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Survival of children with single ventricle heart defects after the total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) has improved, but impaired cardiac function remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) is the gold standard in assessing single ventricle volume and function, but high costs and limited availability hamper its routine use. A cheaper and more available alternative is echocardiography. Myocardial function can be studied in more detail using speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). The purpose of the study was to describe the association between myocardial deformation assessed by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) and single ventricle function assessed by cMRI and to evaluate differences in myocardial deformation in children with single left and single right ventricular morphology. Cross-sectional, multicenter study in 77 children after TCPC was conducted. STE segmental and global longitudinal peak strain and systolic strain rate (SR) of the dominant ventricle were measured. Impaired SV function by cMRI was defined as ejection fraction (EF) < 45%. Mean age was 11.8 (range 9.7–14.3) years. Pearson R for cMRI EF versus global longitudinal strain and SR was − 0.25 (p = 0.06) and − 0.03 (p = 0.82), respectively. Global single ventricle longitudinal strain and SR was similar in patients after TCPC with single left and single right ventricular morphology (− 19.0 ± 3.1% vs 19.2 ± 3.2%, p = 0.94). STE myocardial deformation parameters do not correlate with single ventricle ejection fraction assessed by cMRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hygiene hypothesis suggests that exposure to micro-organisms influences development of the immune system in children.In this study, we examined nasal immune responses in the first 2 years of life in relation to age of children and the number of viral infections they have experienced. Nasal brushes were taken during rhinovirus- (n = 20) or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-induced (n = 7) upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), and of controls (n = 40).The number of macrophages were higher during URTI and increased with age. The number of T lymphocytes increased with age in controls and were higher during URTI at all ages. We found an age-related decrease in the number of interleukin (IL)-4- and IL-10-positive cells in controls, while the number of IL-12-positive cells remained unchanged. Changes in T lymphocyte and IL-4 cell number were stronger related to the age of the child than to the number of respiratory infections, while the opposite was true for macrophages.In infants, we found an infection- and age-related increase respectively for nasal macrophages and T lymphocytes during URTI. Furthermore, the number of IL-4- and IL-10-positive cells decreased with age. Whether this maturation reflects a natural age-related maturation, the degree of exposure to respiratory infections, or possibly both, could not be resolved and needs further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Background Reduction of allergen exposure from birth may reduce sensitization and subsequent allergic disease. Objective To measure the influence of mite allergen-impermeable mattress encasings and cotton placebo encasings on the amount of dust and mite allergen in beds. Methods A total of 810 children with allergic mothers took part in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy (PIAMA) study. Allergen-impermeable and placebo mattress encasings were applied to the childrens' and the parents' beds before birth. Dust samples were taken from the beds of children and their parents before birth and 3 and 12 months after birth. Extracts of dust samples were analysed for mite allergens (Der p 1 and Der f 1). Results Active mattress encasings were significantly more effective in reducing dust and mite allergen levels than placebo encasings. Mite allergen levels were low in general and the treatment effect was modest. Twelve months after birth, mattresses with active mattress encasings had about half the amount of Der 1 (Der p 1 + Der f 1)/m2 , compared to mattresses with placebo encasings, for the child's and the parental mattress. Conclusion This study shows that mite-impermeable mattress encasings have a significant but modest effect on dust and mite allergen levels of mattresses with low initial mite allergen levels, compared to placebo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundA family history of allergy, reflecting genetic risk factors, increases the risk of developing allergic diseases, but environmental factors, especially those present in early life, also contribute to the actual development of allergic phenomena. ObjectiveTo identify differences in lifestyle between allergic and non-allergic parents, which may influence the prevalence of environmental risk factors in their homes. MethodsData were collected in a Dutch birth cohort study by postal questionnaire about 2 months before and 3 months after the birth of the child. ResultsOf the 3147 infants in the study 1910 (61%) had two non-allergic parents, of 315 infants (10%) only the mother was allergic, of 787 infants (25%) only the father was allergic and 135 (4%) infants had two allergic parents. If both parents were allergic, 53% reported that allergy was taken into consideration when they furnished their home and significantly more of their homes were free of cats and free of cigarette smoke; adjusted odds ratio's for two allergic parents vs. two non-allergic parents were 0.30 (confidence interval (CI) 0.17–0.50) for the presence of cats and 0.46 (CI 0.27–0.75) for smoking in the home. Parental allergy was also associated with having a smooth floor in the baby's bedroom and with postponement of the introduction of fruits and vegetables until the age of 26 weeks. The presence of dogs at home, the prevalence of mothers' smoking during pregnancy and the decision to breast feed were unrelated to parental allergy. ConclusionWe conclude that studies on the relationship between allergy in parents and allergy in their offspring should always consider the home environment as a potential confounder. For allergy prevention our results imply that among allergic parents there is awareness and willingness to take measures that reduce exposure to indoor allergens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Various mechanisms contribute to the loss of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I expression that is frequently observed in cancers. Although some single allele losses have been ascribed to mutations in HLA class I genes, direct evidence for this phenomenon in vivo is still lacking. Thus, we investigated whether HLA class I gene mutations could account for the loss of allele-specific expression in cervical carcinomas.Methods: We used polymerase chain reaction-based techniques, including sequencing, oligonucleotide hybridization, and microsatellite analysis, to identify HLA class I gene defects in two tumor-derived cell lines and to confirm the presence of these defects in the original tumors.Results: In one tumor, in exon 2 of the HLA-B15 gene, a four-nucleotide insertion resulted in a stop codon in exon 3. In the other tumor, in two duplicated copies of the HLA-A24 gene, single-point mutations resulted in stop codons in exons 2 and 5.Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of HLA class I gene mutations identified in primary tumors that lead to loss of allelic expression in tumor cells. Such tumor-specific mutations may permit the cell to escape HLA class I-restricted cytotoxic T-cell responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Unlabelled: We report a 4-week-old boy with acute respiratory distress, due to massive haemorrhages in multiple thymic cysts. A right hemithymectomy was performed because of mechanical obstruction of the trachea by the cysts. The origin of the multilocular thymic cysts remained unclear. Most likely, these haemorrhages were caused by vitamin K deficiency, although the infant received vitamin K prophylaxis. In addition, he developed transient cholestasis, but the aetiology remained unclear. It is postulated that massive haemorrhages in thymic cysts produce large amounts of bilirubin, causing sludging of bile excretions in the liver. Four weeks after the operation, all laboratory findings were normal and 6 months after the operation the boy is still healthy.Conclusion: This case report shows that respiratory distress in an infant can be caused by multiple haemorrhages in multilocular thymic cysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]