Rejected

In Italy, as in many European countries, Pediatric Emergency Medicine is not formally recognized as a pediatric subspecialty, hindering nation-wide adoption of standards of care, especially in the field of procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) in the Emergency Department (ED). For this reason PSA in Italy is mostly neglected or performed very heterogeneously and by different providers, with no reference standard. We aimed to describe the procedures and results of the first multidisciplinary and multi-professional Consensus Conference in Italy on safe and effective pediatric PSA in Italian EDs.

Sore throat is a common condition associated with a high rate of antibiotic prescriptions, despite limited evidence for the effectiveness of antibiotics. Corticosteroids may improve symptoms of sore throat by reducing inflammation of the upper respiratory tract. This review is an update to our review published in 2012.

To provide information about the effectiveness of topical analgesic and local anesthetic agents for reducing pain associated with chronic leg ulcers.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease that promotes destructive lesions. Difficulties in treatment are related to accessibility of drugs, resistance and toxicity. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (APDT) has been emerging as a promising treatment for CL. In this work, we evaluated methylene blue (MB)-mediated APDT (MB-APDT) on Leishmania amazonensis in vitro and in vivo by bioluminescence technique. In vitro, MB-APDT was performed using a red LED (λ= 660±11 nm, 100 mW/cm ) and MB (100 µM) at different light doses. In vivo, mice were infected and 4 weeks later, randomly divided into 3 groups: control, APDT 1 (single session) and APDT 2 (2 sessions of MB-APDT). MB was used at 100 µM and energy dose was established at 150 J/cm . Parasite burden, lesion size and pain were evaluated weekly for 4 weeks. In vitro, lethal dose for 90% parasite inactivation was achieved at 48.8 J/cm . In vivo, although APDT 1 and APDT 2 groups have showed similar parasite burden after 4 weeks, two sessions were clinically better, especially considering the inflammatory process associated to CL. Our findings reinforce MB-APDT as a cost-effective treatment to combat CL.

The benefits of the regular exercise on quality of life of individuals living with a headache are well known. However, whether the benefits of the exercise training on headache parameters (i.e., intensity, frequency and pain duration) occur in an intensity-dependent fashion remains unknown.

Cytokines are proteins secreted by diverse types of immune and non-immune cells and play a role in the communication between the immune and nervous systems. Cytokines include lymphokines, monokines, chemokines, interleukins, interferons, colony stimulating factors, and growth factors. They can be both pro- and anti-inflammatory and have autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine activities. These proteins are involved in initiation and persistence of pain, and the progress of hyperalgesia and allodynia, upon stimulating nociceptive sensory neurons, and inducing central sensitization. The objective of this review is to discuss several types of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators and their relation with inflammatory pain in masticatory muscles.

Parenteral opioids are used for pain relief in labour but there are little data for oxycodone in this context.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy, foetal exposure and safety of subcutaneous oxycodone in the latent phase of labour.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of eight weeks of conventional and suspension core stability exercises by use of the designed device on characteristic of intervertebral discs in low back pain.

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV) is a group of multisystem autoimmune small vessel diseases. We report here a case of a 68-year-old woman who initially presented with 29-day history of chest pain, malaise and anorexia. Cardiac problems were ruled out and she was considered to have pneumonia. Her symptoms persisted and blood tests showed renal impairment and evidence of an inflammatory response. A kidney biopsy, chest computed tomography (CT) scan and ANCA testing confirmed a diagnosis of AAV renal injury. She was treated with glucocorticoids and cyclophosphamide (CTX) for six months at which time her kidney function had improved and she avoided the need for dialysis. This case study illustrates that the clinical manifestations of AVV are complex, varied, and prone to misdiagnosis.