Prospective study of a noninvasive treatment for two common congenital toe abnormalities (curly/varus/underlapping toes and overlapping toes).

Objective: To assess, in the newborn, the efficacy of a standard taping treatment used in children for two selected congenital toe abnormalities (curly/varus/underlapping toes and overlapping toes), and compare the outcome with the available world literature.

Methods: All children referred by their family physician between January 2004 and January 2006 were included. The newborns were reviewed by one author (WGS) within 10 days of birth, assessed for severity, and the toes were taped in a standard manner if the abnormalities met the study criteria.

Approach to evaluation of sexual assault in children. Experience of a secondary-level regional pediatric sexual assault clinic.

Objective: To determine whether a 3-year-old girl, brought to an after-hours clinic because her mother was concerned, had been assaulted by her father during a weekend visit. SOURCES OF INFORMATION MEDLINE: was searched using the key words child, sexual assault/abuse, and expectations. Recent textbooks on childhood sexual assault and abuse were consulted.

Nonsurgical correction of congenital ear abnormalities in the newborn: Case series.

Objective: To determine whether a simple, nonsurgical treatment for congenital ear abnormalities (lop-ear, Stahl's ear, protruding ear, cryptotia) improved the appearance of ear abnormalities in newborns at six weeks of age.

Methods: This is a descriptive case series. All newborns with identified abnormalities were referred by their family physician to one paediatrician (WGS) in a small level 2 perinatal centre.

The value of the Internet to anaesthetists.

Purpose: To determine which anaesthetists are using the Internet, which resources they find most valuable, and whether the Internet provides useful information which changes the way in which they practice anaesthesia.

Method: The survey was posted on the World Wide Web and publicised by e-mail messages to the major anaesthesia discussion lists on the Internet.

Results: Two hundred and five valid replies were received from 22 countries.

Obstetrical anaesthesia in Ontario.

The purpose of this study was to determine the availability of regional anaesthesia for Caesarean section, of epidural opioids and patient-controlled analgesia after Caesarean section, and of epidural and other forms of analgesia in labour. A mail survey was sent to the "Head Nurse, Department of Obstetrics" at each of the 142 hospitals in Ontario with designated obstetric beds. Responses were obtained from 100% of hospitals.

An efficient method for the application of Avitene hemostatic agent.

A method for application of Avitene is presented. If applied properly, it will avoid the problems that can be associated with its use. It should allow a greater percentage of hemostatic agent to be effectively used on the hemorrhagic surface.

Perforated diverticulitis after surgery.

The authors report on three patients who had a perforated sigmoid diverticulum after unrelated surgery. If the preceding operation is remote in time from the perforation, detection is relatively easy, but if the perforation occurs shortly after major abdominal surgery, its presentation may be totally masked by the postoperative state. Awareness of this possibility may help alert the clinician to the presence of perforation of a sigmoid diverticulum in unexplained postoperative collapse.

Is incidental appendectomy a safe practice?

In an attempt to determine the safety of appendectomy performed as an incidental procedure, the authors reviewed 853 operations (458 hysterectomies and 395 cholecystectomies) performed by five surgeons at one hospital between 1981 and 1984 and compared the results in 35% of the patients who underwent incidental appendectomy with those in the remainder. Factors studied were operative time, postoperative stay, postoperative fever and leukocytosis, the need for intravenous fluids, parenteral analgesia and antibiotics, and infectious complications. Most of these variables differed between individual surgeons, but the addition of incidental appendectomy did not significantly alter any variable for an individual surgeon or for the group as a whole.