[A patient suffering from priapism as a side-effect of pipamperone].

Background: Antipsychotic drugs can cause a wide and varied range of side -effects because of their affinity for serotonergic, dopaminergic, adrenergic and histaminergic receptors. Priapism is a rare and serious side-effect of antipsychotic drugs and is probably caused by their alpha 1-adrenergic receptor blocking activity.

Case Description: A 13-year-old boy with a history of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome was presented to the urologist with a history of a penile erection for more than 24 hours, since waking the previous morning.

Dieting in children: a population-based study in children aged between 9 and 12 years.

Aim: Dieting can be a burden for the child and can have side effects. Insight into dieting is therefore important. A recent study showed that 13.

[Acute anaemia in a Vietnamese patient with alpha-thalassaemia and a parvovirus infection].

A 14-year-old girl of Vietnamese descent with an unremarkable medical history presented with haemodynamic shock due to severe anaemia. This was caused by an aplastic crisis resulting from the combined effects of a Parvovirus infection and HbH disease. The HbH disease was a result of compound heterozygosity for the South East Asia (SEA) deletion and the Constant Spring mutation in the genes coding for alpha-globin chains (HbH/Hb Bart's).

[Sport drinks: not a suitable rehydration solution for children].

A two-months-old male infant with gastroenteritis had been given a sports drink (Aquarius) by the general practitioner as a treatment for dehydration and was referred because of ongoing vomiting and weight loss. The child recovered after reinstitution of normal bottle-feeding and administration of a regular oral rehydration solution (ORS). The sports drink was analysed and found to contain less salt than ORS.

[Vomiting: not a benign symptom in children with diabetes].

Two girls, 14 and 15 years old and known for several years with diabetes, came to the paediatric outpatients' clinic because they had been vomiting for 1-2 days. Laboratory tests revealed diabetic ketoacidosis. After administration of fluids and short-acting insulin, and sodium bicarbonate in one of the girls, the patients recovered, although one of them continued to have fluctuating glucose values.