Bacille-Calmette-Guerin vaccination and the development of allergic disease in children: a randomized, prospective, single-blind study.

Background: The increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases in countries with a so-called western lifestyle may be due to a decrease in exposure to infectious agents in early life.

Objective: To establish the effect of Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination in 6-week-old high-risk infants in a prospective single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial on the prevalence of allergic disease at the age of 4 and 18 months.

Methods: Subjects were 121 predominantly Caucasian high-risk newborns, having either a mother, or both a father and at least one sibling with past or present allergic disease.

Radiological and functional changes over 3 years in young children with cystic fibrosis.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate airway disease progression assessed by chest radiology, expiratory interrupter resistance (Rint,exp) and spirometry in young children with cystic fibrosis (CF) over a 3-yr period. Two chest radiographs combined with two R(int,exp) measurements were performed with a 3-yr interval in 21 preschool children (age (mean+/-sd) 3.2+/-0.

Decreased coenzyme Q10 concentration in plasma of children with cystic fibrosis.

Objectives: Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an effective lipophilic antioxidant and protects against lipid peroxidation by scavenging radicals. Patients with cystic fibrosis generally have fat malabsorption; thus, we hypothesized that overall plasma CoQ10 concentration in pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis might be diminished. Because these patients have increased oxidative stress due to chronic pulmonary inflammation, we also assumed that the oxidized form of CoQ10 might be relatively increased.

Birth prevalence and survival in cystic fibrosis: a national cohort study in the Netherlands.

Background: Birth prevalence and survival in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) in the Netherlands were last investigated > 30 years ago. However, since then the birth prevalence may have decreased because of genetic counseling and an increased number of newborns of non-European descent. Although survival of CF patients has increased worldwide, a significantly lower median age at death was recently reported in the Netherlands compared with data from the United States.

Moyamoya and extracranial vascular involvement: fibromuscular dysplasia? A report of two children.

We present two patients with moyamoya syndrome and the unusual involvement of extracranial vessels. The first case illustrates the rare association between moyamoya and primary pulmonary hypertension. In the second patient, moyamoya was complicated by stenoses of vertebral, renal, and mesenteric arteries.