Archives of Disease in Childhood articles from March 2002

Archives of Disease in Childhood archives from March 2002

Current perspectives on tinnitus: Experience of tinnitus is common in childhood. (Otology/Audiology).
March 1, 2002... Tinnitus in adults has received much scientific and clinical attention of late. Traditional theories about the pathogenesis of tinnitus concentrated on the cochlea, but this model had some serious shortcomings and could not explain some...

Plagiocephaly and head binding: Orthotic devices do not improve plagiocephaly. (Orthotics).
March 1, 2002... The practice of head deformation by pressure to an infant's skull dates back to 2000 BC when the Ancient Egyptians used head binding to produce a cosmetically pleasing and fashionable skull shape. With an increasing incidence of plagiocephaly...

Transient lymphopenia in acutely unwell young infants. (Short Report).
March 1, 2002... The clinical outcome of 42 acutely unwell infants <3 months old with lymphopenia was retrospectively compared with that of 42 controls. Lymphopenic infants were significantly more likely to require active resuscitation and intensive care,...

An evaluation of the First Parent Health Visitor Scheme. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To assess outcomes in families who received the First Parent Health Visitor Scheme (FPHVS), in comparison with families who received conventional ("generic") health visiting. Methods: Retrospective data on 2113 families were...

Vitamin D deficiency in UK Asian families: Activating a new concern. (Review).
March 1, 2002... Vitamin D has steroid hormonal effects which can produce clinical symptoms and signs unrelated to calcium homoeostasis. Its deficiency has been implicated as a risk factor for diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, and tuberculosis in Asians. In...

Evaluation of a mental health outreach service for homeless families. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To describe the characteristics of homeless children and families seen by the mental health outreach service [MHOS], to evaluate the impact of this service on the short term psychosocial functioning of children and parents, and to...

Somatic and psychological problems in a cohort of sexually abused boys: A six year follow up case-control study. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To obtain information about the health and well being of 108 boys six years after their involvement with the same paedophile. Methods: Case--control study of the health records of 93 male victims of a major episode of school based...

Head injuries in infants: The risks of bouncy chairs and car seats. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To establish whether the incorrect use of bouncy chairs (BC) and car seats (CS) is a significant cause of injuries in babies. Methods: Prospective study over a 12 month period. All babies under the age of 1 year, presenting to the...

Should we advise parents to administer over the counter cough medicines for acute cough? Systematic review of randomised controlled trials. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To determine the effectiveness of over the counter (OTC) cough medicines for acute cough in children. Methods: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). An all language search of the Cochrane Acute Respiratory...

Schoolchildren born of heroin dependent mothers. (Archivist).
March 1, 2002... A report from Jerusalem (Asher Ornoy and colleagues. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 2001;43:668-75) has shown the effects of maternal heroin dependency on school age children. The study included 65 children born to heroin...

Inhaler devices for asthma: Do we follow the guidelines? (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Background: Despite national guidelines for asthma treatment, many children have troublesome symptoms. Aim: To assess the extent to which the use of inappropriate inhaler devices contributes to this problem. Methods: Of 14813...

Maternal compliance with nutritional recommendations in an allergy preventive programme. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To assess maternal compliance with nutritional recommendations in an allergy preventive programme, and identify factors influencing compliance behaviour. Methods: Randomised double-blind intervention study on the effect of infant...

Poverty and Bugatti. (Postcard from down under).
March 1, 2002... We're in a taxi on our way to the airport in Mumbai, India. Which is much the same as saying that we are stuck in a very large traffic jam. It is about 10 o'clock at night. There is a knock on the window. Neither of us turn to look; we have...

The importance of testing for adrenoleucodystrophy in males with idiopathic Addison's disease. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... X linked adrenoleucodystrophy (X-ALD) is considered to be a rare cause of Addison's disease, although several small series suggest a high incidence in young Addisonian males. A survey in the south west of England identified 12 male patients...

Obesity and asthma are linked ... really. (Echo).
March 1, 2002... To avoid developing asthma fat children should lose weight. A large cross sectional study of children in the United States confirms that obesity increases the likelihood of asthma, but not atopy, as an independent risk factor. Previous...

Serum hyaluronic acid concentrations are increased in cystic fibrosis patients with liver disease. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aim: To determine whether serum hyaluronic acid (HA) concentrations are abnormal in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) liver disease, and if so, whether the abnormality is associated with disease severity. Results: Thirty four CF patients...

Risk adjusted mortality of critical illness in a defined geographical region. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Aims: To evaluate the performance of the Paediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) score in a population of UK children and to use this score to examine severity of illness adjusted mortality of critically ill children <16 years old in a defined...

Bronchodilator therapy and hyperactivity in preschool children. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... The common report of parents of asthmatic children that inhaled/nebulised salbutamol causes overactive behaviour was investigated. Nineteen children were assessed in a standardised setting before and after the administration of nebulised...

Parental guidance ... may be unsuitable for younger children. (From BMJ Journals).
March 1, 2002... Education and self management fail to control asthma in preschool children, a new randomised control trial targeting parents has found. Current thinking that patients should be given information on self management to help reduce illness...

Cerebral venous thrombosis during diabetic ketoacidosis. (Short Report).
March 1, 2002... Neurological deterioration during an episode of diabetic ketoacidosis is usually assumed to be caused by cerebral oedema. We present a case of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis presenting in a similar manner, also associated with severe iron...

"Spina ventosa"--tuberculous dactylitis. (Images in Paediatrics).
March 1, 2002... A 9 year old male presented with a two year history of a painless mass overlying the fourth finger of the right hand. Of note was that he had been started on antituberculous treatment two weeks prior to presentation. A chest radiograph showed...

Type 2 diabetes in obese white children. (Short Report).
March 1, 2002... We report four white adolescents aged 13 to 15 years (three females, one mole) from the south and west region of England who presented with type 2 diabetes mellitus associated with significant obesity (body mass index more than +3SDS) in the...

Fulminant pulmonary oedema after administration of a balanced electrolyte polyethylene glycol solution. (Case Report).
March 1, 2002... The safety of balanced electrolyte polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions has been documented in children. (1, 2) We describe a previously well child who developed fulminant pulmonary oedema after treatment with Golytely (Braintree Laboratories,...

Diabetes unmasked by electric shock. (Case Report).
March 1, 2002... Following an accidental electric shock, a boy with no previous symptoms developed hyperglycaemia, rapidly evolving into diabetes. He was aglycosuric for 24 hours after the shock. Islet cell antibodies were shown shortly after the accident....

Flying on a wing and a prayer. (Echo).
March 1, 2002... Please visit the Archives website [www.archdischild.com] for link to this full article. Spirometry predicts hypoxia during flights marc accurately than hypoxic challenge. So Buchdahl et al found when they tested their initial...

Post-thrombotic syndrome. (Case Report).
March 1, 2002... Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a potentially disabling complication occurring in up to 67% of adult patients following deep venous thrombosis (DVT). PIS has recently been recognised in children. We present three cases of symptomatic PTS in...

Investigation for complement deficiency following meningococcal disease. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Background and aims: The incidence of complement abnormalities in the UK is not known. It is suggested in at least three major paediatric textbooks to test for abnormalities of the complement system following meningococcal disease (MCD). ...

Plasma and urinary soluble adhesion molecule expression is increased during first documented acute pyelonephritis. (Original Article).
March 1, 2002... Background: The degree of inflammatory reaction and leucocyte trafficking during acute pyelonephritis has been related to the risk of developing renal parenchymal scarring. Adhesion molecules play a central role in leucocyte recruitment...

And another thing! A diatribe on dummies.(pacifiers)
March 1, 2002... One either hates or likes soothers, dummies, or pacifiers. Their use is widespread and seems to have become semi-automatic, semi-epidemic, and semi-prescriptive. A pacifier is defined as a rubber object that a baby is given to suck so that...

Transatlantic topic: Information technology--improving medicine.
March 1, 2002... Computer technology in the work-place is becoming increasingly common. US medicine was initially slow in adoption of information technology, but acceptance has accelerated significantly over the past few years. There are four areas in which...

Child Mental Health in Primary Care.
March 1, 2002... Q Spender, N Salt, J Dorkins, T Kendrick, P Hill. Radcliffe Medical Press, 2001, [pounds sterling]24.95, pp 381. ISBN 1-85775-262-7 Over the school holidays, this book was left on my desk whilst I was away on holiday. During this time, my...

Congenital Hemiplegia.
March 1, 2002... Edited by B Neville, R Goodman. Cambridge: MacKeith Press, 2001, [pounds sterling]40.00 (HB) pp217. ISBN 1 898 683190 If you believe that congenital hemiplegia is a straightforward, unilateral motor disability then you need to read this...

Infantile acne. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Infantile acne is uncommon; only 29 children received this diagnosis at a Leeds dermatology clinic over a period of 25 years (British Journal of Dermatology 2001;145:463-6). The acne was mostly on the cheeks and the median age of onset was 9...

DDT. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... What do human beings have in common with rabbits, and Californian sea lions? Well, they are all prone to preterm birth after exposure to DDT. Data from the US Collaborative Perinatal Project (Lancet 2001;358:110-4) show that the risk of...

Childhood cancers. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Apart from known genetic cancer syndromes genetic factors seem relatively unimportant in childhood cancers. A study in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) including data on 42277 siblings of 25605 children...

Massachusetts case-control study. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Women who were abused as children are more likely to suffer from depression as adults. A Boston, Massachusetts case-control study (Lancet 2001;358:881-7) included 236 women with current or past depression and 496 controls. The risk of...

Opioids. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Opioids, both endogenous and administered, are important in the production of postoperative ileus. A new opiate receptor inhibitor under investigation, ADL 8-2698 is poorly absorbed when given orally and does not readily cross the blood-brain...

MRI. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... People with autism have difficulty with facial interactions. Now research in California (Brain 2001;124:2059-73) has shown abnormal brain processing on face perception tasks. On functional MRI imaging all of eight normal adult control...

Preterm infants. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Preterm infants may benefit from receiving nutrient-enriched formula after going home. In Cambridge, Leicester and Nottingham (Pediatrics 2001;108:703-11) 229 preterm infants were randomised at hospital discharge to standard term formula or a...

Epiphysis. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Slipped upper femoral epiphysis is classified as unstable if there is sudden onset of severe pain which precludes walking. The risk of avascular necrosis is high with unstable slips. In a study in the south of England (Journal of Bone and...

Madrid. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... In Madrid (Journal of Pediatric Surgery 2001;36:1397-1400) eight children (mean age 9 years, 6 boys) presented with acute food bolus impaction in the lower oesophagus. All had evidence of longstanding gastrooesophageal reflux with...

Bacterial products. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Infants who live on farms are less likely to develop atopic diseases in childhood. A study in rural Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (Lancet 2001;358:1129-33) has related this protective effect to exposure to stables and to farm (often...

Maternal mental health. (Lucina).
March 1, 2002... Maternal mental health in pregnancy is important for the wellbeing of the fetus and newborn baby. Stress or anxiety in pregnancy has been associated with poor fetal growth, preterm delivery, and increased use of epidural analgesia. Now a...