. Out of 57 patients with PMNE 12 (2/12 with language disorders, 1/12 varicocele and 1/12 cryptorchidism) and out of 8 patients with NMNE 1 were still enuretic while all patients with SMNE were in remission. CONCLUSION: We observed that language disorders and testicular pathology in NE children could be comor­bidities associated with persistence of NE and treatment resistance.

A focus on recent cases of suicides among Italian children and adolescents and a review of literature.

Suicidal behaviors are among the leading causes of death worldwide. The large spread of suicide suggests that educational programs and literature to parents or guardians should include information about the potential risks and potential consequences of the onset of the idea of suicide in children. We identified 55 cases of suicide among children and young adults <18-year-old occurring in Italy between 1st January, 2011 and 31st December, 2013. The results point to the need to increase our understanding of the dramatic rise in suicidal behaviors during childhood/adolescence and of the causal pathways linking these behaviors to child-adolescent mental disorders. During routine care visits, pediatricians should be skilled to recognize risk factors for adolescent suicide in order to intervene appropriately.

Children left unattended in parked vehicles: a focus on recent italian cases and a review of literature.

Every year a lot of children die from heat stroke and hyperthermia because they have been left unattended in closed automobiles. These fatalities have augmented slightly in the past decade, but they are a poor recognized type of vehicle injury and little research has been done to discover the circumstances surrounding the fatal event. Two factors make children more prone to hyperthermia than adults: children have a greater surface area body mass ratio than adults and their thermoregulation is less efficient than adults. A scientific explanation about how it can happen that a parent leaves his child unattended in the car could be related to the Working Memory (WM): stress increases interference from irrelevant information, impairing selective attention and WM and influencing behavior. In the last two years in Italy 16 cases of child hyperthermia due to abandonment in motor vehicle were identified. These findings suggest that educational programs and literature for parents regarding automobile safety should include information about the potential dangers of heat stress, in fact, as these events are mostly unintentional, legislative efforts may be vain.