Lymph node biopsies in HIV-infected and non-infected children with persistent lung disease.

Objective: The diagnosis of opportunistic infections in children with persistent lung disease (PLD) who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is difficult to establish, especially in resource-poor countries. Lymphadenopathy is a frequent associated clinical finding among these children. We evaluated the usefulness of excision lymph node biopsies in determining an aetiological diagnosis in HIV-infected and non-infected children with PLD.

Folliculosebaceous cystic hamartoma.

Although folliculosebaceous cystic hamartoma (FCH) is an uncommon cutaneous entity with distinct classical and variant histopathologic features, it lacks distinctive typifying clinical features. Since the original description of five cases of FCH by Kimura et al. in 1991, 12 cases have been documented.

The significance of arterial hypertension at the onset of clinical lupus nephritis.

The prognostic importance of hypertension at the onset of clinical lupus nephritis is not well established. We studied retrospectively 44 patients with lupus nephritis in order to ascertain the prevalence of hypertension at presentation and to investigate a possible association between hypertension and renal functional impairment. A correlation was also sought between hypertension and histological class of lupus nephritis.

Pneumocystis carinii and cytomegalovirus infections in severely ill, HIV-infected African infants.

Unlike in the industrialized world, in which Pneumocystis carinii and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are major respiratory opportunistic organisms, the causes of severe pneumonia, which accounts for much of the mortality in HIV-infected infants in developing countries, are not known, although tuberculosis has been associated with HIV in adults. We report on post-mortem lung and liver biopsies obtained soon after death from 36 HIV-infected infants and 36 HIV-uninfected matched controls who had been admitted with severe pneumonia to an ICU. Nineteen of the HIV-infected infants were classified by WHO criteria as having AIDS and 17 'symptomatic HIV'.

Intralingual cysts of foregut origin.

Intralingual cysts lined by epithelium of foregut origin are rarely reported. We present 16 patients seen over an 8-year period (1983 to 1990) with such lesions. Respiratory and squamous epithelium were the most commonly encountered.

Gastrointestinal mucormycosis.

Twenty patients with gastrointestinal mucormycosis are reviewed. This often fatal opportunistic fungal infection was diagnosed histologically, and was categorized as colonization (five patients), infiltration (seven patients), or vascular invasion (eight patients). There were no fatalities from colonization.

Oncocytic cyst of the larynx. A case report.

Cystic oncocytoma of the larynx is rare, and found mainly in older patients; there is a female preponderance. It arises mainly from the ventricle. These lesions are considered to be metaplastic or hyperplastic rather than neoplastic.

Usefulness of clinical features and liver biopsy in diagnosis of disseminated herpes simplex infection.

With the advent of effective antiviral treatment for disseminated herpes infection it has become important to be able to make a firm clinical diagnosis of this condition. We undertook a retrospective analysis of 20 patients with disseminated herpes simplex infection diagnosed at necropsy to derive useful clinical pointers to this severe form of the disease. The most useful clinical criteria were malnutrition, post measles state, and local herpes infection in addition to encephalopathy, enlarging hepatomegaly, and deteriorating pneumonia.

Absence of 'true' minimal change nephrotic syndrome in African children in South Africa.

Minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) which is a well defined clinical, histopathological and therapeutic entity accounts for the majority of childhood nephrosis throughout the world except Africa. We describe 15 (13%) of 115 biopsy-confirmed African children with nephrotic syndrome who had minimal change on light microscopy. These are compared to 42 biopsied Indian children with typical MCNS.

Melanotic neuro-ectodermal tumour of infancy. A case report.

A case of melanotic neuro-ectodermal tumour of infancy (retinal anlage tumour, melanotic ameloblastoma) is described. Although a well recognized entity, the biological origin of this tumour is still disputed. A confusing array of names has been awarded to this tumour which characteristically occurs in infants under one year of age, commonly arising from the maxilla but also from the mandible, frontal bone, mediastinum, shoulder and cerebellum.

Extramembranous nephropathy in black South African children.

Membranous nephropathy is the most frequent histological category among black children with nephrotic syndrome. In this study 31 African children with this condition are described. There were more boys than girls and the peak age was four to 11 years.