Mycoplasma pneumoniae and asthma in children.

The aim of this prospective study of a population of children (age, 2-15 years) hospitalized for severe asthma was to test them for acute infection due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae and acute infection due to Chlamydia pneumoniae. Of 119 patients with previously diagnosed asthma, acute M. pneumoniae infection was found in 24 (20%) and C.

Pulmonary function tests in preschool children with asthma.

Pulmonary function tests are seldom performed in preschool children with asthma. The aim of this multicenter study was to compare pulmonary function in 74 preschool children with asthma (height of 90-130 cm) and 84 healthy control subjects. Functional residual capacity (helium dilution technique) and expiratory interrupter resistance (interrupter technique) were measured.

Pulmonary function tests in preschool children with cystic fibrosis.

Pulmonary function tests have rarely been assessed in preschool children with cystic fibrosis (CF). The objective of this multicenter study was to compare pulmonary function in 39 preschool children with CF (height, 90-130 cm; 16 homozygous Delta F508) and in 79 healthy control children. Functional residual capacity (helium dilution technique) and expiratory interrupter resistance (Rint(exp)) (interrupter technique) were measured.

Pre/postbronchodilator interrupter resistance values in healthy young children.

The interrupter technique estimates flow resistance. It entails occlusion of the airways during tidal breathing while flow and mouth pressure are recorded. This noninvasive technique is easy to use in young children.

[Indications and application of exercise tests in children].

Exercise tests are routinely used in children to assess cardio-respiratory and muscular adaptations to exercise. However these tests are of relatively recent use, and there is a lack of standardization and of relevant data in large groups in this population. The aim of this paper was to specify the common medical indications of exercise tests in children, to propose standardized protocols of these tests in some of the most common pathological situations as: exercise-induced asthma, chronic respiratory diseases (bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cystic fibrosis), muscular diseases.

Usefulness of sniff nasal pressure in patients with neuromuscular or skeletal disorders.

Inspiratory muscle strength is an important variable in patients with neuromuscular or skeletal disorders. It is usually assessed by measuring maximal inspiratory pressure (PI(max)), but this test may prove difficult for some patients, and low values may originate from incomplete effort or air leaks. We assessed the usefulness of the novel sniff nasal pressure (Pn(sn)) test in 126 patients with a neuromuscular or a skeletal disorder, aged 5 to 49 yr.

Reduced lung diffusion capacity after Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia.

Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a frequent but underdiagnosed cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children, and appropriate macrolide treatment is often given late. The aim of this work was to estimate the frequency of pulmonary involvement in children 6 months after a clinical episode of Mycoplasma CAP.

Methods: We measured carbon monoxide diffusion capacity (TLCO) and conducted spirometric tests in 35 children without asthma or chronic lung disease (ages 4.

Non-endoscopic techniques for the evaluation of the pediatric airway.

In children with stridor, a detailed evaluation of the airway is often required to assess precisely its anatomical and functional status. Various methods of assessment have been developed and airway management may include, as well as rigid and flexible endoscopy, the use of imaging techniques such as plain X-rays, a barium oesophagogram, ultrasound, a CT scan, a magnetic resonance image (MRI) and an angiogram, as well as respiratory function tests including acoustic rhinometry and flow volume loops or even pH monitoring. This article aims to highlight the valuable information these alternative techniques can provide.

[Exercise intolerance caused by muscular phosphorylase kinase deficiency. Contribution of in vivo metabolic studies].

A 33 year old man has been presenting since childhood an exertional muscle pain syndrome without myoglobinuria. Muscle biopsy revealed a vacuolar myopathy with glycogen excess in subsarcolemmal and intermyofibrillar spaces which was confirmed by electron microscopy. Plasma production of ammonia was abnormally high during exercise on a bicycle ergometer while the raise of lactate was normal.

[Community-acquired pneumonia in children: importance of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections and efficacy of antibiotics].

Objectives: Define a therapeutic management schema adapted to children with community-acquired pneumonia.

Methods: A prospective survey was conducted in 104 children over 18 months of age with community-acquired pneumonia. The pathogen was isolated in 85% of the cases.

Alteration of lung diffusion capacity in IgA nephropathy.

Objective: To establish whether changes of lung transfer for carbon monoxide (TLCO) are related to the phase of IgA nephropathy.

Methods: Respiratory function was tested in 12 children with IgA nephropathy assessed by percutaneous renal biopsy. This was done during acute exacerbations or haematuria-free phases of the disease.

Small-bowel bacterial overgrowth in children with chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, or both.

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of small-bowel bacterial overgrowth (SBBO) as a cause of chronic digestive symptoms in a large cohort of children, using the glucose breath hydrogen test (BHT).

Design: Patients were 53 children (aged 2 months to 12 years) with chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, or both. Diagnosis of SBBO was defined with a BHT by a change in H2 concentration of 10 ppm H2 or more in expired air after an oral glucose load.

[Measurement of peak expiratory flow in young children: comparison of four portable equipments].

Background: Peak expiratory flow (PEF) monitoring is seldom used in young children because peak flow meter normal values are needed for children less than 7 years old.

Population And Methods: PEF was measured in 152 non asthmatic school children, aged 2.9 to 14.

[Abdominal pain in children caused by lactose intolerance. Prospective use of the hydrogen breath test].

Objectives: We performed the breath hydrogen test in children consulting for abdominal pain in order to determine the minimal quantity of lactose required to prove malabsorption with least patient incomfort and to evaluate the effect of an adapted diet in children with a positive test.

Methods: The breath hydrogen test after lactose intake was performed in 109 children (51 boys, 58 girls, mean age 8.2 + 3.

E1 pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency in a child with motor neuropathy.

We report the case of a boy who developed a motor neuropathy during infectious episodes at 18 mo and 3 y of age. When he was 7 y old, he suffered persistent weakness and areflexia; his resting lactate and pyruvate values were 3.65 mM and 398 microM, respectively (controls: 1.

Exercise intolerance in patients with McArdle's disease or mitochondrial myopathies.

Objectives: To assess respiratory and metabolic adaptations in patients with phosphorylase deficiency and mitochondrial myopathies using maximal exercise tests.

Patients And Methods: Five patients with McArdle's disease and five patients with mitochondrial myopathies performed the same incremental maximal exercise test. Their respiratory gas exchanges and the variation of the venous blood metabolites--lactate (LACT), pyruvate (PYR), alanine (ALA), ammonia (NH3)--were studied in comparison with the results of fourteen control subjects who performed the same test.

Impairment of lung diffusion capacity in Schönlein-Henoch purpura.

Twenty-nine children with typical Schönlein-Henoch purpura (SHP) were tested at the initial phase of the disease for respiratory function. Of the 29 patients, 28 had a decrease of lung transfer for carbon monoxide (TLCO) as measured by a steady-state method. Lung volumes and blood gas values were normal; slight radiologic signs of interstitial lung involvement were observed in 18 of 26 patients.

Influence of intestinal parasitism on lactose absorption in well-nourished African children.

Hydrogen breath tests were performed in Gabon (Central Africa) after a loading dose of lactose in 67 well-nourished African children (50 with intestinal parasites and 17 unparasitized) and in 18 unparasitized young adults. All had normal nutritional status, and none had diarrhea or digestive symptoms. Parasites that were found included Ascaris lumbricoides in 76% of the parasitized children, Trichuris trichiura in 58%, Giardia in 24%, Entamoeba histolytica in 20%, Schistosoma intercalatum in 16%, and Necator Americanus in 14%.

Physical exercise and voluntary hyperventilation in childhood absence epilepsy.

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of a physical exercise test and of voluntary hyperventilation between controls and children with absence epilepsy. Eighteen children (6 controls and 12 epileptics) were studied during rest (R), a maximal physical exercise test (15 min; PE), recovery (REC) and voluntary hyperventilation (3 min; VHPV). EEG and ECG were recorded during the experiment; respiratory parameters were measured to quantify PE; plasma levels of pH, lactate, pyruvate, glucose and antiepileptic drugs were determined.

[Maternal depression as a severity factor in respiratory hypersensitivity in children].

Of 136 children under 13 yr of age with allergic respiratory disease, 91 had an obstructive syndrome, at rest or induced in the laboratory, without relationship to the clinical symptoms described by the families. In the at-rest group, mothers have been more frequently subjected to depression during the child's infancy. This history of maternal depression appears to increase the frequency of the obstructive syndrome at rest in the child, with a relative risk of 2.

[Intestinal parasites and lactose malabsorption].

Breath-test was performed for diagnosis of lactose malabsorption in 50 Gabonese children of normal nutritional status, aged 5 to 15 years, with parasites in stools, but without diarrhoea or digestive symptoms. Control group was unparasitized and consisted of 17 children and 18 young adults living in the same area. Parasites discovered by stool examination were Ascaris lumbricoides in 76% of parasitized children, Trichuris trichiura in 58%, Giardia in 24%, Entamoeba histolytica in 20%, Schistosoma intercalatum in 16% and Necator Americanus in 14%.