Relation of childhood malnutrition to parental education and mothers’ nutrition related KAP

Severely malnourished children (26), weight for age 55.27±3.17, were identified in a colony of predominantly Muslim urban slum dwellers of low economic status. An equal number of normally nourished children matched for age, sex and per capita income were identified. A strong relation was found between nutritional status of the subjects and educational level of their mothers (P<0.025). Father's education was unrelated to childrens' nutritional status. A thirty seven point questionnaire was administered to the mothers to record their nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP). Analysis revealed that better KAP in relation to 16 of these 37 questions was not associated with better nutritional status. Seven questions were found to have only a weak association. The remaining 14 questions were identified as important for a nutrition education programme. Comparison of nutritional KAP score based on these 14 questions in case of mothers of normal and severely malnourished children revealed a significantly higher score in the former. Questions related to growth monitoring and breast feeding were not found to be important. No significant association was found between mothers' KAP and educational level. It is concluded that (i) Maternal education and KAP are significantly and independently associated with childrens' nutritional status. (ii) The content areas of knowledge, attitudes and practices significantly associated with nutritional status pertain to nutritional requirements of children, nutritional value of foods, immunisation, hygiene, oral rehydration and diarrhea.     

The developmental stages of the middle phalanx of the third finger (MP3): a sole indicator in assessing the skeletal maturity?

Assessment of skeletal maturity is an integral part of interceptive diagnosis and treatment planning. The present day methods of skeletal maturity assessment like the hand-wrist radiographs or cervical vertebrae radiographs are expensive, require elaborate equipment and accounts for high radiation exposure, especially for growing children. The present study was thus undertaken to provide a simple and practical method of skeletal maturity assessment using the developmental stages of the middle phalanx of the third finger (MP3) as seen on an IOPA film taken using a standard dental x-ray machine. The results of the study showed that this simple method was highly reliable and could be used as an alternative method to assess the skeletal maturity of growing children.     

Acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in childhood: a case report

Acute thrombocytopenic purpura is the most common of thrombocytopenias of the childhood. Clinical features include petechial lesions on oral mucosa, gingival bleeding and occasionally hemorrhage. A case of acute thrombocytopenic purpura is presented.     

Tooth fragment reattachment--an esthetic alternative: report of a case

Trauma to the anterior teeth is relatively common among children and teenagers. Reattachment of a fractured fragment to the remaining tooth can provide better and long lasting esthetics, improved function, a positive psychological response and is a faster and less complicated procedure. This article discusses fragment reattachment technique and presents clinical case of coronal fracture involving enamel and dentin.     

Cutaneous lesions in new born

Five hundred unselected newborn babies delivered in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Unit II of SGBT Hospital attached to Government Medical College, Amritsar during April 2000 to October 2000 were examined for cutaneous lesions daily for the first five days after birth. Different cutaneous lesions were seen in 474(94.8%) newborns. The physiological skin changes observed in order of frequency were Epstein pearls in 305(61%), Mongolian spot in 301(60.2%), superficial cutaneous desquamation in 200(40%), icterus in 128(25.6%), milia in 119(23.8%), sebaceous gland hyperplasia in 107(21.4%), occipital alopecia in 94(18.8%), lanugo in 72(14.4%), peripheral cyanosis in 47(9.4%), breast hypertrophy in 29(5.8%) and miniature puberty in 28(5.6%) newborns. Of the transient non-infective skin diseases, erythema toxicum neonatorum was observed most commonly in 105(21%), followed by miliaria rubra in 103(20.6%) and acne neonatorum in 27(5.4%) newborns. The naevi and other developmental defects in the descending order were salmon patch in 69(13.8%), congenital melanocytic noevi in 10(2%), accessory tragi in 3(0.6%), spina bifida in 2(0.4%), hydrocephalus in 1(0.2%) and poliosis in 1(0.2%) newborns. Cradle cap was the only dermatitis observed in 50(10%) newborns. One (0.2%) case each of Harlequin ichthyosis and labial cyst was seen.     

Dissection of the intracranial internal carotid artery producing isolated oculomotor nerve palsy with sparing of pupil

Dissection of the internal carotid artery usually occurs in the cervical segment, but rarely may involve the artery in the intracranial course (1). The clinical course of intracranial dissection is often catastrophic, with rapid onset of profound neurological deficit, as a result of middle and/or anterior cerebral artery involvement. When this occurs the mortality rate is generally considered high. We describe a case of intracranial internal carotid artery dissection following trivial trauma presented with an isolated painful pupillary sparing oculomotor nerve palsy.     

Dual-energy digital subtraction chest radiography: technical considerations

In the evaluation of asbestos-related pulmonary and pleural abnormalities, conventional chest radiography has been shown to have a low sensitivity for the detection of lung nodules and subtle interstitial disease. Pleural plaques may simulate pulmonary nodules, and interstitial processes can be masked by adjacent pleural abnormalities. Dual-energy digital subtraction chest radiography may enable investigators to characterize asbestos-related pulmonary and pleural abnormalities with greater accuracy. "Soft-tissue" images, designed to remove pleural calcifications, may allow for better evaluation of the lung parenchyma. "Bone" images, designed to remove soft-tissue structures, may enhance the detection of pleural calcifications. In this pictorial essay we illustrate the methods, technical considerations, and limitations of dual-energy digital subtraction chest radiography performed with global subtraction weighting factors.     

Benign lesions of larynx—A clinical study

Objective  A climical study was undertaken to analyze the age, sex distribution and symptomatology, sites of involvement and the prognosis of the common types of benign lesions of larynx. Study Design  A five year retrospective study from 1997 to 2002. Setting  KMC Hospital Attavar —A tertiary referral hospital. Patients  A total of 42 patients with benign laryngeal lesions were included based on symptomatology such as hoarseness of voice, foreign body sensation, throat pain, neck mass and cough and with positive clinical findings on indirect laryngoscopy and neck examination. The patients ranged from 7–80 years. All non-operative cases and malignant cases were excluded. Diagnostic hematological and radiological investigations and therapeutic microlyryngoscopic procedures were employed. Results  A male preponderance with M:F ratio of 3∶1 was observed. Majority of the patients were in the 30–40 age group. Vocal polyps were the commonest type of lesion. In our study, hoarseness of voice, cough, foreign body sensation and throat pain proved to be the commonest symptoms. Conclusions  Micro laryngeal surgery and voice rest offer a cost effective, useful and safe method for management of benign laryngeal lesions.