[Organisational aspects of a donated breast milk bank: experience of the Treviso hospital]. / Aspetti organizzativi di una banca di latte umano donato: l'esperienza dell'Ospedale di Treviso.

AIM: This study analyses the organisational aspects and the volume of milk managed by the donated breast milk bank (banca del latte umano donato, BLUD) in Treviso. METHODS: The data gathered refer to the years 2003, 2004 and 2005. In particular the hygiene methodology is described in order to obtain a high-quality product from a clinical point of view which is in line with the recent norms regarding the management of food products. RESULTS: During the three-year study 5,647 L of milk were collected (on average: 155 L/month; 5 L/day). Seventy-two percent of breast milk collected was from mothers for their own children; the remaining 28% of milk was from ''donors for the pool''. In the same period 5,053 L of milk was pasteurised and distributed (pool=31%; frozen breast milk=61%; chilled unpasteurized breast milk =8%). Microbiological data show total effectiveness of the methods of pasteurisation used (Holder method). The tracking of the product is possible through the BLUD organisation. CONCLUSION: We propose: 1) that scientific organisations and legislators try to optimise the control of this important product by providing guidelines, indications, microbiological parameters and legal obligations for the correct continuation of the work carried out by BLUDs; 2) that BLUDs create a network for rapid communication, integration and possible collaboration; 3) that a study be carried out regarding BLUDs and population density in order to balance costs and benefits.

99mTc HM-PAO SPECT in pediatric migraine.

99mTC HM-PAO SPECT brain imaging was performed during the headache-free period in 19 young migraineurs, affected by common migraine (CM, 10 cases), classic migraine (CLM, 6 cases) and hemiplegic migraine (HM, 3 cases). SPECT findings were negative in all 10 patients with CM, in 3 cases of CLM and in 2 cases of HM. Positive findings in the remaining 4 patients (3 cases of CLM and 1 of HM) showed a decreased tracer distribution in the temporo-occipital regions (2 cases) and parietal regions (2 cases): the two with decreased temporo-occipital perfusion reported prodromal symptoms exclusively contralateral to the areas of hypoperfusion. An impaired regional cerebral vascular autoregulation may exist even during headache-free intervals in patients suffering from classic and hemiplegic migraine.

Diagnostic factors in pediatric primary headache.

Primary headaches are frequent in children. They are difficult to diagnose because there is much disagreement about the interpretation of the historical data and the use of signs and/or symptoms in diagnosis. It would be useful, therefore, to standardize this procedure. We used linear discriminant analysis to determine a classification rule capable of diagnosing new cases of chronic and recurrent primary headache in children. We considered 23 symptoms in 118 patients. Through discriminant analysis we chose five variables: frequency of the attacks, type of pain, neurologic deficits, nausea, and vomiting. With this classification rule, we obtained a total correct classification of 84.7% for migraine, psychogenic headache, and non-defined headache in respect to the diagnoses formulated by a pediatrician and a child neuropsychiatrist after 3 months of follow-up. Our method for diagnosing migraine has a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 100%. The algorithm, validated on another 105 pediatric patients, produced a total correct result of 82.9%.