A5003873220- Asthma and respiratory diseases
- Respiratory and Cough-Related Research
- Pediatric health and respiratory diseases
- Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
- Neonatal Respiratory Health Research
- Noise Effects and Management
- Marine and coastal plant biology
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea Research
- Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
- Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Urban Green Space and Health
- Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Neuroscience of respiration and sleep
- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- School Health and Nursing Education
- Ocean Acidification Effects and Responses
- Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Statistical Methods and Inference
- Child Nutrition and Water Access
- Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies
University of Palermo
2015-2024
CoNISMa
2022-2024
University of Palermo
2016-2023
Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation
2019-2022
National Research Council
2015-2022
Istituto di Farmacologia Traslazionale
2022
Istituto di Biomedicina e di Immunologia Molecolare Alberto Monroy
2015-2019
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
2015-2016
National Research Council
2015
miRNAs are master regulators of signaling pathways critically involved in asthma and transferred between cells extracellular vesicles (EV). We aimed to investigate whether the miRNA content EV secreted by primary normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) is altered upon development.NHBE were cultured at air-liquid interface treated with interleukin (IL)-13 induce an asthma-like phenotype. isolations precipitation from basal culture medium or apical surface wash characterized nanoparticle...
Due to the complex interplay among different urban-related exposures, a comprehensive approach is advisable estimate health effects. We simultaneously assessed effect of "green", "grey" and air pollution exposure on respiratory/allergic conditions general symptoms in schoolchildren.This study involved 219 schoolchildren (8-10 years) Municipality Palermo, Italy. Data were collected through questionnaires self-administered by parents children. Exposures greenness greyness at home addresses...
Abstract Knowledge on multiple interdependences between quality of life (QoL) and behavioural problems in relation to asthma severity control is undetermined. The aims the study were: (i) assess relationship QoL with (ii) predict children’s “abnormal/borderline” status variation QoL. For these purposes a multicenter case-control 47 Severe Asthma (SA) 94 Moderate (MA) children was performed. MIMIC approach applied investigate effect SA non-controlled (NC) disorders. Logistic regression used...
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children is associated with acute metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurocognitive abnormalities. The long-term outcomes of childhood OSA into adulthood have not been established. We performed a 20-year follow-up patients polysomnography-documented compared to healthy control group evaluate the anthropometric, sleep, cognitive, cardiovascular outcomes.Children diagnosed severe between ages 1 17 years (mean, 4.87 ± 2.77) were prospectively contacted by telephone...
Achieving and maintaining asthma control (AC) is the main goal of management. Indoor outdoor environmental factors may play an important role on AC. The aim this longitudinal study was to evaluate association between AC exposure greenness other or indoor in a cohort asthmatic children. This involved 179 children (5-16 years). Parents were interviewed through modified version SIDRIA questionnaire. assessed at each visit. Exposure measured using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). A...
This paper focuses on hypothesis testing in lasso regression, when one is interested judging statistical significance for the regression coefficients equation involving a lot of covariates. To get reliable p-values, we propose new lasso-type estimator relying idea induced smoothing which allows to obtain appropriate covariance matrix and Wald statistic relatively easily. Some simulation experiments reveal that our approach exhibits good performance contrasted with recent inferential tools...
Abstract Background Repeatability and reproducibility are essential for clinicians several purposes. Although discouraged, use of the Coefficient Variation (CV) assessing repeatability reproducibility, rather than Intraclass Correlation (ICC), is still widespread. The aim present study was to highlight how using inappropriate indices may lead misleading results, this done by simulation real data on Anterior Active Rhinomanometry (AAR) in both healthy children ones with rhinitis. Methods A...
Seismic activity is a fundamental characteristic of tectonically active regions, and Sicily represents key area for understanding seismic processes in the Mediterranean. This study presents comprehensive survey using Epidemic-Type Aftershock Sequence (ETAS) method detailed analysis magnitude completeness (Mc). By integrating these two approaches, we aim to enhance our seismicity patterns assess hazard region.The ETAS model, widely used seismology, enables separation background from...
Mothers' knowledge about childhood asthma influences management practices and disease control, but validating knowledge/practice questionnaires is difficult due to the lack of a gold standard. We hypothesized that Latent Class Analysis (LCA) could help identify underlying mother profiles with similar knowledge/practices. A total 438 mothers asthmatic children answered questionnaire. Using answers questionnaire as manifest variables, LCA identified two classes: 1, "poor knowledge" (33%); 2,...
Climate change (CC) is expected to negatively impact respiratory health due air pollution and increased aeroallergen exposure. Children are among the most vulnerable populations high ventilation rates, small peripheral airways, developing immunological systems. To assess current knowledge Italian pediatric pulmonologists on potential effects of CC allergic diseases, a national survey was launched online from February 2020 2021. The members Pediatric Respiratory Society (SIMRI) were contacted...
Studies investigating the association between urinary Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and asthma in children provided inhomogeneous results. We aimed to use Mediation Analysis discover whether a link PAHs lung function exists if it might be ascribed direct or symptom-mediated (indirect) effect with asthma. This single-center prospective study was conducted Palermo, Italy, March July 2017 involved 50 persistent mild-moderate asthma, aged 6-11 years. At each time visit (day 0, 30, 60,...
<b><i>Background:</i></b> Saline nasal irrigation is labelled as an add-on treatment in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). The primary aim of this study was to compare the efficacy 21-day use buffered hypertonic saline (BHS) versus normal solution (NSS) on reducing symptoms children seasonal AR (SAR). Comparing their cytology counts (NCC), quality life, and sleep secondary aim. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In 21-day,<b> </b>open-label,...
Mild Parkinsonian signs (MPS) are commonly seen in aging, and have been related to cerebral Small Vessel Diseases (SVD) with no univocal results.The aim of this study was investigate the cross-sectional relation between MPS White Matter Hyperintensities (WMH), lacunes, caudate atrophy, global atrophy a large cohort Neurologically Cognitively Healthy (NCH) aging individuals.1,219 NCH individuals were included analysis, underwent standard brain MRI. The items motor section Unified Parkinson's...
The diversity of allergic rhinitis (AR) phenotypes is particularly evident in childhood, suggesting the need to analyze and identify new approaches capture such clinical heterogeneity. Nasal cytology (NC) a very useful diagnostic tool for identifying quantifying nasal inflammation. Data-driven as latent class analysis (LCA) assign subjects classes based on their characteristics. We hypothesized that LCA NC, including assessment neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells, may be helpful AR...