The results of the surgical treatment of thyroid diseases in children]

The results of surgical treatment of various forms of diseases of the thyroid gland in 254 children are analysed in follow-up periods of 12 months to 20 years. Functional compensation of the thyroid occurred in all patients with nodular forms of goiter who were subjected to operation which did not exceed hemithyroidectomy in volume. The analysis showed that operative treatment of children with the diffuse toxic form of goiter attended by the autoimmune component lead to hypothyroidism in 76.6% of patients, whatever the activity of the thyroid tissue, and a recurrence developed in 11.7% of those who were operated on. In children without the autoimmune component postoperative hypothyroidism was found in 48.6% of those examined, a recurrence was found in 3.2% of cases. The indications for operative treatment are specified, measures for the prevention of postoperative complications are listed.     

Effect of heat and cold factors on amylolytic and invertase activity of the small intestine in growing rats

Acute experiments on young rats showed that exposure to heat (40–41°C) and cold (5–6°C) and injections of ACTH (4 units/100 g body weight per injection) during the first week of life led to a sharp decrease in total amylolytic and invertase activity of homogenates and everted segments of the small intestine of the animals. The inhibition of intestinal function continued throughout the next 2 weeks of life.Laboratory of the Physiology of Digestion, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent. (Presented by Academician V. N. Chernigovskii.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 82, No. 10, pp. 1213–1215, October, 1976.     

Increased mucosal inflammatory cytokines in children with Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis

The concentrations of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1-β in tissue homogenates of gastric mucosal biopsy specimens, and in gastric juice samples from Helicobacter pylori-positive and -negative children, were determined. The study population comprised 30 children with recurrent abdominal pain attending upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Of these patients 18 were infected with H. pylori. Cytokine concentrations in gastric biopsy homogenate supernatants and in gastric juice were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). TNF-α levels in gastric juice and in gastric biopsy homogenate supernatants in patients with H. pylori-positive gastritis were found to be significantly higher than those in children without H. pylori infection. IL-6 levels were also higher in H. pylori -infected subjects, but the difference in IL-6 concentrations measured in gastric juice and biopsy homogenate supernatants did not reach statistical significance. IL-1-β concentrations in both specimens showed no significant difference between the two groups of children. It was suggested that increased levels of inflammatory cytokines, especially TNF-α and IL-6 generated locally within the gastric mucosa might be implicated in the pathogenesis of H. pylori-associated gastritis in childhood.