Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Anju Aggarwal.
Juvenile amytrophic lateral sclerosis (JALS) is a type of motor neuron disease presenting before 25 years of age. It is characterized by a combination of upper and lower motor signs. It may be familial or sporadic. We are reporting a sporadic case of JALS with onset of symptoms at 4 years of age. Diagnostic criteria and a brief review of literature are presented.
A seven month male child presented with midline neck swelling which was visible in the suprasternal notch when the child cried. Computed tomography revealed that it was thymic tissue (solid). There was no thymic tissue in the normal position. Undesended thymus or ectopic thymus is a rare cause of neck mass. Solid type as seen in this case constitute 10% of ectopic thymic tissue ,90% being of cystic variety. Caution should be exercised in excision of such masses as they may be the only thymic tissue.
BACKGROUND: Persistence of fisting of hands and cortical thumb is a predictor of abnormalities in development and dysfunction of the central nervous system, though this may be a normal finding in the immediate newborn period. AIM: To study the profile of fisting in early neonatal period. METHODS: Five hundred and fifty healthy term neonates were studied. Hand position was examined by a single observer between 24-48h of birth when the baby was awake and quiet. Complete fisting was defined as flexed fingers covering both proximal and distal palmer creases. If only the distal crease was covered, it was defined as incomplete fisting. Thumb position was observed as thumb by the side of the fingers, under the fingers and above the fingers. RESULTS: Of the total 550 babies, 338 (61.45%) had bilateral, 39 (7.09%) had right sided and 38 (6.91%) had left sided fisting and 135 (24.55%) had open hands. Of the 1100 hands, 669 hands (60.8%) had complete and 84 (7.63%) had incomplete fisting. "Cortical thumb" was found in 57% of fisted hands. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in fisting according to the sex and weight of the babies. CONCLUSION: Fisting was a predominant hand posture among the babies (75.45%) but cortical thumb with bilateral fisting was seen in only 30% of babies.
Haematological changes are common in malaria. Thrombocytopenia is a common finding in falciparum infection but rare in Plasmodium vivax. We report a case of 7-year-old male patient presenting with fever, petechial rash, and platelet counts of 6 x 10(9)/l due to Plasmodium vivax malaria.
We prospectively studied the effect of carbamazepine (CBZ) therapy on serum lipids and liver function tests in 28 patients and 28 age and sex matched controls. The mean age of patients was 8.29 years, duration of therapy with CBZ 10.3 months and dose of CBZ 13.1 mg/dL. The patients and controls were comparable in weight, height and BMI. Mean +/- SD of cholesterol 162 +/- 25.8 mg/dL in patients was significantly more than controls 131+/- 25.2 mg/dL. Mean LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol were also significantly raised in patients. Values of mean VLDL, triglycerides, ratio of LDL HDL, TC HDLC bilirubin and SGPT were not significantly different in two groups. Blood Levels of alkaline phosphatase were significantly more in patients compared to controls. The long term implications of these findings need to be studied.
We report two children presenting with intermittent CSF rhinorrhea and recurrent meningitis. CT scan showed transethmoidal meningoencephalocele.
Cefpodoxime is a oral third generation cephalosporin active against most of gram positive and gram negative bacteria except Pseudomonas, B. fragilis and Entrococcous. Clinical studies have confirmed efficacy of cefpodoxime in acute otitis media, sinusitis and tosillopharyngitis. Twice daily administration and safety profile increases compliance and decreases failure rate. It has a role as switch over therapy from intravenous ceftriaxone in serious respiratory tract infections (RTIs). In areas where common respiratory pathogens show decreased sensitivity to penicillins and macrolides cefpodoxime can be used as empirical first line therapy in respiratory tract infections. It seems to be a promising molecule in pediatric typhoid fever because of its excellent activity against Salmonella species but clinical trials are limited.
Sirenomelia is a rare congenital anomaly with incidence of 1.5-4.2 per 100,000 births. Vascular steal phenomenon, posterior axial mesodermal defect or teratogenic defects have been implied in its pathogenesis. The authors present two cases with associated upper limb involvement and vertebral defects and complete absence of one lower limb bones in one case. Autopsy revealed abnormalities in internal organs. Both cases were associated with single umbilical artery and severe oligohyramnios. Sirenomelia should be suspected in antenatal period in cases presenting with severe oligohydramnios and intrauterine growth retardation for a early diagnosis and appropriate management of pregnancy.
Among the neural tube defects incidence of spinabifida and myelomeningocele is less in twins compared to singletons. This article reports a case of dizygotic twins with myelomeningocele, a rare occurrence. Possible association of twining and neural tube defects and its impact on genetic counseling in such cases has been discussed.
Our aim was to assess the effect of intrauterine growth retardation on neurosensory development by evaluating brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAER) in term small for gestational age (SGA) newborn infants born to undernourished mothers. This prospective clinical study included 25 singleton healthy SGA newborn infants born between 38 and 41 weeks to undernourished mothers (weight <45kg, height <145cm, haemoglobin <8g/dl, and serum albumin <2.5g/dl). An equal number of age- and sex-matched appropriate for gestational age newborn infants born to healthy mothers served as controls. Mothers with other risk factors and newborns with complications during delivery or immediate newborn period were excluded. BAER was recorded within first 3 days of life. Interpeak latency (IPL), absolute peak latency (APL) and amplitudes of various waveforms were determined and compared between the groups. No statistically significant differences were observed for the mean interpeak and absolute latencies between term SGA and AGA infants (p>0.05). The absolute peak latency (wave V) and central conduction time (I-V interval) were borderline prolonged in the study group compared with controls (p=0.051 and 0.088 respectively). Using multiple regression analysis, maternal haemoglobin was identified to be the only parameter having a negative correlation with both IPL (waves I-V) (F[1,46]=4.12, p=0.048) and APL (wave V) (F[1,46]=5.80, p=0.02). Maternal undernourishment may have a minor effect on intrauterine development of the auditory brainstem. Maternal haemoglobin is the only factor significantly associated with these changes.
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