No abstract

To evaluate the efficacy of an intranasal, inactivated, virosomal subunit influenza vaccine for prevention of new episodes of acute otitis media (AOM) in children with recurrent AOM, 133 children aged 1-5 years were randomized to receive the vaccine (n=67) or no vaccination (n=66). During a 6-month period, 24 (35.8%) vaccine recipients had 32 episodes of AOM; 42 (63.6%) control subjects had 64 episodes. The overall efficacy of vaccination in preventing AOM was 43.7% (95% confidence interval, 18.6-61.1; P=.002). Children vaccinated before influenza season had a significantly better outcome than did those vaccinated after the onset of influenza season. The cumulative duration of middle ear effusion was significantly less in vaccinated children than in control subjects. Data suggest that the intranasal virosomal influenza vaccine might be considered among the options for the prevention of AOM in children <5 years old with recurrent AOM.

The aim of this study was to investigate seasonal variations in the prevalence of the nasopharyngeal carriage of respiratory pathogens and identify factors affecting colonisation patterns in healthy children. The nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus in¯uenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis during two seasons (autumn and spring) was evaluated in 1580 healthy children aged 1±7 years by means of a cohort study conducted in day-care centres and schools in eight Italian cities. A questionnaire was used to obtain the epidemiological data. In all, 309 children (19.5%) carried one or more respiratory pathogens in the autumn, and 375 children (23.7%) in the spring. This variation was due to H. in¯uenzae alone or in combination (autumn: S. pneumoniae 60, 3.8%; H. in¯uenzae 206, 13.0%, M. catarrhalis 71, 4.5%; spring: S. pneumoniae 75, 4.7%; H. in¯uenzae 288, 18.2%, M. catarrhalis 82, 5.2%). Colonisation with two or more pathogens increased from 9.1% in the spring to 17.3% in the autumn. Seasonal variations occur in the prevalence of the nasopharyngeal carriage of respiratory pathogens in healthy children attending day-care centres or schools in Italy. However, although statistically signi®cant, the difference was slight and had limited clinical relevance. Therefore, seasonal in¯uence on the nasopharyngeal carriage of respiratory pathogens in healthy children was negligible.

GE are found in the blood of sighthounds other than Greyhounds. Hematology analyzers may underestimate the percentage of GE, probably due to their abnormal physical or chemical features. Underestimation is slight and usually clinically insignificant, but occasionally eosinophils are completely misclassified. Using the Sysmex analyzer, a GE gate can be designed to normalize the eosinophil count.

In view of the enormous variability of dog breeds, breed-specific reference intervals (RIs) are recommended for use in veterinary clinical decision-making. The aim of this study was to determine whether RIs of the general canine population may be applied to the Italian Greyhound (Piccoli Levrieri Italiani or PLI), and to generate breed-specific RIs, where appropriate. Sixty-three privately owned clinically healthy fasted dogs were examined. Routine haematology and biochemistry were performed on 58 enrolled patients using the ADVIA 120 haematology analyzer and the Cobas Mira system, respectively. Changes in haematological and biochemical parameters depending on sex, age and attitude (resting vs. running dogs) were investigated. The results of PLI were compared with the RIs of the general canine population. In those cases in which these RIs were not validated, new RIs were generated according to the guidelines of the American Society of Veterinary Clinical Pathology. Pre-existing RIs were considered valid based on the recommendations by the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). RIs were higher for mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), cell haemoglobin concentration mean (CHCM) and lower for large unstained cells (LUC). A wider discrepancy between pre-existing and newly established RIs was found for some ADVIA parameters regarding red blood cell (RBC) or reticulocyte morphology. For total protein and cholesterol the new RIs were wider than the pre-existing ones, while albumin, calcium and iron were higher. This study suggests that most of the RIs published in veterinary textbooks cannot be validated for PLIs.