Readmission and reinjury patterns in pediatric assault victims

Pediatric Surgery International - Repeated pediatric assault should be a never event. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the readmission and reinjury patterns in pediatric victims of assault...     

How to Treat Sepsis in the Background of Resistance?: Role of Pharmacodynamics / Pharmacokinetics in Treating Sepsis

Though a decline has been seen in child mortality and morbidity over the last decades, sepsis in neonates and infants remains a major cause of death. Optimal use of antibiotics in sepsis management is a key factor which can further reduce the number of poor clinical outcomes. Selecting the right antibiotic to which the offending bacteria is susceptible and administrating the antibiotic within the first hour can save many lives. However, the pharmacokinetic profile of an antibiotic is affected by developmental changes such as capacity of drug metabolizing enzymes and maturation of organ function. This can affect antibiotic exposure and response in neonates and infants. While suspecting sepsis, the primary focus of empiric treatment during the initial phase is to assure efficacy and it must be broad based to cover all suspected pathogens. Once the bacterial etiology is confirmed as a cause of sepsis and the in vitro antibiotic susceptibility is established, targeted treatment can be started which ensures optimal balance between efficacy and safety.     

Urinary and Plasma Metabolomics Identify the Distinct Metabolic Profile of Disease State in Chronic Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Identification of non-invasive biomarkers of disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) is critically needed for monitoring the disease progression and for effective therapeutic interventions. Urine is an attractive source for non-invasive biomarkers because it is easily obtained in the clinic. In search of a urine metabolite signature of progression in chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), we profiled urine at the chronic stage of the disease (day 45 post immunization) by global untargeted metabolomics. Using a combination of high-throughput liquid-and-gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, we found 105 metabolites (P < 0.05) significantly altered at the chronic stage, indicating a robust alteration in the urine metabolite profile during disease. Assessment of altered metabolites against the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes revealed distinct non-overlapping metabolic pathways and revealed phenylalanine-tyrosine and associated metabolism being the most impacted. Combined with previously performed plasma profiling, eight common metabolites were significantly altered in both of the biofluids. Metaboanalyst analysis of these common metabolites revealed that phenylalanine metabolism and Valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthetic pathways are central metabolic pathways in both bio-fluids and could be analyzed further, either for the discovery of therapeutics or biomarker development. Overall, our study suggests that urine and plasma metabolomics may contribute to the identification of a distinct metabolic fingerprint of EAE disease discriminating from the healthy control which may aid in the development of an objective non-invasive monitoring method for progressive autoimmune diseases like MS.

Untargeted urinary metabolomics of a chronic mouse model of multiple sclerosis identified Phenylalanine, tyrosine & tryptophan metabolism as the significantly altered metabolic pathway. Eight common metabolites were identified when we combined urinary and plasma metabolic signature, which revealed a perturbation of Phenylalanine metabolism and valine, leucine & isoleucine metabolic pathways, involved in CNS dysfunction during diseases. The identified eight metabolic signature of urine and plasma may be of clinical relevance as potential biomarkers and guide towards the identification of specific metabolic pathways as novel drug targets.

     

Straddle Injuries in Female Children and Adolescents: 10-year Accident and Management Analysis

Objective

To analyze unintentional straddle injuries in girls with regards to epidemiology, etiology and injury management.

Methods

The hospital database was retrospectively reviewed (1999–2009) for female patients managed for genital trauma. Patients were evaluated based on age, causative factors, type of injury, area of genitals affected, management and outcomes.

Results

Straddle injuries were documented in 91 girls with age ranging from 1 to 15 y (mean?=?6.3 y; median?=?6.1 y). The causes of injuries were falls at home (n?=?31) or outdoors (n?=?27), and sport activities (swimming pool n?=?11, skating n?=?11, bicycle n?=?9 and scooter n?=?2). Most of the injuries were lacerations. Injuries involved major labia (n?=?56), minor labia (n?=?45) and introitus vaginae (n?=?15). Twelve children received outpatient treatment. Inspection under anesthesia was performed in 79 patients, with 76 requiring sutures. While hematuria was observed in 18 patients, cystoscopy did not reveal lesions in the urethra or bladder. Associated injuries were femur fracture (n?=?1), lower extremity lacerations (n?=?4) and anal lesions (n?=?2). Follow-up investigations were uneventful; however one patient developed a secondary abscess and another secondary hyperplasia of the labia minor.

Conclusions

Falls and sports are major causes of straddle injuries with a peak at the age of six years. Lacerations are the most common injuries and often require surgical management. Urinary tract injuries and other associated injuries are relatively uncommon in girls with straddle injuries.     

Assessment of the effectiveness of peripheral administration of fentanyl with lidocaine in inflamed dentoalveolar tissues

Peripheral action of opioids for pain control, for which local inflammation has been shown to be crucial, is being increasingly used in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that addition of fentanyl to lidocaine, when injected into inflamed dentoalveolar tissues, can improve the quality of analgesia during surgery. Seventy-one patients reporting with pain and tenderness in the maxillary tooth were assigned into the experimental (LAF) or control (LA) group in a prospective, randomized double-blind trial. The LAF group (n = 36) was injected submucosally with a mixture of 40 microg of fentanyl (0.8 ml) and 2% lidocaine hydrochloride with 1:200000 adrenaline (2 ml). In the LA group (n = 35) 0.9% of saline (0.8 ml) was added instead of fentanyl. The pain scores were recorded before injecting, 5 min after injection, and immediately after surgery using a visual analogue scale. The mean pain scores were not significantly different at all time intervals. Twelve patients in the LAF group (2.75+/-0.72 ml) and ten patients in the LA (2.90+/-0.70 ml) group required additional local anaesthetic to achieve pain control. In conclusion, there was no improvement in quality of intraoperative analgesia on addition of fentanyl to lidocaine in inflamed dentoalveolar tissues.     

The multiple mediators of neurogenic smooth muscle relaxation.

The regulation of smooth muscle relaxation is vitally important for normal functioning of respiratory airways, gastrointestinal organs and the circulatory system. Since the recognition that such relaxation is not under adrenergic or cholinergic control, there has been an active search for the nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) mediators. A recent paper highlights the complex but coordinated control of the internal anal sphincter by three neurotransmitters.