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Biomedical subjects

G Makaronis

Publications and source records attributed to G Makaronis.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Prolactin levels in febrile and afebrile seizures.

Transient hyperprolactinaemia has been reported to follow unprovoked seizures, a finding proposed to be useful in the differential diagnosis of epilepsy. There is also evidence that patients with unprovoked seizures may have high baseline prolactin levels, which could be of value in detecting those predisposed to epilepsy after a first convulsive attack. The purpose of this study was to examine whether prolactin levels are elevated: (1) postictally in febrile seizures and (2) interictally in afebrile seizures. In 17 children with simple febrile seizures, mean postictal prolactin value (370 +/- 160 mU/l, mean +/- SD) was significantly higher (approximately 0.001) than the mean baseline value of 18 seizure-free controls (202 +/- 136 mU/l). The mean baseline prolactin values were not significantly different: (1) in ten children with afebrile versus ten seizure-free controls and (2) in 18 children with febrile seizures associated with high risk for subsequent afebrile seizures versus 23 children with febrile seizures but unlikely to suffer from afebrile seizures. CONCLUSION. Postictal prolactin levels may be a useful marker of recent febrile seizures, while baseline prolactin levels do not appear to have any prognostic significance in afebrile seizures.

Child↗
PubMed1992

Congenital sensory neuropathy with anhidrosis (hereditary sensory neuropathy type IV).

Hereditary sensory neuropathies comprise a group of rare childhood diseases which are classified into four types. We present a Greek boy 11 years old with hereditary sensory neuropathy type IV (congenital sensory neuropathy with anhidrosis) whom we have followed up and studied during the last seven years. Our patient presented for the first time with recurrent hyperthermic episodes without sweating, and lack of pain sensation from the first months of life. Insensitivity to pain and thermal stimuli had resulted in burns on the extremities and self-mutilation of the tongue, lips and fingertips. When he was five and seven years old respectively he had two painless fractures of the ankles which led to insoluble orthopedic problems. He also suffered from mental retardation, which was obvious from his first years of life. Sweat gland investigations showed significant hypohidrosis or anhidrosis although the sweat glands were normal microscopically. Hereditary sensory neuropathy type IV, although rare, is important for dermatologists because it must be differentiated from other anhidrotic syndromes, and in view of the poor prognosis of the condition.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1988

Psychomotor development in congenital hypothyroidism. The Greek screening programme.

In 1979 a national screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) was introduced in Greece. Treatment with L-thyroxine was started immediately after confirmation of the diagnosis, at a median age of 28 days. A standardized development test (Griffiths) was given to a group of CH infants and to healthy controls at the ages of 5-7, 11-13, 17-19, and 23-25 months. Thirty-three infants with CH were also studied at the age of 35-37 months. The mean developmental quotient of CH infants was 103.8 +/- 12.0, 100.9 +/- 10.1, 103.3 +/- 7.1 and 99.8 +/- 10.2 from the ages of 5-7 to 23-25 months, and was not statistically different from those of the controls. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between athyreotic children and those with an ectopic gland. Our findings show that the prognosis for psychomotor development of children with CH is quite good, provided that treatment starts in the first 6 weeks of life.

Bone Development↗
PubMed1981

Psychiatric disorders in 6- to 8-year-old children in the greater Athens area.

603 schoolchildren of the greater Athens area were screened for psychiatric disorders as expressed by a total score of 13 or more in the Rutter parents' questionnaire, and 10 or more in the Rutter teachers' questionnaire. Psychiatric disorder was negatively correlated with school marks. IQ (vocabulary, draw-a-man, visual-motor integration), motor coordination, and achievement in reading and arithmetic, and positively with size of family. The incidence of disturbance as assessed by the teachers' questionnaire was similar to that in other big cities in other countries, while the incidence of disturbance as assessed by the parents' questionnaire was greater in comparison to that of other countries. The incidence of hyperkinesis in our sample was considerably greater in comparison to other studies in other countries. Boys were found to be generally more disturbed than girls with the exception of neurosis.

Achievement↗
PubMed1976

Two types of nutritional rickets in infants.

In 100 infants with nutritional rickets, i.e., responsive to vitamin D therapy, we found a close inverse relationship between serum phosphorus, on the one hand, and serum alkaline phosphatase and the presence of radiological signs of rickets, on the other. There was no correlation between serum calcium and the severity of bone lesions. It is concluded that hypophosphatemia but not hypocalcemia is typical of rickets. Since hypophosphatemia and rickets can be produced experimentally by phosphate deficiency alone, we suggest our infants can be divided into two groups, one with true vitamin D deficiency that leads to hypocalcemia and no or mild bone lesions, and one with primary phosphate deficiency, resulting perhaps from a defect in phosphate transport, which leads to rickets and hypophosphatemia.

Age Factors↗