Diaper Use Increases the Risk of Buttock and Perineal Abscesses.

Objectives: Over the last decade, there has been a notable increase in the incidence of abscesses. Children in the diaper-wearing age group are disproportionately affected, and most of these abscesses occur in the buttock and perineal region. Using case-control methodology, we sought to determine if diaper use itself is an independent risk factor for abscess formation.

Domestically Acquired Aural Myiasis in a Tennessee Girl.

We present the rare case of a 12-year-old girl from Tennessee with domestically acquired aural myiasis.

Alkalosis-induced respiratory depression from infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

We report an infant with apnea due to infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. The distinct mechanism of compensatory respiratory depression of severe metabolic acidosis is implicated.

"Traumatic tap" proportion in pediatric lumbar puncture.

Objectives: To determine the frequency of "traumatic" or "bloody" tap when pediatric lumbar puncture is performed by a physician who has completed training and performs the procedure frequently.

Methods: The author identified 100 sequential patients presenting to a pediatric emergency department requiring lumbar puncture for clinical indications. Demographic information, cerebrospinal cell counts, and other relevant data were later obtained by retrospective chart review.

Radius fracture from an electrical injury involving an electric guitar.

Electrical injury ranges widely from simple shock and mild burns to more extensive superficial injury, internal injury, and mortality. Bony fracture from electrically-induced tetanic muscle contraction is a rare but recognized injury. We report the case of a 14-year-old boy who suffered a minor burn and radius fracture related to an electrical injury involving his electric guitar.

Gridding: a form of folk medicine for respiratory illness.

Gridding and other folk remedies are commonly employed for respiratory illnesses. Pediatric health care providers need to be aware of such practices and their potential complications.

Penetrating missile-type head injury from a defective badminton racquet.

Injuries occurring during badminton are rarely serious and primarily involve the lower extremities. We report an instance wherein a patient suffered serious brain injury related to playing with a defective badminton racquet. The possibility of similar injuries following the separation of the racquet head and shaft from the handle needs to be disseminated.

Sources of knowledge transfer among primary care pediatric health care providers.

Objectives: The authors sought to understand which informational sources pediatric health care providers perceive as most influential in how they stay current with health care innovations.

Methods: Rochester, New York, area pediatric health care providers were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Two items pertained to the health care provider's ability to interpret primary research, and 9 items pertained to the influence and relative importance of various sources of information.

Why pediatric health care providers are not using homeopathic antidiarrheal agents.

Objectives: Several randomized, controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of homeopathic agents for use in childhood diarrhea. However, this therapeutic innovation is not being routinely adopted. We chose to study the degree of adoption as well as the perceived reasons for failure to adopt homeopathic antidiarrheal agents by pediatric health care providers.

Febrile myoclonus.

Febrile myoclonus is a poorly understood and rarely reported phenomenon. We report a case with particular characteristics that continue to help define this benign disorder.

Referred shoulder pain preceding abdominal pain in a teenage girl with gastric perforation.

Referred shoulder pain is an important yet potentially distracting sign of serious intra-abdominal illness. A case is presented wherein shoulder pain preceded by several hours the onset of abdominal pain in a teenage girl with gastric perforation. The range of causes of gastric perforation and the pathophysiology of referred shoulder pain are discussed.

"Don't jump on the bed".

Jumping on the bed is a common childhood behavior. However, little is known about the potential for traumatic injury sustainable as a consequence of this behavior save for an understanding of the risk of injury related to falling from a bed, and a growing body of literature related to trampoline injuries. We report a case of a "grid" wire puncture injury that required a minor incision to affect removal.

Efficacy of a pediatric emergency department-based influenza vaccination program.

Background: Influenza vaccination effectively reduces influenza-related morbidity in children but is underused. The pediatric emergency department is a potential intervention point for increasing influenza vaccination in children.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a pediatric emergency department-based influenza vaccination program.

Wood's lamp employed as a provocative technique to identify pseudoseizures.

We present a case of a 12-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with ictal phenomena suggestive of pseudoseizures. A Wood's lamp was successfully employed to induce the stereotypic phenomena and thereby identify the ictal events as nonepileptiform. Use of the Wood's lamp has not previously been reported as a provocative stimulus to induce pseudoseizures.