Effectiveness of paediatric asthma hubs: a clinical pilot study.

Background: Children and young people (CYP) with asthma in the UK are at higher risk of poor outcomes compared with other high-income European countries due to factors including poor access to high-quality asthma reviews, diagnostic testing and inconsistent postattack reviews. The Leicester Integrated Care Board funded the first UK pilot asthma hub for CYP, to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of hubs, in providing postattack reviews along with providing asthma education, the opportunity to carry out diagnostic lung function tests and optimise treatment.

Methods: Clinical pilot study including CYP aged 4-17 years referred to the hub with uncontrolled asthma or postattack from November 2021 to April 2022.

PeRinatal, neOnatal, and Maternal OuTcomEs with azithromycin prophylaxis in pregnancy and labour (PROMOTE-PROPHYLAXIS): systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Initial randomised controlled trials (RCTs) showed that prophylactic azithromycin in pregnant women improved maternal and neonatal outcomes; however, the recent evidence did not show any benefit to neonatal survival. There is conflicting evidence over the role of azithromycin prophylaxis in antenatal and intrapartum periods. We explored whether azithromycin prophylaxis in pregnant women improves maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Impact of CFTR modulators on exercise capacity in adolescents with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Exercise capacity is an independent predictor of clinical worsening in cystic fibrosis (CF). There is limited evidence of the impact of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators on exercise capacity in children with CF. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of CFTR modulators on exercise capacity in a cohort of adolescents with CF.

A Systematic Review of the Barriers to the Implementation of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to improve healthcare outcomes by facilitating early diagnosis, reducing the medical administrative burden, aiding drug development, personalising medical and oncological management, monitoring healthcare parameters on an individual basis, and allowing clinicians to spend more time with their patients. In the post-pandemic world where there is a drive for efficient delivery of healthcare and manage long waiting times for patients to access care, AI has an important role in supporting clinicians and healthcare systems to streamline the care pathways and provide timely and high-quality care for the patients. Despite AI technologies being used in healthcare for some decades, and all the theoretical potential of AI, the uptake in healthcare has been uneven and slower than anticipated and there remain a number of barriers, both overt and covert, which have limited its incorporation.

Group A Streptococcal Infections in Children.

Background: Invasive group A streptococcal disease (iGAS) can have varied clinical presentations in children, are responsible for prolonged hospital stays and can cause mortality and long-term morbidity in children. Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the incidence of iGAS infections in the UK and worldwide. This has renewed the focus on early diagnosis, management and prevention of this disease.

A rare case of osteomyelitis of the clavicle in a child due to Group A streptococcal infection.

Acute osteomyelitis of the clavicle is rare in the paediatric age group. We treated a 5-year-old boy who presented initially with fever and left shoulder pain, and subsequently developed swelling in the region of the left clavicle. Group A (GAS) was isolated in blood culture.

Streamlining the process of Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE).

This quality improvement project helped streamline the process of newborn and infant physical examinations on maternity inpatient ward and improved patient journey and workforce satisfaction.

Treatment for chronic methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus pulmonary infection in people with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Cystic fibrosis is an inherited life-threatening multisystem disorder with lung disease characterized by abnormally thick airway secretions and persistent bacterial infection. Chronic, progressive lung disease is the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in the condition and is therefore the main focus of clinical care and research. Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of chest infection in people with cystic fibrosis.

Unusual Presentation of Intrasacral Meningocele: A Case Report and Overview.

Intrasacral meningocele is an unusual congenital lesion. It is an intrathecal cystic formation arising as a protrusion of the arachnoid through a congenitally weak place in the dura mater. We report a case of a 12-year-old child with chronic pain with an intrasacral meningocele identified on magnetic resonance imaging.

A structured approach to the assessment of a floppy neonate.

Hypotonia in a newborn presents a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. It is an important clinical feature that may indicate an underlying systemic illness or neurological problem at the level of the central or peripheral nervous system. It is important to know the different presentations of hypotonia and to have the knowledge of the diagnostic work up which requires multidisciplinary assessment and input and the prognostic implications of these disorders.

Doppler echocardiography imaging in detecting multi-valvular lesions: a clinical evaluation in children with acute rheumatic fever.

Rationale: Doppler echocardiography has been demonstrated to be accurate in diagnosing valvular lesions in rheumatic heart disease (RHD) when compared to clinical evaluation alone.

Objective: To perform Doppler echocardiography in children clinically diagnosed by the Jones criteria to have acute rheumatic fever (ARF), and to then compare the effectiveness of echo in detecting single/multi-valvular lesions with that of the initial clinical evaluation.

Methods And Results: We enrolled 93 children who were previously diagnosed with ARF by clinical examination.