Food-induced anaphylaxis and cofactors - data from the anaphylaxis registry.

Food allergens are frequent causes of anaphylaxis. In particular in children and adolescents they are the most frequent elicitors of severe allergic reactions, and in adults food allergens rank third behind insect venom and drugs. Since July 2006 severe allergic reactions from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are collected in the anaphylaxis registry.

Asymptomatic pulmonary involvement in 2 children with Niemann-Pick disease type B.

We present 2 cases of children with Niemann-Pick disease type B, and surprisingly with reticular lung infiltrations, although otherwise healthy in terms of pulmonary manifestation. Finding such reticular infiltrations should lead one to think of the possibility of metabolic storage disease.

Clinical and immunological response to oral and subcutaneous immunotherapy with grass pollen extracts. A prospective study.

Forty children allergic to grass pollen were divided into two groups, and matched by their serum IgE antibody concentrations to grasses. For two preseasonal treatment periods one group received immunotherapy with an alum adsorbed grass pollen extract, while the second group was treated orally with an aqueous extract of the same allergens. The patients' postseasonal self evaluation as well as the mean symptom scores calculated from symptom diaries indicate, that oral treatment is significantly less effective in controlling seasonal allergic symptoms than subcutaneous immunotherapy.

[Modern x-ray apparatus for pediatric radiology (Pädiatrix) (author's transl)].

First experiences with the new apparatus "Pädiatrix" in pediatric radiology are reported. The apparatus is especially constructed for babies and children. X-ray pictures can be taken close-up and in distance with the tube above the table.

IgE mediated hypersensitivity in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome.

Sixty children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS) and 30 unselected controls were studied for IgE mediated hypersensitivity by skin-test, total serum IgE and specific IgE antibodies to various allergens. In 42 patients the NS was steroid-responsive and associated with minimal glomerular changes (MC); in 18 patients it was steroid-resistant and associated with focal-segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSS). A history of allergy was found in 17% of MC, 6% of FSS and 10% of control children.

[Beclomethasone dipropionate seasonal allergic rhinitis treatment of children. A double blind cross over study (author's transl)].

In a double-blind cross over study on 25 children with seasonal allergic rhinitis treatment with Beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP)-Aerosol was found more effective than placebo. 17 children preferred BDP, two the placebo-aerosol, while 6 had no preferrence. During a period with very high pollen concentrations in the air the effect of BDP-therapy was no longer sufficient.

[CT in the diagnosis, treatment planning and follow-up in craniopharyngeoma (author's transl)].

The axial computed tomography of the skull has become an important part of the neuroradiologic diagnostics. The intracranial CT diagnosis is completed by the coronal sections which is used in particular in case of processes in the posterior cranial fossa and its differentiation of the supra- and infratentorial dimensions and in order to localize tumors in the sella region. The accurate determination of the tumor volume and the para-, supra-, and retrosellar dimensions makes possible an exact operation and irradiation planning.

Determination of glomerular function in advanced renal failure.

In 15 children with advanced chronic renal failure, glomerular filtration rate was determined by different methods. Inulin clearance correlated well with the mean of creatinine and urea clearance, and also with 51-chromium edetic acid (EDTA) clearance measured over 24 hours. The absolute values of creatinine clearance and of 51Cr-EDTA clearance measured up to 8 hours were higher than inulin clearance.