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Biomedical subjects

N Kalach

Publications and source records attributed to N Kalach.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Hoarseness and gastroesophageal reflux in children.

The importance of a hoarse voice or voice change in children has not been stressed in the literature in the same way as it has been in adults. We present 21 children who had been suffering from chronic hoarseness for more than three months and had on fibre-optic laryngoscopy findings suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux. None of them had complained of gastroesophageal symptoms. Twenty-four hour pH monitoring revealed that 13 (62 per cent) of these children had gastroesophageal reflux, seven (33 per cent) having gastroesophageal reflux more than three times the upper limit of normal. The pH graphs highlighted frequent refluxes, ranging from 0.4 to 37.4 refluxes per hour (median of 7.3 refluxes/hour). The majority of these refluxes occurred when the child was awake as opposed to asleep, with a median of 14.8 refluxes/hour and 0.9 refluxes/hour respectively (p = 0.0009). The refluxes were classically of short duration. This study suggests that gastroesophageal reflux plays a direct role in the pathogenesis of chronic laryngitis and hoarseness in children.

Child↗

The 13carbon urea breath test for the noninvasive detection of Helicobacter pylori in children: comparison with culture and determination of minimum analysis requirements.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to determine the accuracy of the labelled 13carbon urea breath test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori in children and to simplify the 13carbon urea breath test in identifying the most discriminating sampling time. METHODS: H. pylori was searched for in 100 children aged 10.5+/-4.5 years by histology, bacteriological counts, and culture on antral biopsies together with serology and 13carbon urea breath test. Breath samples were obtained before ingestion (T0) of 75 mg urea-13C and every 10 minutes after until T60. 13CO2 excess ratio was measured by isotope ratio mass spectrometry, and values expressed as delta per mil over baseline enrichment (delta 13CO2). The arithmetic mean (Mdelta 13CO2) of T20 to T60 values was calculated and the test considered positive with Mdelta 3CO2 higher than Mdelta 13CO2 + 3 SD as determined in noninfected children. RESULTS: Mdelta 13CO2 of noninfected children as assessed by culture was 1.4+/-0.6 per mil, determining a positive cut-off value of 3.44 per mil. Mdelta 13CO2 was correlated in 11 children with biopsy bacteriological counts. Both culture and 13carbon urea breath test were positive in 38 of 100 children, without any discordance. Plotting 13carbon urea breath test results at each sampling time versus Mdelta 13CO2 showed weaker correlations at T20, T30, T50, and T60, than at T40. The two-sample method at T0 and T30, T40, T50, had high sensitivity and specificity. Single-sample analysis obtained at T40 gave a comparable sensitivity and a slightly reduced specificity. CONCLUSION: 13carbon urea breath test is sensitive and specific in children. Two samples collected at T0 and T40 provide the most discriminating procedure.

Adolescent↗

Effect of metronidazole resistance on bacterial eradication of Helicobacter pylori in infected children.

A prospective study was performed with 23 Helicobacter pylori-infected children (mean age, 9.5 +/- 4.4 years) with clinical symptoms of gastritis and positive results of culture and histologic examination of gastric biopsy specimens to evaluate the influence of antibiotic resistance on eradication. Positive children were treated for 4 weeks with lansoprazole and for 2 weeks with either amoxicillin-metronidazole or spiramycin (a macrolide)-metronidazole. At endoscopy 1 month after the discontinuation of therapy, the eradication rate and improvement of histologically related gastritis were significantly dependent on the susceptibility or the resistance of the infecting organism to metronidazole (83 versus 17% and 88 versus 16.6%, respectively). Pretreatment determination of the susceptibility is appropriate in any anti-H, pylori regimen, including one with metronidazole.

2-Pyridinylmethylsulfinylbenzimidazoles↗

Possible protection by breast-feeding against severe esophageal and gastric lesions in the neonate. A case-control study.

The development of safe fiberoptic endoscopy in neonates led to the identification of the occurrence of severe esophageal and gastric lesions (EGL) in the first days of life. The cause of these early acute lesions, which are associated most of the time with severe clinical symptoms, remains unknown. 34 neonates with EGL were compared with controls born in the same maternity unit immediately after those enrolled in the EGL series. Clinical and obstetric data were not different in the 2 groups. Breast-feeding was less frequent (p < 0.01) and given later (p = 0.0001) in babies with EGL. This retrospective analysis yielded no indication relative to the causative phenomenon leading to such mucosal alterations. In contrast, it provides the first evidence of a possible protective role of breast-feeding.

Apgar Score↗

[Gastroesophageal reflux and dysphonia in children].

UNLABELLED: With the exception of congenital anomalies, the aetiology of dysphonia in children is often unknown. Yet, in adults, GOR has been shown to play an important role. 22 children (aged between 2 and 14 years, 14 boys and 8 girls), who had been suffering from a chronic dysphonia for more than six months were seen at consultation. After a clinical ENT examination including a fibreoptic laryngoscopy, each child had a long duration pH-study that lasted approximately 24 hours. Using the classical criteria for GOR, a pathological GOR was discovered in 14 children, ie 64%. Analysis of the pH traces revealed that the vast majority of refluxes occurred when the child was awake. CONCLUSION: more than 64% of children suffering from chronic dysphonia had pathological GOR. The pH traces highlighted that the majority of these refluxes occurred when the child was awake.

Child↗

Evaluation of a serological test for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in children.

A serological test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection (Cobas Core Roche, IgG, 2nd Generation; Roche, France) was compared with the examination of biopsy samples (culture and histology) obtained after endoscopy in 115 children to assess its value. In 94 children (42 positive and 52 negative), results were concordant. In 10 children a positive serological test was associated with an absence of Helicobacter pylori, while in 11 others a negative serological test was associated with a positive culture. Sensitivity of the test was 79.2% and specificity 83.9%. A relationship between IgG titers and age (r = 0.31, p < 0.05) was found. Serological tests could be useful for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection, but a negative test result does not rule out infection, particularly in children under 10 years of age.

Adolescent↗

Genotyping of Helicobacter pylori isolates by sequencing of PCR products and comparison with the RAPD technique.

Two genotyping methods were performed on bacterial suspensions of the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori. A total of 29 clinical isolates were analysed by sequencing of a 294-bp PCR-derived internal segment of the essential ureC/glmM gene of H. pylori, and by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) using a single 11-bp oligonucleotide made up of an arbitrary nucleotide sequence. Each isolate exhibited a distinct sequence over a 210-bp stretch of the ureC/glmM gene. Similarly, the isolates bore different profiles when tested by RAPD fingerprinting. Successive strains arising from patients who relapsed following antibiotic treatment and strains isolated from two patients institutionalized in the same care centre had identical ureC/glmM gene sequences and RAPD profiles. Both methods were found to be discriminatory. However, PCR sequencing of the ureC/glmM gene appeared to be more reproducible and more reliable for distinguishing between strains than the RAPD technique.

Adolescent↗

Diagnostic procedures of GER in childhood lung disease.

Respiratory diseases are frequently related to gastroesophageal reflux (GER). In the absence of classic symptoms like vomiting, silent GER can only be ruled out by further studies. Esophageal pH monitoring of long duration (18 to 24 hr) is now recommended as the technique of choice in infants and children with atypical presentation of GER. Mechanisms of GER pathway are complex and may provoke chronic pneumonia or wheezing; pH monitoring cannot be considered an "all or nothing" exam. Several esophageal pH profiles have been described in various respiratory diseases.

Child↗

Ketone body turnover at term and in premature newborns in the first 2 weeks after birth.

Using the infusion of D-(-)-3-hydroxy-[1,2,3,4,-13C4]butyrate at tracer doses, we measured total ketone body turnover in 13 premature and 10 at term infants in the first 2 weeks after birth. The premature infants received parenteral and/or oral feeding. The normal newborns were either recently fed or briefly fasting. The premature and the fed at term infants had comparable concentrations of ketone body (476 +/- 86 and 406 +/- 78 mumol/l) and free fatty acids (FFA) (309 +/- 47 and 325 +/- 75 mumol/l). In the premature newborns, ketone body turnover rates (3.2 +/- 0.2 mumol kg-1 min-1) were 74% that of fed newborns at term (4.3 +/- 0.3 mumol kg-1 min-1, p < 0.05), and 18% that of normal newborns during a brief fast (17.3 +/- 1.3 mumol kg-1 min-1, p < 0.01). Ketone body production rates correlated with plasma FFA concentrations in both groups (r = 0.62 and 0.69, p < 0.05). However, for a similar plasma FFA content, ketone production was 2- to 3-fold lower in the premature, indicating an immature hepatic capacity to convert FFA into ketones. Our study therefore shows that ketogenesis is already active in infants born 10 weeks before normal term and continuously fed, but that daily ketone production is lower than at term.

Fasting↗

[Helicobacter pylori gastric infections in children].

OBJECTIVES: Numerous reports have established the association of Helicobacter pylori and recurrent abdominal pain in children. We investigated the clinical, bacteriological and therapeutic features of our patients seen over a 1 year period. METHODS: We investigated 121 children during 1992 in Hospital Saint Vincent-de-Paul, Paris. At endoscopy, biopsies were taken and sent for histology and bacteriology and urease testing. A decision regarding treatment by amoxicillin and metronidazol was made after positive results of bacteriology and/or histology. RESULTS: Heliobacter pylori was found in 47 antral biopsies after pathology examination with Giemsa staining alone 16 times, bacterial culture 9 times and both methods 22 times. Abdominal pain was the prominent symptom, occurring in 35.5% of Helicobacter pylori+patients. In 25 of the positive negative patients, a nodular gastritis was observed (53.1%) and in 27.6% of them a weight loss or a delay in weight gain. Few patients became after combined treatment with amoxicillin and metronidazol whereas eradication rates after triple therapy with amoxicillin-metronidazol and H2 antagonist or proton pump blocker were higher. CONCLUSION: Helicobacter pylori related gastritis is a common cause of abdominal complaints in children. The most common symptom is recurrent abdominal pain. Antral nodularity is a peculiar endoscopic finding in children. Two-drug therapy associating amoxicillin-metronidazol is often ineffective to eradicate the bacteria whereas eradication rates after triple therapy amoxicillin-metronidazol and H2 antagonist or proton pump blocker are higher.

Adolescent↗

Dual-probe pH monitoring for the assessment of gastroesophageal reflux in the course of chronic hoarseness in children.

The purpose of our study was to assess gastroesophageal reflux (GER) by dual-probe pH monitoring in children suffering from chronic hoarseness for more than six months. Seventeen children (aged between 2 and 12 years, 10 boys and 7 girls) were enrolled. All children underwent a laryngoscopy and a 24-hour dual-probe pH monitoring. At both sensor, distal and proximal esophageal, a pathological GER was defined as the presence of episodes of acid reflux with pH < 4 during a fraction of the total recording time greater than 5.2 percent. The computer considered the child was supine when asleep and upright when awake. Laryngoscopy revealed interarytenoid erythema and/or edema with vocal cord nodules or granulomas in 13 cases (76.4%), isolated vocal nodules or granulomas in three cases (17.6%) and a normal appearance in one case (5.8%). At both sensors, the majority of refluxes occurred when the child was upright, as analyzed by the percentage of time the intra-esophageal pH was below four (% time pH < 4), number of refluxes, reflux episodes/hour and longest reflux episode, p < 0.05 between upright and supine for each parameter. The median total % time pH < 4 on the proximal and distal probes was respectively 1.62 percent (95% CI 1.50-3.79) and 11.49 percent (95% CI 8.81-27.17), p < 0.0003. Among the 17 hoarse children, a pathological GER was observed in 12 (70.5%) at the distal sensor and in three (17.5%) at both sensors. Among the 16 hoarse children with abnormal findings on laryngoscopy, two (12.5%) had diagnosed pathological GER at the proximal and 11 (68.7%) at the distal sensor. The only child with normal findings on laryngoscopy exhibited a pathological GER at both sensors. Our results suggest that chronic hoarseness is associated with a pathological GER. The majority of these documented refluxes occurred when the child was awake.

Child↗

[Rapid identification of pneumococcal antigenes in urines by the Now Streptococcus pneumoniae Binax test].

Streptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for many infectious conditions but probably with an underestimated incidence especially because of the fragility of the bacteria. The present study has evaluated a new test which detects a pneumococcal antigen in urine (Now S.p Binax). Urine samples from 181 children and 40 adults have been tested. All the patients presented with typical clinical signs of pneumococcal infection. Sensitivity = 91.7 %; specificity = 54.2 %; positive predictive value = 50 %; and negative predictive value = 92.9 % have been observed. Although the sensitivity and specificity were lower than those announced by the manufacturer, the test is easy to handle and provides a rapid argument for the diagnosis of pneumococcal infection, especially in the case of invasive infections like meningitis and bacteraemia.

Antigens, Bacterial↗