The fear of healthy eating: Understanding the paranoia

Scientific research continues to point to the health benefits of including more fruits and vegetables in the diet. At the same time, some groups claim that pesticides used in their production pose significant health risks. This article reviews some of the position statements, describes the principles of risk and hazard assessment, and identifies regulatory processes to assure the safe use of pesticides.     

Rheumatic fever

Summary Sixty children with rheumatic manifestations were studied. The age ranged between 3 and 12 years; males predominated in the ratio of 2.16: 1; there were more cases in November–January and from poor socioeconomic families. A positive family history was elicited in 2 cases. There was an impression of an inverse relationship between migratory arthritis and carditis. The mitral valve was most frequently involved. From the Department of Pediatrics, K. G. Medical College, Lucknow.     

Periodic fever

Periodic fever can be defined as recurrent episodes of fever lasting from a few days to several weeks separated by symptom-free intervals of variable duration, recurring throughout several months. Although these clinical pictures are unusual in clinical practice, in some instances the differential diagnosis with recurrent infections, malignancies and connective tissue diseases is difficult. The aim of this review is to group together these different clinical pictures, which are dispersed in the literature, to obtain an overall and detailed perspective.We classified these processes in two categories: hereditary (familial Mediterranean fever, hyper-IgD syndrome, tumor necrosis factor-receptor-associated periodic syndrome, Muckle-Wells syndrome and familial cold urticaria) and non-hereditary (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenopathy syndrome [PFAPA syndrome], cyclic neutropenia, chronic infantile neurological cutaneous and articular syndrome [CINCA syndrome], Castleman's disease, early onset sarcoidosis and Blau syndrome). Although diagnosis is essentially clinical, in recent years many advances have been made in the knowledge of the molecular and genetic bases of hereditary diseases, which may be of considerable help in establishing the diagnosis and improving treatment.