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A higher prevalence of asthma symptoms, allergic rhinitis, and sensitisation rate was detected in Greek schoolchildren living in Thessaloniki compared to those in Athens. Allergy to mites and mould was more prevalent in Thessaloniki. The more humid weather of Thessaloniki may be implicated.

We describe 10 children who developed lung cavitation during the treatment of bacteremic pneumococcal lobar pneumonia. Chest CT scan showed extensive consolidation with several small lucencies and air-filled cavities. Invasive procedures like aggressive pleural intervention were not needed and the children recovered attaining normal lung function on long-term follow-up.

We studied the spatial processing abilities of a 55-year-old male patient, PAO, with a right perisylvian lesion. Although the patient showed no problems in performing object recognition tasks, he was impaired in visuo-spatial tasks. PAO's most prominent deficit was a marked inability to manipulate figures mentally in the absence of an impairment in visuospatial working memory. His deficit would surface whenever a non-predictable rotational change in the spatial frame occurred. In contrast, his perception of spatial location and his ability to cope with size transformations were in the normal range. These results suggest that the deficit described here is selective to the rotational operation. The results are discussed in relation to the model of Kosslyn et a/. (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 1992; 18: 562-77) proposing the existence of two separate, categorical and metric, spatial coding systems, only the former of which is held to be impaired.

Round consolidations in febrile children associated with elevated inflammatory indices seem to be attributed to round pneumonia, which responds promptly to antibiotics without complications.

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Aim: To prospectively evaluate interferences between viruses of the upper respiratory tract in asymptomatic preschool children. Methods: Nasal-pharyngeal swabs from 233 preschool aged children were prospectively collected over four consecutive time periods, during one school year. The samples were tested using a RT-PCR DNA/RNA microarray system for nine respiratory viruses. Results: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was a predictor of the presence of influenza virus (INFL) (OR: 9.12, CI: 1.52---54.75, p = 0.016), and similarly, INFL predicted the presence of RSV (OR: 4.01, CI: 1.14---14.16, p = 0.030). Also, rhinovirus (RV) was a predictor of adenovirus (ADV) presence (OR: 3.66, CI: 1.10---12.14, p = 0.034), and similarly, ADV predicted the presence of RV (OR: 4.05, CI: 1.02---16.05, p = 0.046). No other significant associations between viruses were observed. Conclusion: Our results indicate that respiratory viruses found in carrier stage in asymptomatic children may interact with other viruses and even facilitate their settling in the upper respiratory tract. The pathophysiological role of these interactions is not yet clear.