Prevalence and characterisation of Staphylococcus aureus causing community-acquired skin and soft tissue infections on Java and Bali, Indonesia.

Objectives: To define the role of Staphylococcus aureus in community settings among patients with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) in Indonesia.

Methods: Staphylococcus aureus were cultured from anterior nares, throat and wounds of 567 ambulatory patients presenting with SSTI. The mecA gene and genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL; lukF-PV and lukS-PV) and exfoliative toxin (ET; eta and etb) were determined by PCR.

Cochlear Implantation in Patients With Usher Syndrome Type IIa Increases Performance and Quality of Life.

Objectives: Usher syndrome type IIa (USH2a) is characterized by congenital moderate to severe hearing impairment and retinitis pigmentosa. Hearing rehabilitation starts in early childhood with the application of hearing aids. In some patients with USH2a, severe progression of hearing impairment leads to insufficient speech intelligibility with hearing aids and issues with adequate communication and safety.

Cochlear implantation and clinical features in patients with Noonan syndrome and Noonan syndrome with multiple lentigines caused by a mutation in PTPN11.

Existing literature only reports a few patients with Noonan syndrome (NS) and Noonan syndrome with multiple lentigines (NSML) who underwent cochlear implantation (CI). The present study describes four NS patients and one NSML patient with a PTPN11 mutation. They all had severe to profound hearing loss, and they received a CI.

Paediatric Cochlear Implantation in Patients with Waardenburg Syndrome.

Objective: To analyse the benefit of cochlear implantation in young deaf children with Waardenburg syndrome (WS) compared to a reference group of young deaf children without additional disabilities.

Method: A retrospective study was conducted on children with WS who underwent cochlear implantation at the age of 2 years or younger. The post-operative results for speech perception (phonetically balanced standard Dutch consonant-vocal-consonant word lists) and language comprehension (the Reynell Developmental Language Scales, RDLS), expressed as a language quotient (LQ), were compared between the WS group and the reference group by using multiple linear regression analysis.

Allelic Mutations of KITLG, Encoding KIT Ligand, Cause Asymmetric and Unilateral Hearing Loss and Waardenburg Syndrome Type 2.

Linkage analysis combined with whole-exome sequencing in a large family with congenital and stable non-syndromic unilateral and asymmetric hearing loss (NS-UHL/AHL) revealed a heterozygous truncating mutation, c.286_303delinsT (p.Ser96Ter), in KITLG.

Patients with Pendred syndrome: is cochlear implantation beneficial?

Objective: To evaluate the benefit of cochlear implantation in patients with Pendred syndrome.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary centre.

External ear anomalies and hearing impairment in Noonan Syndrome.

Objective: This is the first cohort in which hearing impairment and external ear anomalies in Noonan Syndrome are described extensively.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of the otorhinolaryngological and clinical genetic data from 97 Noonan Syndrome (NS) patients. Forty-four NS patients were seen by an otorhinolaryngologist for the analysis of hearing impairment.

Bilateral catheter-directed thrombolysis in a patient with deep venous thrombosis caused by a hypoplastic inferior vena cava.

Introduction: Deep venous thrombosis treatment using catheter-directed thrombolysis is advocated over systemic thrombolysis because it reduces bleeding complications. With the development of a catheter that combines ultrasound vibrations and the local delivering of thrombolytics, new and safer treatments appear that are suitable for more complex problems.

Report: An adolescent male presented with bilateral iliofemoral thrombosis based on a hypoplastic inferior vena cava that had existed for more than two weeks.

Long-term outcome after statin treatment in routine clinical practice: results from a prospective PCI cohort study.

Aims: We aim to investigate the association between different types of statins, in particular simvastatin and atorvastatin, and long-term mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods And Results: Between 2000 and 2005, a prospective cohort was constituted of 5,647 patients who underwent PCI. Type and doses of statin use were collected after the PCI procedure.

Three-year clinical event rates in different age groups after contemporary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Aims: As the global population ages, elderly patients will form an increasing proportion of those undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We investigated the safety and efficacy of bare metal stents (BMS) and DES in all patients undergoing PCI at our institution, stratified by age.

Methods And Results: We investigated three sequential groups of consecutive patients treated exclusively with BMS (n=2,194; January 2000 to April 2002), sirolimus-eluting stents (SES, n=834; April 2002 to February 2003) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES, n=2,841; February 2003 to December 2005).

Eight-year clinical outcome after radioactive stent implantation: a treatment failure without irreversible long-term clinical sequelae.

Aims: To assess the long-term outcome of patients who underwent radioactive stent (RS) implantation.

Methods And Results: The RS study population consisted of 133 consecutive patients who underwent RS implantation between November 1997 and July 2000. They were matched using the propensity score method with 266 patients who underwent bare metal stenting (BMS) in the same span.

Combination therapy salmeterol/fluticasone versus doubling dose of fluticasone in children with asthma.

Rationale: For children with symptomatic asthma despite low to moderate doses of inhaled corticosteroids, evidence is still lacking whether to add a long-acting bronchodilator or to increase the dose of inhaled corticosteroids.

Objective: To evaluate whether salmeterol/fluticasone propionate (SFP), 50/100 μg twice a day, is noninferior regarding symptom control compared with fluticasone propionate (FP), 200 μg twice a day Diskus in children with symptomatic asthma.

Methods: A multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, double-blind study was performed comparing SFP and FP treatment during 26 weeks on asthma control and lung function.

Health-related quality of life and long-term mortality in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: Health status has become increasingly important as an outcome measure in patients with cardiovascular disease. Poor patient-rated health status has been shown to predict mortality in patients with coronary artery disease and heart failure. In patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), we examined whether poor health status predicts 6-year mortality and whether a decline in health status is associated with adverse clinical outcome.

Negative and positive affect are independently associated with patient-reported health status following percutaneous coronary intervention.

Purpose: We examined the association between negative and positive affect and 12-month health status in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents.

Methods: Consecutive PCI patients (n = 562) completed the Global Mood Scale at baseline to assess affect and the EuroQoL-5D (EQ-5D) at baseline and 12-month follow-up to assess health status.

Results: Negative affect [F(1, 522) = 17.

[Neonatal respiratory distress caused by primary ciliary dyskinesia].

Two newborns, both boys, presented with unexplained respiratory distress. One developed recurrent pneumonias in the first neonatal week and was diagnosed with primary ciliary dyskinesia at the age of 2.5 years.

Pulmonary interstitial glycogenosis in identical twins.

We present the clinical, radiological, and pathological findings of open lung biopsies from monozygotic prematurely born male twins with respiratory distress at ages 6 and 8 weeks postnatally. Radiological examination showed a reticular nodular interstitial pattern on chest radiography. High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) revealed ground-glass opacification and thickened interstitial septae in both infants.

Homologous bone graft for expansion thoracoplasty in Jeune's asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy.

Adult tibial shaft from a bone graft bank was used as a solid homologous bone graft for midsternal expansion thoracoplasty in an infant with Jeune's asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy. The technique appeared successful, but the child grew out of her chest in her second year of life. Expansion thoracoplasty for Jeune's disease probably should only be reserved for children who survive their first year of life without major surgery.

[Acute asthma in children; guidelines by pediatric pulmonologists for diagnosis and treatment].

The diagnostic phase in a child with acute asthma should be short and comprise a brief history-taking, inspection and auscultation of the thorax, transcutaneous oxygen measurement and, if possible, peak flow measurement. Blood picture. sputum culture and chest X-ray may be included in the diagnostics if indicated.

Intractable or uncontrolled asthma: psychosocial factors.

The purpose of this study was to address the question of why, when there is a comparable severity of asthma, medical facilities, and treatments, some children develop controlled asthma whereas other children do not and are frequently ill. The major research questions pertained to whether families with a child with uncontrolled asthma differ from families with a child with controlled asthma as regards family characteristics and child-rearing attitudes, whether particular psychosocial variables relate to the severity of the asthma, and whether the interaction between the severity of the asthma and its controllability may clarify the role of psychosocial variables. Two studies were conducted, in which 70 asthmatic children (age range 9-15 years) and their families participated.

Pemphigus vegetans in a child.

Pemphigus vegetans was diagnosed in a 12-year-old boy based on clinical, histopathological and immunohistological findings. To our knowledge, this is the first case of juvenile pemphigus vegetans to be published in the literature. Suggested treatment with prednisone and azathioprine was refused, and the patient was treated with a decoction of herbs prescribed by a practitioner of traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

Newly generated IgE antibodies to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus in children are directed against components distinct from Der p I and Der p II.

The specificity of newly generated IgE antibodies (Abs) to the house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, in longitudinal serum samples from 18 young children with an increased risk for IgE-mediated allergy was studied. The first IgE Ab response to house dust mite was detected early in life (mean age, 32 months; range, 11 to 60 months). For 83% of the children, more than half of the newly generated IgE Ab response to house dust mite was directed against components distinct from the major allergens, Der p I (Pl) and Der p II (DpX).