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Appropriate nutritional intake is an important aspect in children's overall health. In developed countries, malnutrition is related to chronic illness or restrictive dietary habits, related to psychiatric or behavioural conditions such as anorexia or neurodevelopmental disabilities. Recent studies consider vitamin C deficiency a re-emerging disease, although it is historically believed a disease of the past. We report 4 cases of scurvy in children which occurred in 2021 in our tertiary hospital in Catania. They were admitted for skeletal pain, refusal and/or inabilities to walk. Primary diagnostic considerations included infectious etiologies, malignant disease or orthopaedic problems. In anamnesis, only one out of four presented a diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disabilities. However, after scurvy was diagnosed, the remaining patients received an adequate neuropsychiatric evaluation reporting eating selective habits in children affected by behavioural disturbances. Recognition of the cutaneous findings, associated with skeletal pain, was vital in two cases for the diagnosis. Bone imaging findings (X-ray and MRI) were considered typical of scurvy after a good response to treatment with vitamin C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MOG-antibodies are consistently identified in a variety of acquired demyelinating syndromes. In children, the most common presenting phenotype is acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, an immune-mediated disease characterized by demyelination and multifocal neurologic symptoms which typically occur after a preceding viral infection or recent immunization. Herein, we report the case of a 7-year-old boy who developed the first episode of MOG associated encephalitis, which was treated with steroid therapy, and after 6 months, presented a relapse of ADEM in which steroid treatment was not decisive, as he presented new symptoms with unchanged MRI lesions. For this reason, we decided to submit the boy to immunoglobulin intravenous therapy each month. The child has been followed up for 1 year and no new episodes have been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choledochal cysts are rare cystic dilatations of the bile ducts, which are commonly found in children. We report two young patients affected by this anomaly. The clinical symptoms of the patients were minimal: mild pain localized in the upper-right quadrant and a serum increase in transaminases. Both of the patients were affected by type I choledochal cysts (B and A, respectively, according to the Todani classification). The diagnosis was made using abdominal ultrasound and then confirmed by MRI. We wish to emphasize the relevant contribution of ultrasound as an easy, reliable, rapid, low-cost modality for the diagnosis of choledochal cysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]