Introduction: Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a chronic neurological illness affecting many bodily systems, commonly the nervous and immune systems. Also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), key symptoms are extreme fatigue, post-exertional malaise, cognitive problems and sleep disturbance. With reported higher levels of online activity for people with ME/CFS than other patient groups (Westerby 2013 cited in Ytre-Arne) it is crucial to gain more knowledge of usage characteristics and experience of online use, and its integration into everyday life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The paediatric workforce has grown substantially in recent years. Roles have changed considerably with the introduction of working time legislation and a move towards a trained doctor solution. By gaining a better understanding of paediatric trainees' career intentions, this study aims to assess whether the right workforce is being trained to meet the future demand for paediatric services in the UK.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ R Soc Promot Health
July 2008
Over the last 25 years there have been considerable advances in the treatment and technologies used in the care of newborn infants. Most of these advances are related to the care of the premature infants and there have been few changes in the management of conditions commonly seen in term infants. Neonatal jaundice is one of the commonest neonatal disorders and has been recognized since early history.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To determine the current management of early neonatal jaundice in the UK and to evaluate whether the current practices are evidence based.
Methods: A questionnaire survey was carried out among identified lead paediatricians of neonatal intensive care units.
Results: The survey found markedly differing practices for the recognition, investigation and treatment of neonatal jaundice.
Objective: To test two methods of providing low cost information on the later health status of survivors of neonatal intensive care.
Design: Cluster randomised comparison.
Setting: Nine hospitals distributed across two UK health regions.
This study demonstrates the successful management of aggressive behaviour with a client 10 years post-injury in a small, residential neurorehabilitation unit. The case presented is unusual for two main reasons. First, it proved possible to significantly modify previously chronic challenging behaviour many years after brain injury had been sustained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a boy with severe intrauterine growth retardation, relative macrocephaly, an aged appearance to the face, hydrocephaly and distinctive skeletal anomalies. Autosomal recessive inheritance is likely in view of the parental consanguinity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFive children are described with a striking, asymmetric facial appearance, craniosynostosis, preaxial polysyndactyly, agenesis of the corpus callosum and unusual skin with streaky areas of atrophy. The gut and mucous membranes are involved in two patients. This paper includes two patients described by Gorlin (1990) under the designation of the Curry Jones syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA cross-sectional study of 128 healthy full term infants was made using duplex Doppler ultrasonography in order to establish a normal range for cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the first week of life. Recordings were made from both the anterior (ACA) and middle cerebral arteries (MCA). There was a statistically significant increase in CBFV in both the ACA and MCA over the first four days of life, which was particularly obvious in the first 24 h.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe diagnosis of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) was determined by Doppler examinations of the descending aorta and/or main trunk of the pulmonary artery in a cohort of 120 preterm infants. 55 per cent of the infants had Doppler echocardiographic evidence of ductal patency on the first day of life and this proportion fell to 30 per cent on the second day and 21 per cent on the third day. The incidence remained constant for the rest of the first week.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFC. reactive protein (CRP) estimations were performed prospectively on 30 consecutive admissions of very low birth weight infants to a Regional neonatal intensive care unit. The samples were analysed by a recently described, rapid intralipid agglutination assay and by a reference turbidimetric technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDoppler ultrasound was used to study prospectively cerebral and cardiovascular hemodynamics in a cohort of 120 preterm infants to see whether it was possible to predict infants at increased risk of developing cerebral pathology. The infants were divided into four outcome groups: Group I (n = 65, median gestation = 30 weeks) did not develop periventricular haemorrhage (PVH) nor periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) Group II (n = 43, median gestation = 28 weeks) developed PVH as the first or only cerebral lesion Group III (n = 7, median gestation = 29 weeks) developed PVL as the first or only cerebral lesion Group IV (n = 5, median gestation = 28 weeks) developed PVH and PVL simultaneously. Cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and aorta blood flow velocity (ABFV) recordings made before the onset of PVH or PVL were compared between the four groups on each postnatal day but it was not possible to demonstrate a statistically significant difference between these variables in the four outcome groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThirty-four fullterm infants with postasphyxial encephalopathy (PAE) were studied with ultrasound to assess cerebral blood-flow velocity (CBFV). A control group of 126 healthy infants also had CBFV recordings during the first week of life. Measurements for the majority of the asphyxiated group fell into two abnormal patterns in relation to the control group: four had low CBFV (less than 2 SD below the mean) and 17 had high CBFV (greater than or equal to 2 SD above the mean); all had severe PAE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of changes in positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) on cerebral blood flow velocity, arterial blood gases, and mean arterial pressure were studied in newborn infants. In mechanically ventilated premature infants with severe respiratory disease, an increase in PEEP from 2 to 6 cm H2O was associated with an increase in cerebral blood flow velocity. There was no significant change in mean arterial blood pressure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle is known about the effects of hyperoxia on the cerebral circulation of human infants. Using duplex Doppler we measured the changes in cerebral blood flow velocity in a group of full term (n = 15) and premature infants (n = 17, median gestational age 31 weeks) in response to a transient threefold increase in oxygen tension. Measurements of blood gas tensions as well as blood pressure and cerebral blood flow velocity were made over a period of 20 minutes on three occasions for each infant; during normal oxygenation, hyperoxia, and normal oxygenation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
September 1988
A new Doppler technique for assessing the fetal cerebral circulation is described. Cerebral blood-flow velocity was measured in 15 fetuses and 18 neonates of similar gestational age. The median fetal and neonatal velocities were 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle is known about the vasoactivity of cerebral arterioles in extremely premature infants. We have assessed the effects of a small rise in PaCO2 of 1 kPa (7.5 mm Hg) on cerebral blood flow velocity measured by duplex Doppler ultrasound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCerebral artery Doppler ultrasound recordings, and intra-arterial pressure measurements have been made from 27 very low birth weight infants during the first week of life. These data were used to calculate Pourcelot's resistance index (RI), mean blood flow velocity, and resistance-area product (RAP), in both the anterior and middle cerebral arteries. There was a good degree of correlation between recordings from different sites on the same occasion, but absolute values were site dependent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForty six infants with the ultrasonic diagnosis of cavitating periventricular leukomalacia (CPVL) have been reviewed. Follow up examination results allow correlation between the ultrasound appearances and subsequent neurodevelopmental and neurological deficits. The highest incidence of this condition was found in infants at and below 27 weeks gestation, and occurred in 15% of very premature infants surviving 14 days or more.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntra-arterial blood pressure measurements recorded during the first week of life in 32 stable very low birth weight infants (20 of birth weight up to 1250 g and 12 with birth weight 1251-1500 g) were reviewed. None of the infants received inotropic drugs or were given infusions of colloids to manipulate the blood pressure during the periods from which the recordings were taken. The mean systolic, mean and diastolic blood pressure measurements for infants of birth weight greater than 1250 g were significantly higher than those recorded in the infants of birth weight of up to 1250 g (figure 1).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Dis Child
November 1987
The case notes of 20 infants with hyperkalaemia (defined as two successive serum potassium measurements of greater than 7.5 mmol/l) were reviewed. The incidence of hyperkalaemia was also looked at in an unselected population of 200 low birthweight infants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo children are described who presented at the age of 5 and 7 months with anaemia, a high white cell count with eosinophilia and thrombocytopenia. Both children had an identical balanced translocation t(1;5)(q23;q33) and no evidence of a constitutional abnormality. The response to treatment of one child was poor, the other remains well on therapy.
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