Archives of Disease in Childhood articles from February 2003

Archives of Disease in Childhood archives from February 2003

Tonsillectomy: in or out of fashion? (Surgery).
February 1, 2003... Tonsillectomy was once fashionable. Regarded as a panacea for upper respiratory tract problems, many children in the late 1950s and 1960s underwent tonsillectomy. In 1967, 120 per 10 000 children (age [less than or equal to]14 years) had their...

Images in paediatrics: caustic burn caused by potassium permanganate.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Potassium permanganate solution has antiseptic properties and is 'useful in managing infected eczema, particularly in children. Formerly dispensed as crystals, it is now more conveniently available as soluble tablets. Patients must be warned...

Community child health training: lessons required not just for the trainees. (Leading Article: Training).
February 1, 2003... This leading article aims to highlight the main training issues in community child health (CCH) and, in light of work done so far, discuss provision of appropriate numbers of well trained paediatricians to meet the needs of the nation's...

Parenting programmes: what is the likely impact on child mental health? (Leading Article: Parenting).
February 1, 2003... The December edition of the Archives carried two complementary papers (1 2) on need and demand for, and impact of, parenting programmes, reflecting increasing professional and political interest in interventions to improve parenting. This...

Postcard from down under: the fat of the land.
February 1, 2003... They say that you are what you eat. By current trends it's looking like, by the year 2050, we'll all be 150 kg by our thirtieth birthday and the only exercise we'll get is activating the direct computer access to McKFC for our next order of a...

Classification of child abuse by motive and degree rather than type of injury. (Personal Practice).
February 1, 2003... The protection of children may be enhanced if ill treatment is classified by motive and degree rather than by type of injury. Four categories are proposed: A, abuse: premeditated ill treatment undertaken For gain by disturbed, dangerous, and...

How to distinguish between neglect and deprivational abuse. (Personal Practice).
February 1, 2003... Neglect is a major cause of inadequate childcare in all societies and should be differentiated from abuse. "Neglect" is defined here, as the "neglectful" failure to supply the needs of the child, including emotional needs. It does not include...

Preventing sleeping problems in infants who are at risk of developing them. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aims: (1) To identify factors at 1 week of age which put infants at risk of failing to sleep through the night at 12 weeks of age. (2) To assess whether a behavioural programme increases the likelihood that these infants will sleep through the...

Sudden infant death syndrome: bed sharing with mothers who smoke. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aim: To examine the sleeping arrangements of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases on the Wirral. In particular to determine the prevalence of bed sharing with mothers who smoke, a known risk factor for SIDS. Methods: Retrospective...

Disabilities and trends over time in a French county, 1980-91. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aim: To describe trends over time and types of disability for children born in a French county from 1980 to 1991. Methods: Data were collected from medical records of a morbidity register; disabled children with at least one severe...

Images in paediatrics: dumbbell tumour of the mediastinum.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A 6 month old male infant presented with fever and cough of one month duration. The chest radiograph showed bilateral radio-opacities occupying the medial aspect of each hemithorax (fig 1). Computerised tomography (CT) revealed a dumbbell...

Resuscitation training of paediatricians. (Review).
February 1, 2003... Intensive, didactic courses teaching resuscitation training are currently not only very popular, but are also required curricula content for certain aspects of medical training. There are a number of such courses available in the field of...

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis: recognition in the hands of general paediatricians. (Review).
February 1, 2003... Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis will often present to the general paediatrician as an acute polysymptomatic encephalopathy, and initially the diagnosis may not be clear. A brain MRI scan is essential in establishing the diagnosis and so...

A seven year experience of medical emergencies in the assessment unit. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aims: To analyse retrospectively all referrals to the assessment unit during a seven year period, to determine their sources and destination. Methods: All referrals over the seven year period were analysed. Parental satisfaction was...

Amitraz poisoning, an emerging problem: epidemiology, clinical features, management, and preventive strategies. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Background: Amitraz is a pharmaceutical, veterinary, and agricultural product which is used worldwide under numerous generic names as an acaricide and insecticide. Because of its widespread use amitraz poisoning has come emerged as a cause of...

Lung function and respiratory health in adolescents of very low birth weight. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aims: To determine if very low birth weight (VLBW; birth weight Methods: A geographically defined cohort of 128 VLBW infants and an age, sex, and school matched comparison group born in 1980/81 were studied. The cohort and comparison group...

Lung pathology in Africa. (Archivist).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Respiratory diseases are common in children in sub-Saharan Africa. They are usually treated empirically and there is little information about the pathology of fatal diseases. A study in Zambia (Chifumbe Chintu and colleagues. Lancet...

Blood pressure in sleep disordered breathing. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aims: To investigate blood pressure (BP) in children with sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Methods: BP was measured during single night polysomnography in 23 suspected SDB child patients with adenotonsillar hypertrophy, but without...

Partial splenectomy in cystic fibrosis patients with hypersplenism. (Case Report).
February 1, 2003... We report three cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with hypersplenism who underwent partial splenectomy. The postoperative course was uneventful in two patients; one patient developed a complication necessitating resection of the rest of the spleen....

Sexual health of teenagers. (Archivist).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The rate of births to teenagers in the UK is twice that of Germany, three times that of France, and six times that of the Netherlands. The incidences of both gonorrhoea and genital chlamydial infection rose 2.5-fold between 1995 and 2000. A...

Attentional ability among survivors of leukaemia treated without cranial irradiation. (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Background: Previous research has indicated that children who have received treatment for leukaemia which includes cranial irradiation exhibit deficits in their ability to focus attention. It has been suggested that the use of cranial...

Secular trends in growth in diabetes: are we winning? (Original Article).
February 1, 2003... Aim: To determine potential effects of modern treatment on growth in diabetic children. Methods: Retrospective analysis of growth in diabetic children stratified by their year of diagnosis between 1974 and 1995. A total of 451 children and...

The incidence of hypoglycaemia in children with type 1 diabetes and treated asthma. (Short Report).
February 1, 2003... Aims: To investigate whether treatment of coexisting asthma has any effect on the incidence of hypoglycaemia and on glycaemic control in children with type 1 diabetes. Methods: An observational study of children attending the poediatric...

Sudden infant death due to disseminated pneumococcal infection. (Short Report).
February 1, 2003... The Office of National Statistics, England has reported approximately 13 deaths in children per year as a result of invasive pneumococcal disease (meningitis, septicaemia, pneumonia) between 1989 and 1999 in England and Wales. This is thought...

Successful radioiodine treatment in a 3 year old child with Graves' disease following antithyroid medication induced neutropenia. (Case Report).
February 1, 2003... A 3 year old child with Graves' disease and mitral valve pralapse became neutropenic on carbimazole therapy. She was switched to propylthiouracil but the neutropenia recurred. She was treated with radioiodine but required two doses of 113 MBq...

An unusual presentation of perinatally transmitted hepatitis C. (Case Report).
February 1, 2003... A unique presentation of perinatally acquired hepatitis C (HCV) with acute jaundice and chronic aggressive liver disease in a previously asymptomatic preadolescent is described. The difficulties in establishing the diagnosis and the importance...

Ganglioneuroblastoma presenting as dilated cardiomyopathy. (Case Report).
February 1, 2003... We report an unusual presentation of ganglioneuroblastoma with features of dilated cardiomyopathy in a 22 month old girl. She was admitted with cardiomegaly; during echocardiography a suspicious abdominal mass was detected by chance. Further...

Radial artery pseudoaneurysm successfully treated by compression bandage. (Case Report).
February 1, 2003... In children, surgery for radial artery pseudoaneurysm (PA) may be followed by growth retardation of the hand because of inadequate blood flow. We believe this is the first report of a child with PA of the radial artery cured by compression...

Fractured fibula can mimic irritable hip. (Case Report).
February 1, 2003... A traumatic limp is a common presentation in childhood, particularly in the under 5s. While the commonest diagnosis is irritable hip ascribed to a transient synovitis, there is a long list of other and more sinister diagnoses. (1-4) Clinical...

Difficult asthma in children. (Occasional Review).
February 1, 2003... Asthmatic children on high dose corticosteroids need to be fully assessed to ensure that such dosages are really necessary. Further work needs to be undertaken to find the best approach to poor treatment adherence and false claims for financial...

Importance of timing of risk factors for cerebral oedema during therapy for diabetic ketoacidosis. (Hypothesis).
February 1, 2003... Cerebral aedema is the most common cause of mortality and morbidity during the first day of conventional treatment for diabetic ketoacidosis in paediatric patients. It is possible that therapy contributes to its development. Risk factors that...

BK virus DNA in CSF of immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. (Original Article).(cerebrospinal fluid)
February 1, 2003... Aim: To investigate the possible aetiological role of BK and JC viruses in immunocompetent and immunocompromised children with suspected encephalitis and meningoencephalitis. Methods: The polymerase chain reaction and microplate...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... If you have a burning desire to respond to a paper published in ADC or F&N, why not make use of our "rapid response" option? Log on to our website (www.archdischild.com), find the paper that interests you, click on "full text" and send your...

Correction.('Heart disease in Williams syndrome,' in Arch Dis Child 2002;87:420)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2003... The Archivist piece "Heart disease in Williams syndrome" (Arch Dis Child 2002;87:420) should have given the reference to the original article in the Journal of Medical Genetics as J Med Genet 2002;39:554-8.

Among the consequences of a poor diet may be antisocial behaviour. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Among the consequences of a poor diet may be antisocial behaviour. A study of young adult prisoners (British Journal of Psychiatry 2002;181:22-8) has added to evidence accumulating since the second World War. Two hundred and thirty-one...

A Dutch study (Journal of Pediatrics 2002; 140:507-15) has added to the evidence that children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) usually cope well with their shortness. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A Dutch study (Journal of Pediatrics 2002; 140:507-15) has added to the evidence that children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) usually cope well with their shortness. Thirty-six children with ISS were randomised to growth hormone treatment...

Even transient congenital hypothyroidism may be due to a genetic defect of thyroid hormone synthesis. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Even transient congenital hypothyroidism may be due to a genetic defect of thyroid hormone synthesis. In Amsterdam (New England Journal of Medicine 2002;347:95102) three of eight patients with mild transient congenital hypothyroidism and a...

Pulmonary tuberculosis in a 10 year old boy. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Six weeks after starting treatment with rifamipicin, isoniazid, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide for pulmonary tuberculosis a 10 year old boy in the Gambia (Lancet 2002;360: 138) developed dislocation of one ocular lens and subluxation of the...

Juvenile Paget's disease. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Juvenile Paget's disease (hyperostosis corticalis deformans juvenilis or hereditary hyperphosphatasia) is a rare (40 cases described worldwide) and potentially fatal disease of bone that presents in infants and young children. Osteoprotegerin...

A trial in Malawi including almost 600 children with bacterial meningitis has shown no benefit from dexamethasone treatment. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A trial in Malawi including almost 600 children with bacterial meningitis (Lancet 2002;360:2 11-8, see also Commentary, ibid: 183) has shown no benefit from dexamethasone treatment begun just before the first dose of antibiotic (penicillin and...

In sub-Saharan Africa the falling trend in child mortality has slowed or reversed in recent years. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... In sub-Saharan Africa the falling trend in child mortality has slowed or reversed in recent years. Much, but not all, of this reversal has been caused by HIV/AIDS (Lancet 2002;360:284-9). It was the cause of 2% of deaths in under 5s in 1900 and...

Children with autism who exhibit severe behaviour disturbance such as self-injury, aggression, or severe tantrums may respond to treatment with risperidone. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Children with autism who exhibit severe behaviour disturbance such as self-injury, aggression, or severe tantrums may respond to treatment with risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic agent. In a multicentre US trial (New England Journal of...

The availability of intracytoplasmic sperm injection means that men with low concentrations of sperm in semen may father children. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The availability of intracytoplasmic sperm injection means that men with low concentrations of sperm in semen may father children: the emphasis is on sperm quality rather than quantity. In Edinburgh (Lancet 2002;360:361-7) 11 of 33 men who had...

Most children adopted into a different country do well. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Most children adopted into a different country do well but a study in Sweden (Lancet 2002; 360:443-8, see also commentary pages 423-4) has shown that intercountry adoptees are at increased risk of psychiatric illness or social maladjustment in...

Researchers in Birmingham (Lancet 2002;360:521-7) argued that early treatment of haemangiomas using pulsed dye lasers might get rid of them easily and be better than just waiting. (Lucina).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Researchers in Birmingham (Lancet 2002;360:521-7) argued that early treatment of haemangiomas using pulsed dye lasers might get rid of them easily and be better than just waiting. In a randomised trial, however, they found that the 1 year...