Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H R Jenkins.
An infant with congenital gingival epulis which spontaneously regressed over the first year of life is reported. A policy of conservative management should be adopted in this condition unless there are feeding problems in the newborn period or reasons to doubt the diagnosis.
An anion exchange mechanism exists in colonic mucosa whereby chloride is absorbed and bicarbonate secreted. Using an in vivo non-equilibrium dialysis method we investigated rectal electrolyte movement in preterm neonates and older children. Our results show that anion exchange is poorly developed in infancy and appears to be absent in premature neonates, and suggest that complete maturation of this mechanism is not present until the end of the first year of life. This may render the young infant, and more especially the preterm infant, more susceptible to chloride depletion.
We describe the case of an infant with haemophagocytic syndrome initiated by severe infection. The difficulties of diagnosing and managing the condition as well as its pathogenesis are discussed.
We report an infant who developed cranial diabetes insipidus after septicaemic shock. This condition should be considered in any child who suffers an acute collapse and it may be more common in the high risk neonate than has previously been recognised.
We evaluated a child with atopic dermatitis associated with protein-losing enteropathy, which responded to a chicken-based diet. Allergic gastroenteropathy is a potentially hazardous disease that may be more frequent in children with atopic dermatitis than is currently realized.
Two male infants with severe protracted diarrhoea presenting at 4 months (patient 1) and 10 weeks (patient 2) of age are reported. In both patients jejunal biopsy showed subtotal villous atrophy. Both had specific complement-fixing autoantibodies reacting by immunofluorescence with human duodenal, jejunal, and colonic epithelium. Patient 1 also had hypothyroidism and type 1 diabetes mellitus with thyroid and islet cell autoantibodies. His gut antibodies were of IgG class, reached a titre of 1:512, and remained positive throughout his illness. He died at 16 months of age. Patient 2 had gut antibodies of IgM class, which reached a titre of 1:128 and disappeared at the time of spontaneous recovery of the diarrhoea. The findings suggest that an autoimmune process was the basis for the enteropathy in these patients. We recommend that autoantibody tests should be performed in infants with unexplained protracted diarrhoea.
Forty six children presented with colitis between 1977 and 1981, and all 8 of those below the age of 2 years had food allergic colitis which resolved completely after exclusion of certain foods. In most of the 8 the onset was soon after starting foods other than breast milk. The most common offending food was cows' milk protein, but soya (3 cases) and beef (1 case) were also implicated. A history of allergy in the child or family was common as were blood eosinophilia, high concentrations of serum IgE, and positive IgE antibodies. Colonoscopic appearances were distinctive and biopsies showed a noticeable increase in eosinophils and IgE-containing cells in the lamina propria. We suggest that food allergy is the major cause of colitis in infancy and that an exclusion diet is the treatment of choice.
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