Polycythemia as a cause of necrotizing enterocolitis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Gunn.
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Thirty-four infants (25 Inuit and 9 Caucasians) with protein-energy malnutrition and intractable diarrhea were treated with total parenteral nutrition (TNP) consisting of a casein hydrolysate, a soybean emulsion and dextrose. Initially peripheral veins were used in all the infants, and 22 were treated successfully without resort to a central venous catheter. The mean duration of treatment by the peripheral route was 29 days. Although mean energy intake and protein intake were high, weight gain was poor and growth continued at the prehospitalization percentiles. There were two deaths, both from complications of the use of central lines. Specific diagnoses were established for 7 of the 9 Caucasian infants but only 2 of the 25 Inuit infants. Concentrations of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) were elevated in 80% of the patients at the time of admission, increased further in 82% when TPN was begun, but decreased towards normal before discharge in all patients. Eosinophilia was common during TPN. Liver biopsy in seven patients with elevated SGOT values showed eosinophilia, increased pigment in the Kupffer cells and slight lymphocytosis in the portal tract. Intercurrent infections occurred frequently and were often preceded by a short period of lipid intolerance or neutropenia, or both. Tolerance to lipids returned after the infections resolved. Thus, peripheral TPN is a safe and relatively simple method of providing adequate nutrition during episodes of diarrhea in malnourished infants.
The efficacy of caffeine citrate in the management of apnea in the newborn infant was evaluated. Caffeine citrate was given to 18 preterm neonates with recurrent apneic spells. Mean (+/- SE) birth weight and gestational age were 1,065.0 +/- 71.9 gm and 27.5 +/- 0.6 weeks, respectively. Mean age at onset of apnea and at initiation of caffeine treatment was 6.5 +/- 3.7 days and 18.2 +/- 4.9 days, respectively. Caffeine citrate was administered with a loading dose of 20 mg/kg intravenously followed within two to three days by 5 to 10 mg/kg once or twice daily. All infants except one showed a significant decrease in the frequency of apneic episodes associated with caffeine therapy. Mean frequencies of apneic spells were 13.6 +/- 2.5 and 2.1 +/- 0.6 apnea per day before and after initiation of caffeine treatment, respectively. Respiratory rate was increased, and blood [h]+ion concentration and Pco2 were decreased. The data suggest that caffeine is an effective pharmacologic respirogenic agent in the preterm infant with apnea.
Twenty-one families were selected from the published reports in which the propositus had the triad of juvenile diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus, and optic atrophy. The data were consistent with the hypothesis of an autosomal gene which, in the homozygote, causes juvenile diabetes mellitus and one or more of diabetes insipidus, optic atrophy, and nerve deafness. Heterozygotes appear to have an increased probability of developing juvenile diabetes mellitus.
Four patients with diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, and high-frequency neurosensory hearing loss, two of whom also had diabetes insipidus, are described. The frequency of this syndrome among patients with juvenile diabetes appears to be between 1/148 and 1/175. Because of the progressive nature of the disabilities and the autosomal recessive mode of inheritance, careful monitoring of all juvenile diabetic patients for other signs of the syndrome is warranted.
The frequency, causes, and consequences of "cheating" in diabetic children and adolescents were studied during summer camp. A philosophical approach is proposed for its understanding and management.