Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an inflammatory disease of the skin, which is characterised by a chronic relapsing course. The aim of the study was to assign the prevalence of clinically active food allergies among a group of children between 3 months and 7 years of age, with AD. Eighty-eight children with AD were screened for specific IgE antibodies to food proteins. All patients with AD and specific IgE antibodies to food proteins were subjected to Oral Food Challenges (OFCs) with the relevant foods. Food-sensitised patients with moderate levels of sIgE had clinically active food allergy to milk (39.28%) and egg (42.34%) on the basis of positive OFCs. High IgE and eosinophilia had a prevalence of almost 80% and 25%, regardless of concomitant food sensitisation and disease severity. In this study, clinically active food allergies were recognised in 26.13% of children with AD. Nevertheless, no association was confirmed between food sensitisation and AD severity. High IgE and peripheral eosinophilia have not been found more prevalent among children with severe AD nor among children with food sensitisation. Infants and younger children with AD should be screened for an underlying food allergy, regardless of disease severity.

Background: Obstructive respiratory disorders, such as allergic rhinitis and asthma may impair sleep quality. The aim of this study is to validate the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) for Greek children from 6 to 14 years of age. No validated tool has been developed so far to assess sleep disturbances in Greek school-aged children. Methods: We examined the reliability and validity of the CSHQ in a sample of children with allergic rhinitis (AR) and a non-clinical population of parents of these children as a proxy measure of children's AR quality of life (QoL) as evaluated by the Pediatric Allergic Rhinitis Quality of Life (PedARQoL) questionnaire. Results: The CSHQ questionnaire Child's Form (CF) had a moderate internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha 0.671 and Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.563 when correlated with the PedARQoL (CF). There was also a moderate intraclass correlation of ICC = 0.505 between the responses to both questionnaires in the two visits. The CSHQ Parent's Form (PF) had a very good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.928 and Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.798. There was a high intraclass correlation of 0.643 between the responses in the two visits. Conclusions: The Greek version of the CSHQ CF, but particularly the PF has proved to be a very reliable clinical instrument, which can be used in clinical trials for assessing sleep quality in school-aged children with sleep disturbances because of obstructive airway disorders, such as AR. (C) 2017 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The relationship between Helicobacter pylori (Hp) gastritis and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) remains controversial. The aim was to investigate the association between Hp infection and gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and the impact of Hp eradication on esophageal acid exposure and motility in adolescents and young adults with Hp gastritis and GERD. Sixty-four patients with symptoms suggestive for GERD, of which 40 Hp-positive (group A) and 24 Hp-negative (group B), underwent endoscopy-biopsy, esophageal manometry and 24-hour pH-metry. All group A patients received eradication treatment and were re-evaluated six months later again with 24-hour pH-metry, esophageal manometry, endoscopy-biopsy and clinical assessment. At inclusion, there were no significant differences between the two groups regarding sex, age, grade of endoscopic esophagitis, manometric and pH-metry findings. All Hp-positive patients had an antral predominant gastritis. Eradication of Hp was successful in all patients, and gastritis and esophagitis were healed in all patients. The mean lower esophageal sphincter pressure (LESP) increased significantly from 11.25 mmHg before to 11.71 mmHg after eradication (P<0.05). A significant decrease in reflux index was observed (mean RI 6.02% before versus 4.96% after eradication (P<0.05). However clinical symptoms of GER improved not significantly after 6 months follow up. Conclusively, in children and young adults with GER symptoms and GERD, the presence or absence of Hp has no impact on manometric and pH-metric findings. Eradication of Hp infection results in increase in LESP with a consequent decrease in esophageal acid exposure but not significant clinical improvement.

Food induced sensitization has been reported in pediatric liver recipients. However long term follow up has not been established so far. We report here our experience regarding 3 pediatric patients who developed acquired food allergy after liver transplantation. The first patient suffered from persistent diarrhea and eczema. The second one presented with abdominal pain with no signs of rejection, abdominal discomfort, vomiting when ingesting milk proteins and responded well to the elimination diet. The third patient presented with facial angioedema and hoarseness of voice. She had multiple food allergies and reacted to milk, egg and sesame. All the patients had elevated total Immunoglobulin E (IgE) and elevated specific IgE antibodies to the implicated food allergens. The first patient presented clinical manifestations of allergy when she was 19 months old. The second patient became allergic at the age of 16 and the third patient at the age of 3. The symptoms of food allergy persisted for 8 years in the first case and for 2 years in the other two cases. Low levels of specific IgE antibodies to the implicated food allergens and an enhanced T-helper 1 cell immune response toward interferon-gamma production were markers of tolerance acquisition. The long term prognosis in our cases was excellent. Food allergy resolved in all the patients. The long term prognosis of acquired food allergy after liver transplantation is currently obscure. More studies would be needed including greater number of patients to determine whether acquired food allergy is transient in pediatric liver recipients.