Effect of Electronic Media on Children.

Radio, television (TV), movies, video games, cell phones, and computer networks have assumed central roles in our children’s daily lives. The media has demonstrated potentially profound effects, both positive and negative, on children’s cognitive, social, and behavioral development. Considering the increasing exposure of children to newer forms of media, we decided to review the current literature on the effects of media on child health both in the Western countries and India. It is widely accepted that media has profound influence on child health, including violence, obesity, tobacco and alcohol use, and risky sexual behaviors. Simultaneously, media may have some positive effects on child health. We need to find ways to optimize the role of media in our society, taking advantage of their positive attributes and minimizing their negative ones. We need to understand better how to reverse the negative impact of media and make it more positive.

Correlation of autism with temporal tubers in tuberous sclerosis complex.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an inherited genetic disorder commonly associated with neuropsychiatric complications like epilepsy, mental retardation, autism and other behavioral problems and constitutes about 1-4% of the autistic population. Mental retardation and seizures, particularly infantile spasms are significant risk factors for the development of autism. Patients of TSC with autism are more likely to have temporal tubers than those cases without autism. We describe clinical and neuroimaging features of two such cases of tuberous sclerosis with autism.

Reactions of Indian adolescents to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

OBJECTIVE: There is information about the impact of disasters and trauma on children, but little is known about the effects of terrorism particularly in India. (i) To assess the knowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the school going adolescents of India who were miles away from the actual incident. (ii) To compare the reactions to this event among the boys and girls. METHODS: The study used a survey design with a self-report questionnaire administered to 406 students in 6 schools of standards 9-12. The questionnaire was administered within 3 weeks of occurrence of this event. The mean age of the subjects was 16.34 years (SD= 1.22; range= 13-20) and 44.1% were boys. RESULTS: All the students were aware about this event. Awareness that the twin towers were hit was in 81.06 but only 51.94% knew that Pentagon was also hit. All the children knew who the prime suspect was although only 12.62% were aware about the country to which he belonged. The source of knowledge of the events was the television in 74.7% of the adolescents and 17.95% of them viewed foreign news channels additionally to the Indian channels to gather details about the event. Newspaper, radio and internet were the sources of information in 44.17%, 3.4% and 3.5% children respectively. Of the adolescents who gathered information from the television, 84.7% agreed that there had been an increase in their TV viewing time since the event and it was more than one hour per day in 47.5% of them. None of the students supported the terrorist attacks. The number of students with negative stressors was significantly more than the ones who were unaffected (p 0.0001). The girls were significantly more affected than the boys and while the former expressed anger the latter were more fearful and sad. (p 0.05) The idea of USA going for war against Afghanistan was supported by 69.4% and one third of them believed that such an event might adversely affect India. The adolescents who had witnessed the events on television were more fearful and shocked than the ones who read about the event in the print media (p 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study emphasizes the adverse reactions in the minds of adolescents in India to terrorist events even though they did not directly witness the events of September 11,2001.The role of media exposure in causing stress is also revealed. Pediatricians should be aware of the adverse effects of terrorism in the minds of the children and should be able to identify and help those who are in need.

Botulinum toxin in children with cerebral palsy.

Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxin that blocks the synaptic release of acetylcholine from cholinergic nerve terminals mainly at the neuromuscular junction, resulting in irreversible loss of motor end plates. It is being widely tried as a targeted antispasticity treatment in children with cerebral palsy. A number of studies have shown that it reduces spasticity and increases the range of motion and is particularly useful in cases with dynamic contractures. However improvement in function has not been convincingly demonstrated. It is an expensive mode of therapy and the injections need to be repeated after 3-6 months. Whereas Botulinum toxin can be a valuable adjunct in select cases, it should not be projected as a panacea for children with spastic cerebral palsy.

Cerebral gigantism with West syndrome.

A case of cerebral gigantism (Sotos syndrome) with West syndrome in a one-year-old male child is reported. The case had a large stature, typical facies and neurodevelopmental delay along with infantile spasms, which were refractory to treatment with valproate and clonazepam.

Chemotherapy related fatal neurotoxicity during induction in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Neurotoxicity is a common complication during cancer chemotherapy. It is estimated that 3-10% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) experience acute, transient neurotoxicity during induction chemotherapy. Fatal acute neurotoxicity is rarely encountered. Neurological evaluation of children with ALL at diagnosis and during treatment is of value in order to diagnose neurological complications early so that appropriate intervention can be adopted. This communication describes the profile of two children with unexpected, acute fatal neurologic toxicity during induction chemotherapy for ALL.