Publications by authors named "Hunziker U"

The hypothesis was tested that oral antibiotic treatment in children with acute pyelonephritis and scintigraphy-documented lesions is equally as efficacious as sequential intravenous/oral therapy with respect to the incidence of renal scarring. A randomised multi-centre trial was conducted in 365 children aged 6 months to 16 years with bacterial growth in cultures from urine collected by catheter. The children were assigned to receive either oral ceftibuten (9 mg/kg once daily) for 14 days or intravenous ceftriaxone (50 mg/kg once daily) for 3 days followed by oral ceftibuten for 11 days.

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Group G streptococci cause invasive infections of different tissues. Most infected patients have underlying diseases and are of adult age. Invasive group G streptococcal infections rarely occur in childhood and adolescence.

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Unlabelled: Thrombotic complications in children with varicella are well known. Transient protein S deficiency due to the presence of an anti-protein S antibody seems to be responsible at least in part. In an 8-year-old girl, pseudotumour cerebri with abducens palsy and ileofemoral vein thrombosis occurred 3 weeks after chickenpox.

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Langerhans cell Histiocytosis is an infrequent disease of the orbit in little children. It is sometimes recognized in a rather late stage. We present three cases and discuss the manifestations and the treatment.

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In three children with Down syndrome and acquired hypothyroidism echocardiography was performed before and after the start of L-thyroxine treatment. Initial studies revealed pericardial effusions which resolved during treatment suggesting that they were caused by hypothyroidism. The incidence of hypothyroidism in Down syndrome is high, but the diagnosis is often missed for lack of specific clinical criteria.

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In healthy infants, crying behavior is reduced significantly by "supplemental" carrying; that is, increased carrying throughout the day in addition to that which occurs during feeding and in response to crying. To determine whether the recommendation to increase carrying would be effective as a therapy for colic, 66 mothers of infants 4 weeks of age or less who came to their pediatricians with complaints of crying problems ("colic") were randomized to receive standard pediatric advice (standard group) or standard advice plus the recommendation to increase supplemental carrying by 50% (supplemental group). Overall, the supplemental group carried their infants 6.

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Neurological development in preterm children with birth weight appropriate for gestational age is reported in two separate groups: a longitudinal study of 97 preterm children and 93 term children as a control group and a cross-sectional study of 249 preterm children. Both preterm groups were regarded as high risk with respect to number of outborns, distribution of gestational age and perinatal risk factors. Neurological outcome at 5-6 years of age in the majority of the preterm children was comparable to that of the term children.

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The predictive validity of developmental testing was investigated in term, preterm and retarded children. Verbal, performance and locomotor development were assessed at various ages and individual development curves constructed. Inter-age correlations between development tests at nine to 24 months and intellectual assessment at seven years revealed a strong effect on prediction for age at testing and level of mental performance.

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A longitudinal evaluation was carried out of the clinical, infective, and immunological progress of 34 children (who were aged 6 to 68 months--mean 25 months at the time of writing) born to 31 mothers infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), over a mean observation period of 13.4 months. Clinical symptoms, not always clearly related to HIV became apparent in 11 children, and preceding immune abnormalities were documented in two of them.

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A serological survey over a 1-year period of 1416 mothers at delivery and their 1434 offspring for the presence of anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies revealed a prevalence of 0.85%. Clinically active Lyme disease during pregnancy was found in 1 of these 12 women with elevated titres and the child was born with a ventricular septal defect.

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A mother who had given birth to a child with Schwartz-Jampel syndrome (SJS) with neonatal manifestations (myotonia, congenital contractures, bowing of femora and tibiae) underwent ultrasonic fetal examination during the 17th and 19th week of her second pregnancy. Moderately decreased fetal motor activity and constant flexion of the fingers were observed at both examinations. In addition, there was mild bowing and shortening of the femora.

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Two infants with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, encephalopathy, intrathecal anti-HIV IgG antibody production and (in one case) the presence of HIV antigen received monthly doses of intravenous gammaglobulin (IVGG) and daily antimicrobial prophylaxis starting at the ages of 6 and 9 months respectively. The follow-up over 15 and 12 months revealed a favourable course with remarkable improvement in visuo-spatial functions, receptive language, play behaviour and fine motor skills, as well as in muscle tone, pyramidal tract signs and vigilance in case 1, and near normalization in case 2. Viability of HIV in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, antigen in serum and cellular immunodeficiency, however, all remained unchanged.

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Relevant findings are reported in an 8-year-old boy with skin infection due to Staphylococcus aureus producing toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 without shock but with an increase in antibody titre against the toxin.

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A total of 484 premature children and a control group of 114 healthy term children underwent orthopaedic follow-up from birth to 5 years of age. At birth, metatarsus adductus was found to be more frequent in twins than in single infants (41% vs 16%; P less than 0.01), but occurred with equal frequency in single preterm and term infants (16% vs 12%).

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Children born to HIV-infected women in Switzerland were tested every 3 months for HIV-reactive serum immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgM and IgA antibodies by Western blot, viral antigen, virus replicating in T-lymphocyte cultures, and immunologic and clinical parameters. At birth, 27% were isolation-positive, 68% had IgM, 48% IgA and 10% circulating antigen. The proportion of IgM and IgA declined to about 18 and 27%, respectively, during the first 2 years.

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The long-acting somatostatin analogue SMS 201-995 was administered to a six-month-old infant with intractable diarrhea after failure of conventional treatment. During eight weeks of treatment, the secretory component of the diarrhea was positively influenced with a reduction of daily stool weight and stool sodium concentration. Plasma levels of growth hormone were markedly, and levels of insulin, IGF I, gastrin, pancreatic polypeptide, VIP, and neurotensin moderately decreased.

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Early development of parental behavior was studied in 10 infants born at risk. The infants were firstborn, suffered from prematurity and perinatal complications and were separated from their mothers for at least three days after birth. Semistructured videotaped interviews with the parents and developmental and neurological testing of the infants were performed prior to the dismissal from the neonatal unit, and at three and six months after term.

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The crying pattern of normal infants in industrialized societies is characterized by an overall increase until 6 weeks of age followed by a decline until 4 months of age with a preponderance of evening crying. We hypothesized that this "normal" crying could be reduced by supplemental carrying, that is, increased carrying throughout the day in addition to that which occurs during feeding and in response to crying. In a randomized controlled trial, 99 mother-infant pairs were assigned to an increased carrying or control group.

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The growth pattern is reported of 16 patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency in whom therapy was started after the age of 3 years. Treatment was initiated at a mean chronological age (CA) of 4.7 years (range 3.

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A developmental approach to the management of sleep disturbances was successful in 85% (44/52) of the children (aged 2-36 months) within 2-6 weeks. No drugs were used. The approach was based on the following two principles: taking into account the characteristics of sleep behavior in infants and young children by setting up seven rules of normal sleep behavior, and dealing with the expectations and anxieties of the parents by means of a sleep chart.

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