Archives of Disease in Childhood articles from November 2002

Archives of Disease in Childhood archives from November 2002

Paediatric clinical decision support systems: dreams come true? (Diagnosis).
November 1, 2002... A computerised clinical decision support system (CDSS) is "a computer based tool using explicit knowledge to generate patient specific advice or interpretation". (1) Our use of computers has been driven not only by the increasing need to...

Primary ciliary dyskinesia: a nose for a diagnosis? (Diagnosis).
November 1, 2002... All children cough, all children have runny noses, and most children are normal. In a child with a cough, an unexpected additional finding, for example rectal prolapse, should lead to a reappraisal of what at first sight may be a trivial...

The mental health of refugee children. (Review).
November 1, 2002... The UK is facing a major increase in the number of people seeking asylum each year, of whom approximately a quarter are children. The stressors to which refugees are exposed are described in three stages: (1) while in their country of origin;...

Randomised controlled trial comparing an acute paediatric hospital at home scheme with conventional hospital care. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aims: To assess the clinical effectiveness of a paediatric hospital at home service compared to conventional hospital care. Methods: A total of 399 children suffering from breathing difficulty (n = 202), diarrhoea and vomiting (n = 125),...

A parent completed questionnaire to describe the patterns of wheezing and other respiratory symptoms in infants and preschool children. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To develop a standardised and validated respiratory symptom questionnaire for use in epidemiological or follow up studies in infants and preschool children. Methodology: After initial design and development, the questionnaire was...

Impaired cognition and schooling in adults with end stage renal disease since childhood. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aims: To determine cognitive and educational attainment in adults with end stage renal disease (ESRD) since childhood. Methods: All Dutch patients with onset of ESRD at age 0-14 years between 1972 and 1992, who were born before 1979, were...

Male biased mortality among 1-2 year old children in rural Malawi. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... We performed a community based cohort study in rural Malawi and documented a twofold mortality risk among 1-2 year old boys compared to girls of the same age. Because of its potential implications for child survival programmes, further...

Obesity in Iranian children. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... We surveyed 4315 2-5 year aids in Iran. Prevalence of obesity IBMI >95th centile, Iranian reference data) was compared with the recent "IOTF" approach. Prevalence was significantly higher than expected, and increased with age, but...

Poisoning in children 1: general management; basic principles in the management of poisoning. (Poisoning).
November 1, 2002... In this, the first of a series of five articles, we deal with basic principles in the management of poisoning in children. A working knowledge of the management of poisoning in children is essential for all those involved in acute...

Poisoning in children 2: painkillers; painkillers and antipyretics are the largest group of toxins encountered by children. (Poisoning).
November 1, 2002... In this, the second of a series of articles on the management of poisoning, we deal with the largest group of toxins encountered by children--painkillers and antipyretics. PARACETAMOL Children are more resistant to paracetamol...

Poisoning in children 3: common medicines; a wide variety of medicines are ingested by children. (Poisoning).
November 1, 2002... In this, the third of a series of articles on the management of poisoning, we deal with medicines commonly ingested by children. COUGH AND DECONGESTANT PREPARATIONS Proprietary preparations for the treatment of coughs, colds, and...

Poisoning in children 4: household products, plants, and mushrooms. (Poisoning).
November 1, 2002... Management of children who have ingested bleach, white spirit, turpentine, general household cleaning products, alcohol, rodenticides, petrochemicals, essential oils, vapour treatments, nail care products, and washing powder; and also...

Poisoning in children 5: rare and dangerous poisons. (Poisoning).
November 1, 2002... Management of children who have ingested [beta] blockers, digoxin, oral hypoglycaemics, organophosphates, carbon monoxide, cyanide, isopropanol, ethylene glycol, methanol, Ecstasy, LSD, cocaine, nicotine, and isoniazid In the final paper...

Towards evidence based medicine for paediatricians. (Archimedes).
November 1, 2002... In order to give the best care to patients and families, paediatricians need to integrate the highest quality scientific evidence with clinical expertise and the opinions of the family. (1) Archimedes seeks to assist practising clinicians by...

Nuclear family. (Postcard from Down Under).
November 1, 2002... It is the conceit of every generation that their own childhood took place during the end of an era. I'm guessing that this more accurately reflects the rose-tinted spectacles view of our childhood that many of us have. In truth there are so...

Reduced lung function both before bronchiolitis and at 11 years. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Background and Aims: We have previously shown an association between reduced premorbid lung function (V'maxFRC) and bronchiolitis. We hypothesised that individuals with bronchiolitis will go on to have reduced lung function and increased...

Heart disease in Williams syndrome. (Archivist).
November 1, 2002... Williams syndrome is caused by a microdeletion in the chromosomal region 7q11.23. The deleted genes included the elastin gene. The typical vasculopathy consists of progressive supravalvular aortic stenosis and nonprogressive or improving...

A comparison of three scoring systems for mortality risk among retrieved intensive care patients. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aims: To assess the impact of two paediatric intensive care unit retrieval teams on the performance of three mortality risk scoring systems: pre-ICU PRISM, PIM, and PRISM II. Methods: A total of 928 critically ill children retrieved for...

Seasonal plasma electrolyte fluctuations in childhood diarrhoea. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... A retrospective analysis of routinely collected data from a diarrhoea rehydration unit found clinically meaningful parallel seasonal variation in plasma sodium and potassium concentrations. The prevalence of severe hypokaloemia was 7.2% and...

Fat oxidation defect presenting with overwhelming ketonuria. (Case Report).
November 1, 2002... Ketonuria accompanying hypoglycaemia is conventionally thought to exclude fat oxidation defects. We describe a 2 year old girl with hypoglycaemic encephalopathy in whom a diagnosis of very long chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency was...

Clinical improvement in cystic fibrosis with early insulin treatment. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... Diabetes mellitus is an increasingly prevalent complication of cystic fibrosis (CF) as a result of the increased life expectancy resulting from advances in CF treatment. The management of cystic fibrosis related diabetes (CFRD) has previously...

Duodenal perforation: a diagnostic pitfall in non-accidental injury. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... Duodenal perforation is a rare, life threatening injury associated with non-accidental blunt abdominal trauma. Diagnostic delay is common, as the true history is concealed and signs may be minimal. Double contrast computed tomography is the...

Pneumococcal infection in children with no spleen. (Archivist).
November 1, 2002... Overwhelming infection remains a problem for children who have no spleen either because they were born without one or because they have undergone splenectomy. They are at risk from all encapsulated bacterial pathogens but more than half of...

Pulsed dye laser for Sturge-Weber syndrome. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... Port wine stain of Sturge--Weber syndrome represents a cosmetic prejudice with social consequences. We have treated eight patients with a 585 nm pulsed dye laser. According to our experience, the treatment is not risky provided that adequate...

Aplastic anaemia associated with parvovirus B19 infection. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... Parvovirus B19 involvement was investigated in 30 children with severe aplastic anaemia. Active or recent porvovirus B19 infection, as shown by B19 DNA viraemia, positive B19 specific IgM antibodies, or both, was diagnosed in six patients....

The use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure to treat obstructive sleep apnoea. (Original Article).
November 1, 2002... Aim: To review 66 children with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) for whom a trial of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) was proposed. Methods: Baseline sleep studies were performed to assess OSA severity; a trial of nCPAP...

Familial neurofibromatosis microdeletion syndrome complicated by rhabdomyosarcoma. (Short Report).
November 1, 2002... Neurofibromatosis type 1 with dysmorphism and developmental delay is reported in a mother and two children. The son required treatment for a prostatic rhabdomyosarcoma. His sister has an optic pathway glioma. Fluorescence in situ...

Improving ischaemic skin revascularisation by nerve growth factor in a child with crush syndrome. (Case Report).
November 1, 2002... Nerve growth factor (NGF) is the first described neurotrophin that stimulates the growth and differentiation of nerve cells and promotes skin and peripheral tissue regeneration. Recent studies suggest that NGF influences endothelial cell...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2002... The paper by Parkin et al in the September issue of Archives (Arch Dis Child 2002;87:221-2) was missing acknowledgements. The following paragraph should have been included: Rita Arseneault, Audrey Bell-Peter, Diana Cohen, Pauline...

Lucina.
November 1, 2002... Two-drug antiretroviral treatment of mothers during labour (or starting before labour) and of mothers and infants for 1 week after delivery reduces HIV-I transmission in the first 6 weeks but has little effect on HIV-I infection rates by age...