Difficulties in diagnosing vertebral osteomyelitis in a child.

Vertebral osteomyelitis is a rare diagnosis and often delayed diagnosis in children. This is a case of a child presenting with fever, back pain and raised C reactive protein who was found to have a bacteraemia. Initial imaging with CT, MRI of the spine and abdominal ultrasound failed to demonstrate a vertebral osteomyelitis or identify another source of the bacteraemia.

Can neonatal pneumothorax be successfully managed in regional Australia?

Introduction: There is a lack of data reflecting the trend of neonatal pneumothorax in regional Australia. The aim of this study is to review the incidence and characteristics of neonates diagnosed with pneumothorax in Central Queensland, analyse outcomes in terms of the ability of local hospitals to manage this condition, and describe predictors for severe disease requiring transfer to a tertiary centre. Thus the role of regional health services in managing this condition will be reviewed.

Sacrococcygeal teratoma: clinical characteristics and long-term outcome in Nigerian children.

Background/purpose: The excision of sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT) may be associated with significant long-term morbidity for the child. We reviewed our experience with SCT in a tertiary health care facility in a developing country with particular interest on the long-term sequelae.

Methods: Between January 1990 and May 2008 inclusive, 38 consecutive children with the diagnosis of SCT were identified from the operation register and the Cancer Registry of the Jos University Teaching Hospital.

Meals and dephytinization affect calcium and zinc absorption in Nigerian children with rickets.

Nutritional rickets resulting from calcium insufficiency is common in Nigeria and high dietary phytate is thought to inhibit calcium and zinc absorption. We compared the effects of a high-phytate meal and enzymatic dephytinization on calcium and zinc absorption in Nigerian children with and without rickets. Nineteen children with rickets and 15 age-matched control children, aged 2-10 y, were given calcium (600 mg/d) and ergocalciferol (1250 microg/wk).

Cytokine-associated neutrophil extracellular traps and antinuclear antibodies in Plasmodium falciparum infected children under six years of age.

Background: In Plasmodium falciparum-infected children, the relationships between blood cell histopathology, blood plasma components, development of immunocompetence and disease severity remain poorly understood. Blood from Nigerian children with uncomplicated malaria was analysed to gain insight into these relationships. This investigation presents evidence for circulating neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and antinuclear IgG antibodies (ANA).

Adaptation of calcium absorption during treatment of nutritional rickets in Nigerian children.

Nutritional rickets in Nigerian children has been effectively treated with Ca supplementation. High values of Ca absorption efficiency have been observed in untreated children, but whether Ca absorption efficiency changes during treatment with Ca is unknown. Our objective in conducting this study was to identify the effect of Ca therapy on Ca absorptive efficiency in children with primary Ca-deficient nutritional rickets.

Characterization of HIV type 1 reverse transcriptase mutations in infants infected by mothers who received peripartum nevirapine prophylaxis in Jos, Nigeria.

This study was carried out to characterize HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) mutations in vertically infected infants in Jos, Nigeria. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 102 infants, aged 0 to 6 months, born to HIV-1-infected mothers who had received peripartum single-dose nevirapine prophylaxis. PCR-based diagnosis revealed that 14 infants (13.

(TA)n UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 promoter polymorphism in Nigerian neonates.

Nigerian neonates have a high incidence of bilirubin encephalopathy. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency is prevalent in this population. (TA)7 promoter polymorphism in the gene encoding the bilirubin conjugating enzyme UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) potentiates hyperbilirubinemia in G-6-PD deficient neonates.

Oral manifestations of HIV infection in 36 Nigerian children.

Oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS are early and common clinical indicators of HIV infection. There has been no report on the clinical prevalence of oral lesions associated with HIV infection in children in sub-Saharan Africa. We report the findings of a cross sectional study of 36 Nigerian children seen at the Pediatrics Infectious Disease Clinic of the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN), Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) Jos, Nigeria.

Comparison of a new, affordable flow cytometric method and the manual magnetic bead technique for CD4 T-lymphocyte counting in a northern Nigerian setting.

We compared two techniques for CD4 T-lymphocyte counting: flow cytometry (Cyflow) and magnetic beads (Dynabead). Similar results with good correlation were obtained from the 40 adult blood samples counted (P=0.057, r=0.

Which babies get blood in Jos, Nigeria?

Documentation of the transfusion needs of neonatal units is required to guide blood banks in meeting demands. A prospective observational study of newborn transfusions over 35 weeks was conducted. Eighty-four transfusions were conducted in 62 of 377 (16.

Calcium absorption in Nigerian children with rickets.

Background: Nutritional rickets is common in Nigerian children and responds to calcium supplementation. Low dietary calcium intakes are also common in Nigerian children with and without rickets.

Objective: The objective was to assess intestinal calcium absorption in Nigerian children with rickets.

Transcutaneous bilirubin measurements and serum total bilirubin levels in indigenous African infants.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) measurements correlate with serum total bilirubin (STB) levels in indigenous, darkly pigmented African newborns with varying degrees of skin pigmentation, some of which had developed kernicterus.

Methods: Jaundiced infants who were < or =2 weeks of age and admitted to Baptist Medical Center-Eku (Eku; n = 29) and Jos University Teaching Hospital (Jos; n = 98) in Nigeria were studied. TcB measurements using the BiliChek were made simultaneously with blood sampling for STB measurements by spectrophotometry before phototherapy.

Promoting the exclusive feeding of own mother's milk through the use of hindmilk and increased maternal milk volume for hospitalized, low birth weight infants (< 1800 grams) in Nigeria: a feasibility study.

A feasibility study was used to determine (1) if hindmilk feedings of own mother's milk, as reported in the United States, could be instituted in a Nigerian neonatal intensive care unit and result in adequate infant weight gain without exogenous additives; and (2) if the use of a hospital-grade electric breast pump to separate foremilk from hindmilk was feasible in this setting. Mean weight gain for 16 preterm infants during the hindmilk intervention (18.8 g/d) exceeded intrauterine standards without the use of exogenous substances.