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Background and Aims: Bronchiolitis is the major cause of hospitalization in the first 12 months of life. The most common isolated agent is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Our aim was to investigate the infectious agents, clinical management and length of stay in hospital of babies with bronchiolitis.Methods: 153 children (127 at term and 27 preterm) between 2007 and 2010 were enrolled. Preterm babies received immunoprophylaxis. In all babies bacterial (through blood culture) and RSV (through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR]) infections were identified. Antibiotics, corticosteroid therapy, days of respiratory assistance and length of stay in hospital were recorded.Results: 53,6 % of newborns was RSV positive. In these babies the length of stay was higher than in those with negative RT-PCR for RSV (term babies: 7.27 d ± 3.40 vs 6.02 d ± 3.61 p < 0.05; preterm babies: 12.78 d ± 7.36 vs 7.15d ± 3.41 p< 0.05). RSV infection rate was significantly higher in preterm babies. Patients with positive RT-PCR for RSV and negative blood culture had also less days of antibiotic therapy than those with positive blood culture (5.26 d ± 3.69 vs 7.05 d ± 3.64, p< 0.05). There was no difference in hospitalization between patient treated with corticosteroid therapy and patients without.Conclusions: Preterm babies are at high risk for RSV infection and immunoprophylaxis seems to be not protective. RT-PCR for RSV detection is a useful tool to limit the use of antibiotics when not necessary.

A simple, rapid, and reproducible reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is applied to the routine assay of vitamin E acid succinate in biodegradable microspheres. Vitamin E acid-succinate-containing poly-(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres are prepared by the solvent evaporation method. The starting drug-polymer ratio is 1:10 (w/w) and the total amount of drug and polymer processed is always 440 mg. The content of vitamin E acid succinate in the microspheres is evaluated by HPLC. Chromatography is carried out isocratically at 25°C ± 0.5°C on an Extrasil ODS-2 column with a mobile phase composed of methanol-water (97:3, v/v) (pH 5.6) at a flow rate of 2 mL/min and UV detection at 284 nm. Parameters such as linearity, limits of quantitation (LOQ) and detection (LOD), precision, accuracy, recovery, specificity, and ruggedness are studied as reported in the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The stability of vitamin E acid succinate is also studied with satisfactory results after 48 h at 25°C. The method is selective and linear for drug concentrations in the range 15–210 µg/mL. The LOQ and LOD are 15 and 3 µg/mL, respectively. The results for accuracy studies are good. Values for coefficient of variation for intra- and interassay are 2.08% and 2.32%, respectively. The mean percentage of vitamin E acid succinate in the recovery studies is 99.52% ± 0.81%. The mean loading efficiency for microspheres is 96.53% ± 1.31%.