Ricerc@Sapienza

The field of Pediatrics grows more demanding every day. The pediatrician must follow the child from the first breath of life, through the growth and tribulations of childhood, puberty, and onset of adulthood. One of the difficulties facing the pediatrician is detecting subacute health concerns that are latent or subtle in early life, but that persist and slowly establish during child development, only to be fully manifest at a time when intervention is already belated and often less effective. The onset of puberty and associated influx of sex hormones may further complicate this evolution, as a new homeostasis must be achieved across organ systems, in particular the brain, where neural pruning and reorganization occur. Indeed, new challenges await the clinician at this stage especially, as heretofore subtle or hidden problems may abruptly present along fully “new” health concerns. Those in clinical practice will tell you: fasten your seatbelts, the ride may be bumpy!