Ricerc@Sapienza

Epidemiological data indicate that risk behaviors are among the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Consistent with this, laboratory-based studies of age differences in risk behavior allude to a peak in adolescence, suggesting that adolescents demonstrate a heightened propensity, or inherent inclination, to take risks. Unlike epidemiological reports, studies of risk taking propensity have been limited to Western samples, leaving questions about the extent to which heightened risk taking propensity is an inherent or culturally constructed aspect of adolescence.

To examine whether the cultural normativeness of parents' beliefs and behaviors moderates the links between those beliefs and behaviors and youths' adjustment, mothers, fathers, and children (N = 1,298 families) from 12 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States) were interviewed when children were, on average, 10 years old and again when children were 12 years old.

Background: Most studies of the effects of parental religiousness on parenting and child development focus on a particular religion or cultural group, which limits generalizations that can be made about the effects of parental religiousness on family life. Methods: We assessed the associations among parental religiousness, parenting, and children's adjustment in a 3-year longitudinal investigation of 1,198 families from nine countries.

Using data from 1,177 families in eight countries (Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States), we tested a conceptual model of direct effects of childhood family adversity on subsequent externalizing behaviors as well as indirect effects through psychological mediators. When children were 9 years old, mothers and fathers reported on financial difficulties and their use of corporal punishment, and children reported perceptions of their parents' rejection.

To evaluate the causes and management of acute ataxia (AA) in the paediatric emergency setting and to identify clinical features predictive of an underlying clinically urgent neurological pathology (CUNP).

Recent epidemiological evidences indicate a tremendous increase in incidence and prevalence of the chronic multifactorial non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the western countries as well as in other geographical areas. These disorders result from an abnormal interplay between environment factors and host immunity, on a genetic susceptibility background.

Celiac disease (CD) is a systemic, chronic immune-mediated disorder elicited by gluten and related prolamines in genetically susceptible subjects. Main manifestations of CD involve the digestive tract; however, a growing body of evidence supports the theory that symptoms may occur in every part of the body. It is known that some patients with CD can be asymptomatic, and additionally, the incidence of "nonclassical" CD with extraintestinal presentation is apparently increasing.

This European Respiratory Society statement provides a comprehensive overview on protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) in children. A task force of experts, consisting of clinicians from Europe and Australia who manage children with PBB determined the overall scope of this statement through consensus. Systematic reviews addressing key questions were undertaken, diagrams in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement constructed and findings of relevant studies summarised.

Paediatric airway endoscopy is accepted as a diagnostic and therapeutic procedure, with an expanding number of indications and applications in children. The aim of this European Respiratory Society task force was to produce a statement on interventional bronchoscopy in children, describing the evidence available at present and current clinical practice, and identifying areas deserving further investigation.

Background: Whether viral coinfections cause more severe disease than Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) alone remains
unclear. We compared clinical disease severity and sought clinical and demographic differences between infants with
B. pertussis infection alone and those with respiratory viral coinfections. We also analyzed how respiratory infections
were distributed during the 2 years study.
Methods: We enrolled 53 infants with pertussis younger than 180 days (median age 58 days, range 17–109 days, 64.