Do children with autism have March birthdays?

One hundred people with autistic disorder (DSM-III-R) without a known cause who comprised a total population of children with autism were compared with "autistic-like" children, Asperger syndrome and age-matched comparison children from the general population and were examined with regard to month of birth. There was an excess of March birth in the group of children with autism. The possible reasons for this finding are discussed.     

Disseminated neuroblastomas under 1 year of age: cell biology and prognosis

Tumor specimens of 203 infants with neuroblastomas of different clinical stages — registered in successive multicenter clinical trials of the German Society of Pediatric Oncology — could be examined for N-myc amplification, chromosome 1-ploidy and — structure, CD₄₄ std. expression (in tumor tissue, and also in patients sera).Eightyseven (= 43%) of these infants had a non-localized, disseminated neuroblastoma, mainly involving sympathetic nerve tissue, lymphnodes, liver, skin, bone marrow and bones (46 patients were classified into the 4_s group, 41 patients in the true 4 group).If the clinical classification between stage 4 and stage 4_swas neglected, then 17 of these infants (= 20%) had N-myc amplification (4—64 copies) with 16 already dead. Seven of 9 examined patients with true stage 4 had chromosome 1p aberrations (with N-myc amplification in 5), and among the dead there were 2 with CD₄₄ negative expression.In another series, serum CD₄₄ std. was measured by ELISA, and the highest (significantly different) Kruskal-Wallis mean rank values (147.8) were found in infants (n = 6) with stage 4_s compared to the low mean-rank-value of 71.9 in patients with stage 4 (n = 65). Stage 1—3 patients (n = 42) had values of 99.8—88.6.Thus, infants with disseminated neuroblastomas, showing non-diploidy, normal chromosome 1p structure, non-N-myc amplification and high CD₄₄ std. expression in tumor tissue, and also high CD₄₄ std. values in serum, will have the highest chance of survival due to tumor-non-progression.On the other hand, N-myc amplification in the tumor cells was found to be characteristic for stage 4_s neuroblastoma patients with tumor progression (n=6). Therefore, 4_s neuroblastoma-patients with N-myc amplified tumors should be aggressively treated like true stage 4 tumor patients!     

Intraoperative defect in haemostasis in a child receiving valproic acid

This report describes the development of an intraoperative defect in haemostasis which occurred during surgery for lengthening of the heel cords and release of hip contractures in a patient receiving valproic acid. A review of the literature failed to find any other cases of a valproic acid-induced bleeding disorder occurring under anaesthesia and surgery. While recognized in the non-surgical literature, this case reports the first in which the development of a valproic acid-induced haemostatic defect occurred under anaesthesia. The subsequent course is discussed and some pathophysiological mechanisms are presented. It is suggested that for patients receiving valproic acid preoperative education should include PT/PTT, platelet and fibrinogen counts and bleeding time so that abnormal coagulation states can be recognized.     

Symptomatic hyponatraemia due to inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion following minor surgery

A rare case of the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion occurring after minor surgery is presented. A ten-year-old, previously healthy boy underwent general anaesthesia for detorsion and right orchiopexy. Throughout the operations, which lasted for one hour, he received 120 ml Ringer's lactate solution. The immediate postoperative period was uneventful. Twenty-two hours postoperatively he was found unconscious with generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Simultaneously obtained serum sodium concentration (121 mEq.L-1) serum osmolarity (265 mEq.L-1), urine sodium concentration (87 mEq.L-1) and urine osmolarity (525 mEq.L-1) suggested inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion which was confirmed by an elevated serum arginine-vasopressin (AVP) level of 14.5 pcg.ml-1 (normal 1-5 pcg.ml-1) measured by radioimmune assay. He was treated with a single iv dose of 30 mg furosemide and fluid restriction, which produced a gradual increase of his serum sodium concentration to normal within two days. He was well during the remainder of his hospitalization.     

Fifty- four infantile intractable diarrhea patients treated with integrated traditional chinese and western medicine

Ｉｎｆａｎｔｉｌｅｉｎｔｒａｃｔａｂｌｅｄｉａｒｒｈｅａ（ＩＩＤ）ｗａｓｕｓｕａｌｌｙｃｏｍｐｌｉｃａｔｅｄｗｉｔｈｍａｌｎｕｔｒｉｔｉｏｎ,ｇｒｏｗｔｈｒｅｔａｒｄａｔｉｏｎａｎｄｐｕｌｍｏｎａｒｙｉｎｆｅｃｔｉｏｎ,ｅｔｃ．Ｉｔｉｓｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔｔｏｃｕｒｅ,ａｎｄｍｏｒｔａｌｉｔｙｉｓｒａｔｈｅｒｈｉｇｈ．ＴｈｅａｕｔｈｏｒｓｕｓｅｄｉｎｔｅｇｒａｔｅｄｔｒａｄｉｔｉｏｎａｌＣｈｉ ｎｅｓｅａｎｄｗｅｓｔｅｒｎｍｅｄｉｃｉｎｅｔｈｅｒａｐｙｔｏｔｒｅａｔｉｔ,ａｎｄｓａｔｉｓｆａｃｔｏ…     

Excitatory amino acid levels in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with infantile spasms

Infantile spasm is an age-specific epileptic encephalopathy. Long-term intellectual outcome of affected infants remains poor. The pathogenesis of infantile spasms, as well as the development of mental retardation, remains unclear. Increased excitatory amino acid neurotransmission may play a role in neuronal dysfunction and epilepsy. To study the significance of cerebrospinal fluid excitatory amino acids in infantile spasms, we determined glutamate and aspartate concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid of 13 patients with infantile spasms and 13 controls. The aspartate level in cerebrospinal fluid of the patients with infantile spasms (968 ± 416 nmol/1) was higher than the control group (426 ± 272nmol/l). No difference in the mean glutamate levels was found between the patients (966 ± 395 nmol/1) and the controls (1135 ± 594 nmol/1). The elevated aspartate levels in cerebrospinal fluid of the patients with infantile spasms might be secondary to change in metabolism of aspartate. Aspartate is an excitatory and neurotoxic neurotransmitter, which might have a role in triggering the spasms and the development of neuronal dysfunctions in the patients with infantile spasms.     

小儿哮喘甲襞微循环及血液流变学观察

小儿哮喘甲襞微循环及血液流变学观察李荣，刘昕，蒋红雨，曹序茂１９９４年３月～１９９５年８月，我们通过对３２例哮喘患儿急性发作期及缓解期甲襞微循环和血液流变性的对比观测，探讨采用中医活血化瘀疗法防治小儿哮喘的可行性。临床资料根据全国儿科哮喘协作组１９９...     

Infantile hemangioendothelioma of the thymus with massive pleural effusion and Kasabach-Merritt syndrome: Histopathological, flow cytometrical analysis of the tumor

Infantile hemangioendothelioma of the thymus is a rare disease. We describe a patient who developed a large anterior mediastinal mass, severe thrombocytopenia and massive pleural effusion at 1 month of age. Glucocorticosteroid and irradiation therapy had no effect on either the tumor size or clinical symptoms and the tumor was resected subtotally. Three months after the subtotal resection, the remaining tumor had almost disappeared and the symptoms had resolved. The patient has now been well for 1 year after surgery without evidence of recurrence. The tumor tissue was characterized by prominent vascular endothelial proliferation intermixed with a normal thymic structure, producing a picture consistent with that of an infantile hemangioendothelioma in the thymus, lmmunohistochemically, the tumor cells showed positive staining for vimentin, factor VIII and CD34. The DNA stemline and proliferative activity were examined by flow cytometry, which revealed a diploid stemline with a low growth fraction. DNA content and cell cycle analyses of the tumor tissue may be useful for predicting the biological behavior of the tumor.     

七味白术散治疗小儿腹泻研究概况

腹泻是小儿消化系统常见疾病,严重影响小儿身体健康。七味白术散出自《小儿药证直诀》,为治疗小儿腹泻良方。文章将该方近10余年来的研究情况进行归纳总结,分别从临床研究、实验研究及药理研究等方面进行全面阐述,以便更好地指导临床,并为临床应用提供更多的理论依据。     

Role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in congenital intracranial haemangiopericytoma

Infantile haemangiopericytoma of the CNS is a rare entity. We report the first case of a congenital haemangiopericytoma successfully treated by preoperative chemotherapy. The patient presented shortly after birth with the diagnosis of a haemangiopericytoma. As neurosurgery was too risky due to size, location and age of the patient an anthracycline‐based chemotherapeutic regimen was applied and resulted in a significant decrease in tumour size, making a postchemotherapy complete surgical resection possible. Chemotherapy may benefit patients with congenital haemangiopericytoma especially if the tumour cannot initially be treated by complete neurosurgical resection. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2010;56:161–163. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.