Do gastrointestinal and respiratory signs and symptoms correlate with the severity of gastroesophageal reflux?

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is a disorder that is common by seen in childhood and may lead to severe complications. In this study, we ascertained the incidence of GER among the children who had typical and atypical complaints of GER and whether there was a difference between two groups comparing the findings of 24-hour pH-meter.

Methods: 39 out of 70 patients with typical and atypical GER symptoms were diagnosed as GER by 24-hour pH-meter monitoring.

Neonatal tetanus in Turkey; what has changed in the last decade?

Background: Neonatal tetanus (NT) is still considered as one of the major causes of neonatal death in many developing countries. The aim of the present study was to assess the characteristics of sixty-seven infants with the diagnosis of neonatal tetanus followed-up in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Ward of Dicle University Hospital, Diyarbakir, between 1991 and 2006, and to draw attention to factors that may contribute (or may have contributed) to the elimination of the disease in Diyarbakir.

Methods: The data of sixty-seven infants whose epidemiological and clinical findings were compatible with neonatal tetanus were reviewed.

A prospective study of etiology of childhood acute bacterial meningitis, Turkey.

Determination of the etiology of bacterial meningitis and estimating cost of disease are important in guiding vaccination policies. To determine the incidence and etiology of meningitis in Turkey, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were obtained prospectively from children (1 month-17 years of age) with a clinical diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis. Multiplex PCR was used to detect DNA evidence of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and Neisseria meningitidis.

Efficacy of vitamin E in children with immunotolerant-phase chronic hepatitis B infection.

Background: The purpose of the present paper was to investigate the efficacy of vitamin E in children with immunotolerant-phase chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection.

Methods: Fifty-eight immunotolerant children were prospectively and randomly recruited into two groups. Group 1 (study group) included 30 patients who received vitamin E at a dose of 100 mg/day throughout 3 months; group 2 (control group) contained 28 patients who did not receive any medication.

Antiviral therapy in neonatal cholestatic cytomegalovirus hepatitis.

Background: Neonatal hepatitis refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders, caused by many factors including cytomegalovirus infection, revealing similar morphologic changes in the liver of an infant less than 3 months of age. Approximately 40% of cholestasis in infants is due to neonatal hepatitis. It may cause latent or acute cholestatic or chronic hepatitis, including cirrhosis in immunocompetant infant.

Comparison of two different regimens of combined interferon-alpha2a and lamivudine therapy in children with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of two regimens of combined interferon-alpha2a (IFN-alpha2a) and lamivudine (3TC) therapy in childhood chronic hepatitis B.

Methods: A total of 177 patients received IFN-alpha2a, 9 million units (MU)/m2 for 6 months. In group I (112 patients, 8.

Clinical characteristics of children with snakebite poisoning and management of complications in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Background: Venomous snakebite is an emergency condition with high morbidity and mortality in childhood. Nearly all venomous snakes in Turkey are members of the Viperidae family and show poisonous local and hematotoxic effects.

Methods: A total of 77 children (mean age 9.

Bone mineral density and cytokine levels during interferon therapy in children with chronic hepatitis B: does interferon therapy prevent from osteoporosis?

Background: Our aim was to determinate bone mineral density (BMD), levels of biochemical markers and cytokines in children with chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon (IFN)-alpha and to investigate effect of IFN-alpha therapy on these variables. To the best of our knowledge, this is first study carried out about BMD and cytokine levels in pediatric patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with IFN-alpha.

Methods: BMD, levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), osteocalcin, C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX), calcium, alkaline phosphates (ALP), cytokines as TNF-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-2r, IL-6, and IL-8 were studied in 54 children with chronic hepatitis B (4-15 years old) treated with interferon alone (n = 19) or in combination with lamivudine (n = 35) for six months and as controls in 50 age-matched healthy children.

Comparison of antiviral effect of lamivudine with interferon-alpha2a versus -alpha2b in children with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Aim: To compare additive efficacy of combination therapy including interferon (IFN)-alpha2a+lamivudine (3TC) to IFN-alpha2b+3TC in children with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

Material And Methods: Chronic hepatitis B infection was determined by presence of HBsAg, HBeAg and HBV DNA in serum screened at 3 months intervals for at least 1 year, serum alanine transaminase (ALT) levels more than 1.5-times the upper normal limit and chronic hepatitis with histological activity index (HAI) more than 6 by liver biopsy.

Current therapeutic approaches in childhood chronic hepatitis B infection: a multicenter study.

Background And Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy of three different regimens in childhood chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection.

Methods: A total of 182 children with CHB infection were prospectively allocated to three random groups. Sixty-two patients in the first group received high-dose interferon (IFN)-alpha 2b (10 MU/m2) thrice/weekly alone for 6 months.

Somatostatin infusion withdrawal in the diagnosis of childhood growth hormone deficiency.

Objective: An evaluation of growth hormone (GH) testing for GH deficiency (GHD) in childhood is confounded by the lack of a world-wide consensus on the definition of GHD. Although a single GH test remains the most powerful biochemical tool in the evaluation of a child with growth failure, the test remains far from ideal. Withdrawal of somatostatin (SS) infusion is followed by a rebound rise of GH thought to be mediated by endogenous GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) function.

Therapeutic vaccination in the immunotolerant phase of children with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Aim: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health concern and is the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Our aim was to investigate the efficacy of specific HBV vaccination as active immunotherapy in treating chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection during the immunotolerant phase of children with normal aminotransferase values and high viral load.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-four patients never vaccinated before were randomly and prospectively recruited into two groups.

Therapeutic effect of spiramycin in brucellosis.

Objective: This study was undertaken to investigate the usefulness of spiramycin in treatment for brucellosis in an animal model.

Methods: Eighty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were infected by intraperitoneal injection of Brucella melitensis suspension. Seven days after inoculation, four rats were selected randomly, killed and spleen cultures and Brucella standard tube agglutination test were carried out.

Foreign body aspiration in children: experience of 1160 cases.

Hospital records of 1160 children View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Complications of brucellosis in different age groups: a study of 283 cases in southeastern Anatolia of Turkey.

We carried out a retrospective analysis of 283 patients diagnosed with brucellosis in our hospital, which serves almost 5.5 million inhabitants in Southeastern Anatolia in Turkey. Our study focuses on the frequency of complications in cases with brucellosis across different age groups.

Failure of therapeutic vaccination using hepatitis B surface antigen vaccine in the immunotolerant phase of children with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of specific hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination as active immunotherapy in treating chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection during the immune-tolerant phase in children with normal aminotransferase levels and high viral load.

Methods: Fifty-one immunotolerant patients were randomly and prospectively recruited into two groups. Group 1 included 23 patients that were vaccinated with three standard injections of the GenHevac B vaccine in the deltoid or quadricep muscle, initially, and at 30 days and 60 days, for specific immunization.

Accelerated hepatitis B vaccination schedule in childhood.

Background: For children travelling to a hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemic area or before a treatment by blood or blood productions, the conventional HBV vaccination schedule takes too long to be completed. There may be problems in the completion of the whole vaccination schedule in developing countries because of particular problems. In these situations an accelerated schedule may be useful for HBV vaccination.

Purulent pericarditis in childhood: ten years of experience.

Background/purpose: Purulent pericarditis is a rapidly fatal disease if left untreated. This article describes our experience with diagnosis and management of 18 patients seen over a 10-year period.

Methods: Eighteen children with purulent pericarditis were treated in our clinics between 1990 and 2000.

Comparison of treatments of chronic hepatitis B in children with lamivudine and alpha-interferon combination and alpha-interferon alone.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of the alpha-interferon treatment with treatment using alpha-interferon and lamivudine in combination for cases of childhood chronic hepatitis B infection.

Methods: Patients were evaluated in two groups retrospectively. In group 1, 27 patients were simultaneously given alpha-interferon 2b 10 MU/m2, 3 days a week by s.

Prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in children in Diyarbakir, the south-east of Turkey.

Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a well known causative agent of infection in childhood but clinical presentation may be variable. History and physical examination may not be so helpful for the diagnosis. It is difficult to culture this infectious agent, with the culture technique for the multiplication of the organism for routine investigation hard to obtain.

Combination therapy for children with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

Background And Aim: To compare the therapeutic efficacy of two different interferon (INF)-alpha and lamivudine (LAM) combination therapy regimens in childhood chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infections.

Methods: Thirty-two children with CHB infection were prospectively evaluated in two random groups. In the first group, patients received INF-alpha 10 MU/m2 and LAM 4 mg/kg (max 100 mg) simultaneously for 6 months, and then LAM alone was continued for 6 months.