Novice providers' success in performing lumbar puncture: a randomized controlled phantom study between a conventional spinal needle and a novel bioimpedance needle.

Background: Lumbar puncture (LP) is an important yet difficult skill in medical practice. In recent years, the number of LPs in clinical practice has steadily decreased, which reduces residents' clinical exposure and may compromise their skills and attitude towards LP. Our study aims to assess whether the novel bioimpedance needle is of assistance to a novice provider and thus compensates for this emerging knowledge gap.

Finnish children who needed long-term home respiratory support had severe sleep-disordered breathing and complex medical backgrounds.

Aim: No studies have described long-term paediatric home respiratory support in Nordic countries. We examined the clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes of paediatric patients who received continuous positive airway pressure, non-invasive-positive-pressure ventilation and invasive ventilation from a multidisciplinary home respiratory support team.

Methods: Retrospective tertiary-level data were collected between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2020 in Tampere University Hospital.

Incidence of traumatic lumbar punctures in adults: the impact of a patient's first procedure.

Introduction: Lumbar puncture (LP) is a widely used diagnostic method in patients of all ages. Blood-contaminated cerebrospinal fluid samples are frequent and may compromise diagnostic accuracy.

Objectives: We determined age-specific incidences of traumatic LPs (TLPs) in adults and examined factors that accounted for the incidence of TLPs.

Most adder bites in Finland's Lake District caused mild symptoms and severe poisoning was rare.

Aim: This study investigated the incidence, clinical picture and treatment of paediatric adder bites in Finland's Lake District.

Methods: Data were retrospectively collected on all children aged 0-15 years who were bitten by adders from 2006 to 2015 and treated at Tampere University Hospital. The severity was evaluated with the five-level Poisoning Severity Score.

Incidence of Traumatic Lumbar Punctures in Neonates and Infants.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to examine factors accounting for the incidence of traumatic lumbar puncture (TLP) in infants younger than 1 year old.

Study Design: Retrospective analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) data from 1,240 neonatal (≤28 days) and 399 infant lumbar puncture (LP) procedures was conducted. Data from two successive LP procedures were obtained from 108 patients.

Traumatic lumbar punctures in diagnostic and intrathecal treatment punctures of pediatric hemato-oncology patients.

Successful first diagnostic lumbar puncture (LP) is crucial because intrathecal chemotherapy has not yet protected the central nervous system against cancer cells. If blood contaminates the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with blasts, they may enter the central neural system and compromise the patient's health. We retrospectively determined the incidence of traumatic lumbar punctures (TLP) in 2,507 LPs of 250 pediatric hemato-oncology patients aged from one to 18 years, including both diagnostic and intrathecal treatment procedures, and 2,617 LPs of 1,525 other age-matched pediatric patients.

Real-time detection of cerebrospinal fluid with bioimpedance needle in paediatric lumbar puncture.

Background: Lumbar puncture is a common clinical procedure that can occasionally be difficult. Various needle guidance methods can facilitate performing this procedure, but at the expense of special expertise, equipment and facility. In the present study, we evaluated the clinical feasibility of a novel bioimpedance needle system regarding its ability to detect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in paediatric lumbar punctures.

Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome in early childhood can be successfully treated with interleukin-1 blockades.

Unlabelled: Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS) is caused by a mutation in the NLRP3 gene encoding cryopyrin production. Overproduction of interleukin-1 (IL-1) leads to symptoms that are associated with elevated inflammatory markers, including periodic fever and a rash. We provide a clinical overview of CAPS in children, including three Finnish case studies.

Severe Lower Respiratory Tract Infection Caused by Human Bocavirus 1 in an Infant.

We report a case of human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) bronchiolitis that led to life-threatening respiratory failure in a 9-month-old boy with no other pathogens detected. The virus-specific diagnosis was confirmed with the detection of HBoV1 DNA in respiratory samples and both DNA and IgM and IgG to HBoV1 in serum samples.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum in an 11-year-old boy after a shallow breath-hold dive.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is caused by pulmonary barotrauma due to transiently increased intra-alveolar and intra-bronchial pressure. The most frequent triggers of spontaneous pneumomediastinum in children are asthma and manoeuvres creating forced expiration. It has been rarely associated with breath-hold diving.

[Bronchiolitis].

Bronchiolitis is the most common disease leading to hospitalization of infants of less than one year of age in Finland. Among each age group, the disease needs hospitalization in approx. 3% of the cases.

[Seizures in newborn infant].

Seizures in newborn infants are common. The may constitute a neurologic emergency or a nonepileptic, harmless symptom. Diagnostics is becoming more specific with current methodologies.

[Recurrent pneumonia in a teenage boy].

Pneumonia is a common paediatric and juvenile infection, which upon proper treatment will almost always heal completely. Sometimes pneumonia will become prolonged or recur, causing the need to consider additional investigations. Refractory or recurrent pneumonia in children may be caused by a structural, functional or immunological factor.

Impaired adrenocortical function in very low birth weight infants after multiple pregnancies.

Objective: To evaluate the differences in adrenal function between very low birth weight (VLBW) infants from singleton and multiple pregnancies.

Design And Methods: Forty infants of birth weights less than 1500 g underwent an ACTH test. Thirty infants born from singleton pregnancies (singleton group) and ten born from multiple pregnancies (multiple group) were enrolled.

Increased frequency of islet cell antibodies in unaffected brothers of children with type 1 diabetes.

Aim: To assess the relation between islet cell antibody (ICA) positivity and demographic characteristics in an extensive series of first-degree relatives of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Methods: Family members of children diagnosed with T1D before the age of 16 years and attending one of 27 participating paediatric units in Finland taking care of children with diabetes were invited to volunteer for an ICA screening program aimed at identifying individuals eligible for inclusion in the European Nicotinamide Diabetes Intervention Trial (ENDIT). The final series comprised 2,522 first-degree relatives (1,107 males) with a mean age of 20.