Acanthosis Nigricans: A Marker Of Metabolic Syndrome Among Obese Children

xThis was a prospective case controlled study to determine the association of Acanthosis Nigricans (AN) and Metabolic Syndrome (MS) in obese children 10–16 years of age. We recruited 50 obese children with AN (cases) and 50 obese children without AN (controls) attending the Pediatric OPD from May 2013 to August 2014 after obtaining informed consent from their parents. Children were defined as obese if their BMI was ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex (CDC). International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 2007 criteria were used to define MS. Detailed history, physical examination, anthropometry and blood sampling were done in each case. Samples for High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) and Triglycerides (TG) were evaluated at the in-hospital NABL certified SRL laboratory. MS was found in 64% of obese children with AN as compared to 30% of obese children without AN which was highly significant. Therefore, AN is a significant marker of MS.

Rapid Antigen Testing For Strep Sore Throat

This was a cross sectional study to estimate the prevalence of Group AStreptococcal (GAS) infection among children with acute sore throat and to compare results of Rapid antigen detection test (RADT) with throat culture. Children aged 3-15 years who presented with acute sore throat (throat pain ± redness of pharynx, palate, tonsils), whose parents were willing to participate in the study by giving a written consent were included. Two sterile throat swabs were taken by vigorously rubbing the tonsils or posterior pharyngeal wall, one for RADT (cerTEST Strep Acard test) and 2nd for bacterial culture. The samples were sent to the in-hospital NABLcertified laboratory (SRLLtd). The results of RADT were obtained within 15 minutes while the culture report was available after 72 hours. During the 7 months study period we took 90 throat samples from 86 children. Of these 26 were RADT positive and 22 were culture positive. The prevalence of GAS by RADT was 28.88% and by culture was 25.56%. The sensitivity and specificity of RADTwas 95.65% and 94.02 % respectively. Since the RADThad high sensitivity and specificity and the results were available within 15 minutes, the need for throat swab culture (with additional cost and delay in results) could be avoided. Appropriate antibiotic may be started on the basis of RADT. If RADTis negative culture should be sent.

Clinico-Epidemiological Profile of Children Hospitalized with Dengue.

Objective To study the clinico-epidemiological profile of children hospitalized with dengue illness. Methods Prospective study of children hospitalized with the diagnosis of dengue illness during from September through November 2006 at a tertiary care centre in Jaipur. Results A total of 948 children including 671 (70.8%) boys and 277 (29.2%) girls were diagnosed to have dengue illness during the outbreak. Two third of children were from urban areas while 6–12 years was the most commonly affected age group (45.8%). 58.3% cases had dengue fever (DF) while 41.7% had DHF (dengue hemorrhagic fever). Dengue fever with bleed (DFB) accounted for 32% of cases. Common constitutional symptoms were vomiting (35.2%), pain abdomen (22.1%) and myalgia (10.1%). Bleeding manifestations were observed in 44.5%of cases.. Positive tourniquet test was the most common manifestation which was seen in 300 cases (31.6%) while in 9.2% cases bleeding was the only manifestation. Epistaxis (25%) was the most common spontaneous bleeding manifestation. Thrombocytopenia was documented in 84%of total cases and bleeding occurred more often in patients with severe thrombocytopenia. Ten children expired with a case fatality rate of 1.1%. Conclusions Children between 6 and 12 yrs were most affected by dengue with larger number of cases from urban areas. DFB cases accounted for almost one third cases of dengue. Epistaxis was the most common spontaneous bleeding manifestation. Bleeding occurs more often in patients with severe thrombocytopenia.