Neonatal transient pseudohypoparathyroidism: could it be included among inactivating parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related protein signalling disorders?

We report a case of transient pseudohypoparathyroidism in a full-term newborn that presented at 20 hours of life with hypocalcemic seizures, hyperphosphatemia and raised parathormone levels. The diagnosis of pseudohypoparathyroidism was made according to biochemical investigations. The infant was treated with calcium supplementation and vitamin D analog therapy, and he remained stable and symptom-free with normal serum biochemistries during follow-up. We suggest that transient pseudohypoparathyroidism of the newborn (ntPHP) might be included among inactivating parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related protein signaling disorders as defined by the classification schema recently proposed by the European Pseudohypoparathyroidism Network. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in which the new classification has been applied to a case of ntPHP.

Efficacy and safety of dimeticone in the treatment of lice infestation through prophylaxis of classmates

We conducted a study to evaluate efficacy and safety of dimeticone 4%, a lotion with no conventional insecticide activity, to cure lice infection and to prevent spread of infestation/reinfestation by prophylaxis of classmates. The study is carried out between April 2008 and June 2008 in Petranova International Institute in Rome. A total of 131 children, aged 3 to 13 years [median age: 7 years] were included in the study. All participants received treatment with dimeticone 4% that was applied both to children with the infestation, to cure it, and to all classmates, to prevent the spreading of the infestation. They have been controlled after 7 and 30 days from the application of dimeticone. At baseline we found a positivity of lice infestation in 23/131 children [17.6%], whereas 108/131 [82.4%] children were free from lice. After 7 days of treatment with dimeticone 4%, 7/23 [30.4%] positive children still had lice infestation, with a cure rate of 69.6% [16/23]. At 30 days 26/131 children [19.9%] were infested: 15 children were lice free at baseline whereas 11 had lice at both evaluations; the cure rate amounted to 52.2% [12/23]. The reinfestation rate [percentage of positive children that showed negativity at baseline] was 5.3% [7/131] at 7 days and 11.5% [15/131] at 30 days. The lower reinfestation rate showed in our trial suggests that this approach could be effective in reducing spreading of head lice in small communities. More studies are needed to confirm our findings