Extravesical Approach in Paraureteral Bladder Diverticulum A Case Report

Bladder diverticula are herniations of bladder mucosa through fibres of the detrusor muscle. We present the extravesical approach to a case of paraureteral bladder diverticulum in a six-year old boy who had a history of recurrent urinary infection. In case of recurrent urinary complaints, the possibility of presence of a bladder diverticulum should be kept in mind. Voiding cystourethrogram is helpful for the differential diagnosis of the bladder diverticulum. Excision by extravesical approach of the paraureteral bladder diverticulum is a good choice.     

Early Enteral Nutrition Is Associated With Lower Mortality in Critically Ill Children

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the association of early enteral nutrition (EEN), defined as the provision of 25% of goal calories enterally over the first 48 hours of admission, with mortality and morbidity in critically ill children. Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective study of patients in 12 pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). We included patients aged 1 month to 18 years who had a PICU length of stay (LOS) of ≥96 hours for the years 2007–2008. We obtained patients’ demographics, weight, Pediatric Index of Mortality–2 (PIM2) score, LOS, duration of mechanical ventilation (MV), mortality data, and nutrition intake data in the first 4 days after admission. Results: We identified 5105 patients (53.8% male; median age, 2.4 years). Mortality was 5.3%. EEN was achieved by 27.1% of patients. Children receiving EEN were less likely to die than those who did not (odds ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.34–0.76; P = .001 [adjusted for propensity score, PIM2 score, age, and center]). Comparing those who received EEN to those who did not, adjusted for PIM2 score, age, and center, LOS did not differ (P = .59), and the duration of MV for those receiving EEN tended to be longer than for those who did not, but the difference was not significant (P = .058). Conclusions: EEN is strongly associated with lower mortality in patients with PICU LOS of ≥96 hours. LOS and duration of MV are slightly longer in patients receiving EEN, but the differences are not statistically significant.     

Pain evaluation in preschool children and by their parents

The accurate assessment of pain in children constitutes a challenge for health professionals and, in the case of young children, parents are generally the main source of information. The objective of this study was to validate and to compare three pain scales in preschool children and their parents. A total of 104 children between 4 and 6 y of age and their parents participated in the study while undergoing an immunization procedure in the outpatient department of a tertiary pediatric care hospital. Three pain scales were used, the McGrath Facial Affective Scale (FAS), the Hester Poker Chip Tool (HPCT) and the Multiple Size Poker Chip Tool (MSPCT). There were 47 (45%) boys and 57 (55%) girls, with 54 (52%) 4-y-olds, 34 (33%) 5-y-olds and 16 (15%) 6-y-olds. Twenty-eight children (27%) had memories of pain experienced during a former hospitalization. Correlations were very high both in children (r = 0.78) and their parents (r = 0.96) when comparing immunization pain scores obtained from the HPCT versus the MSPCT. Correlations between McGrath's FAS and HPCT or MSPCT ranged from r = 0.34-0.43 in children and r = 0.38-0.39 in parents. There was a good correlation between parents and children during the immunization procedure on all three scales, with the highest correlation using the FAS (r = 0.76), followed by the MSPCT (r = 0.69), and the HPCT (r = 0.66). Subgroup analyses based on the criteria of age, sex and previous hospitalization showed no consistent relationship. Parents tended to underestimate their child's pain when using HPCT or MSPCT. It seems that both HPCT and MSPCT measure a similar dimension of pain, whereas the FAS addresses a different aspect of pain. Although parents play an important role in their child's pain assessment, they tend to underestimate the intensity of pain when using HPCT or MSPCT.     

Schistosoma mansoni excretory circulating cathodic antigen shares Lewis- x epitopes with a human granulocyte surface antigen and evokes host antibodies mediating complement-dependent lysis of granulocytes

Parasitic worms of the genus Schistosoma excrete relatively large amounts of immunogenic glycoproteins (circulating cathodic antigen [CCA]) that contain polysaccharide side chains with the trisaccharide Lewis-x (L(ex)) as a repeating unit. These carbohydrates evoke high titers of specific IgM antibodies that cross-react with the repeating L(ex) units on the surface of granulocytes. Consequently this might lead, in the presence of complement, to lysis of the granulocytes. In the present study, this hypothesis was investigated using anti-CCA mouse monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) and polyclonal antibodies purified from sera of infected humans. By flow cytometry, it was demonstrated that the mouse MoAbs directed against CCA strongly recognized the granulocytes. It could also be shown that these MoAbs, as well as anti- CCA IgM antibodies purified from infected human sera, caused lysis of granulocytes in a complement-dependent cytotoxicity assay. Sera from healthy controls or from patients with other helminth infections resulted in negligible granulocytotoxicity. These in vitro observed phenomena may explain the mild to moderate neutropenia that occurs in schistosomiasis patients.     

Platelet sulphotransferase activity, plasma sulphate levels and sulphation capacity in patients with migraine and tension headache

Activity of both the M- and P-forms of sulphotransferase (ST) was measured in platelets from patients with migraine, tension headache and controls. Mean PST values were 0.065±0.023 and 0.057±0.052 mnol/mg protein/min for migraine patients with and without aura. The corresponding values for tension headache and controls were 0.122±0.059 and 0.127:0.093 nmol/mg protein/min respectively (p<0.05). Mean MST values were not different for any of the groups, and MST and PST activities measured in two patients during a migraine attack were not significantly altered from baseline levels. Mean plasma inorganic sulphate concentrations and paracetamol metabolitcs were not significantly different in any of the groups studied. The results suggest that PST activity may be a factor in the aetiology of migraine.     

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