Ureaplasma urealyticum infection in newborns: Three case reports

We report three newborns with different manifestations ofUreaplasma urealyticum infection; a term newborn with acute neonatal pneumonia and two very low birth weight infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia and osteomyelitis of the femur, respectively. The association ofU. urealyticum with acute and chronic respiratory disease in term and preterm newborns has recently been reported. Our two cases are similar to other case reports from the literature, but we were unable to find any previous reports of osteomyelitis due toU. urealyticum in the premature babies. Isolation ofU. urealyticum in pure culture from the blood was considered to be related to local infection in all three patients. All patients were cured by erythromycin.     

Intracerebral haematoma in an infant with haemophilia A

Summary A nine-weeks-old infant with haemophilia A developed an intracerebral haematoma. Intracranial operation and removal of the haematoma were performed safely under the cover of highly potent AHF cryoprecipitate. Computerized tomography of the brain is very useful for neurosurgical care of the haemophiliac patients as a noninvasive and atraumatic method of examination. The literature of intracranial operations in infants with haemophilia A under the age of one year is reviewed.     

Reactivating and protective effects of pyridinium compounds in human erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase inhibition by organophosphates in vitro

The reactivation of human erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase (AChE, EC 3.1.1.7) inhibited by O-ethyl-S-2-di-isopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothioate (VX) and the protection against AChE inhibition by O-1,2,2-trimethylpropyl methylphosphonofluoridate (Soman) was studied with sixteen quaternized pyridinium compounds. TMB-4 which is known as a good reactivator of AChE inhibited by organophosphates proved to be the most effective reactivator. Of the tested newly synthetised compounds 3 were fairly good reactivators of methylethoxyphosphonylated AChE. These compounds have 2 pyridinium rings connected by a dimethylether link and a hydroxiiminomethyl group in position 2 of one pyridinium ring, while the radicals of the other pyridinium ring are benzoylcarbonyl, cyclohexylcarbonyl or amidocarbonyl residue.The rate of reactivation with these compounds followed a two-phase pattern, being fast at the beginning and then slowing down to an equilibrium. Kinetic treatment of the first-phase reaction course yielded the second-order rate constants of reactivation. All 3 compounds had similar reactivating efficiency (k _r values range from 0.8×10³ to 3.6×10³ M^–1 min^–1) and in effective concentrations (1 to 100 M) they also inhibited AChE (K _i(app) values range from 0.11 to 0.19 mM). Their reactivating properties were not better than those revealed by TMB-4 (k _r= 19.4×10³ M^–1 min^–1) which was tested as a reference compound.HGG-12, HGG-42 and HI-6 were also found to exert a good protective effect against AChE inhibition by Soman; no protection was obtained with TMB-4.     

Cystoid macular edema in anterior chamber lens implantation following posterior capsule rupture

By comparing the incidence of cystoid macular edema (CME) in three groups of patients having different surgical procedures, we attempted to assess the role of vitreous loss as a risk factor for CME development. In the first group (n = 470), the surgical procedure was extracapsular cataract extraction followed by implantation of posterior chamber lens (EC-CE + PC-IOL). The second group (n = 42) had extracapsular cataract extraction which was complicated by posterior capsule rupture, and therefore anterior vitrectomy followed by implantation of anterior chamber lens had to be performed (ECCE + anterior vitrectomy + AC-IOL). In the third group (n = 22) the surgery was intracapsular cataract extraction followed by anterior chamber lens implantation (ICCE + AC-IOL). The third group was included in this follow up study to assess the role of AC-IOL as a possible causative factor for development of CME in uncomplicated cases of ICCE and AC-IOL. The difference of incidences of CME in the second and third group would therefore depend mostly on the vitreous loss. The incidence of CME diagnosed by fluorescein angiography in the first, second and third group was 1.5% (7/470), 35.7% (15/42) and 9.0% (2/22), respectively. All patients who developed CME were treated with combination of corticosteroid-antibiotic drops, dexamethasone retrobulbarly (40 mg/day) and peroral indomethacine (25 mg/day/6 weeks). This therapeutic regime resulted in only moderate improvement of visual acuity.Abbreviations AC-IOL anterior chamber intraocular lens - CME cystoid macular edema - ECCE extracapsular cataract extraction - ICCE intracapsular cataract extraction - IOL intraocular lens - PC-IOL posterior chamber intraocular lens     

No interference of rheumatoid factor(s) with toxoplasmosis IgM determination in infancy

Sera from 263 newborns and infants suspected of congenital toxoplasmosis were tested for the presence of rheumatoid factor (RF) by the latex agglutination test, of which 40 were also tested by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RF was detected in only one serum sample (0.38%), suggesting that false-positive results of the IgM-indirect fluorescent antibody test and the IgM-ELISA due to RF is most unusual in infancy.     

Hypospadias sine hypospadias

Summary There are four forms of chordee that do not involve hypospadias: cutaneous chordee, fibrous chordee, corporocavernosal chordee, and congenital short urethra. From 1981 to 1991, 214 patients aged 18 months to 20 years underwent surgical treatment. Among these, 29 individuals developed a crippled penis due to the failure of surgery for the hypospadias sine hypospadias anomaly. This report describes the surgical repair of hypospadias sine hypospadias, whereby the operative approach is closely related to the type of anomaly involved and should thus be highly individualized. The rate of complications encountered in the present study was 11.2%.     

Clinical characteristics of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in children

From January 1988 to September 1989, seven patients (4 girls and 3 boys, aged 3–12 years) with haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) were hospitalised at the University Children's Hospital in Belgrade. In four patients the disease appeared as a family outbreak, the others were sporadic cases. In six patients the clinical presentation was suggestive of HFRS, as they had fever with headache, myalgia, sore throat and gastrointestinal illness followed by renal abnormalities. However, severe haemorrhagic syndrome with petechia, haematoma, haematemesis and melaena was present in one patient only. Renal disease presented as nephritic syndrome and/or acute renal failure. Five patients recovered after 2–3 weeks without sequellae, one patient had decreased renal function 17 months after the start of the disease and the remaining patient died. In six patients the diagnosis of HFRS was confirmed serologically by a significant rise in antibody titres against hantaviruses, while in the patient with the fatal and fulminant course of the disease, the diagnosis was established on the basis of epidemiological and autopsy findings. We suggest that children living in endemic areas who develop an ill-defined, febrile and gastrointestinal disease with renal dysfunction should be evaluated for HFRS.     

The pharmacology of aggressive behavioural phenomena elicited by muscarine injected into the cerebral ventricles of conscious cats

Atropine and scopolamine, injected intraventricularly, abolished typical emotional behaviour with aggression and autonomic and motor phenomena, as well as with clonic-tonic convulsions of intraventricularly injected muscarine. On the other hand, adrenergic and dopaminergic blocking agents, antihistamines, 5-hydroxytryptamine antagonists, antiepileptic drugs, and 5-hydroxytryptamine, administered intraventricularly, failed to antagonize the gross behavioural effects of intraventricular muscarine. However, ganglionic and sometimes neuromuscular blocking agents, as well as catecholamines and histamine injected intraventricularly, antagonized the emotional behaviour with aggression and depressed the autonomic and motor phenomena of small doses of intraventricular muscarine. In addition, emotional behaviour with aggression and autonomic and motor phenomena evoked by high doses of intraventricular muscarine were resistant to these antagonists administered intraventricularly. From these experiments it is concluded that the sites activated by muscarine in the CNS producing aggressive behaviour have the following characteristics: in high doses muscarine acted on muscarinic cholinoceptive sites, while in small doses it activated the cholinoceptive sites having muscarinic and nicotinic characteristics. Finally, the ability of single intraventricular injections of muscarine to trigger and to maintain the long-lasting gross behavioural effects cannot be ascribed to a rapid detonator transmission, but rather to an action that differs from a conventional transmitter function.