CLINICO-ETIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF SEIZURES IN CHILDREN IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE IN SOUTH INDIA

Introduction: Seizure is the most common neurological illness in pediatric population, and its risk is highest in the first year of life. A comprehensive study regarding etiology, clinical profile is required, hence the current study was undertaken. The objective of this work was to study the etiology, clinical profile Objective: le of seizures in children aged less than 18 years. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study of children with seizure was conducted at Neurology outpatient department, and references from pediatrics department. All children with seizures were included. Biochemical and haematological investigations, imaging, and electroencephalogram were performed whenever necessary. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data in the form of frequencies with percentages as applicable. Out of 65 Pediatric patients who presente Results: d with seizures were Febrile seizure – Simple 4.6% (3) ,Atypical 29.2% (19),Fever precipitated seizure 32.3% (21), Seizure disorder with developmental delay 20% (13),Unprovoked 6.1% (4),others (5) Seizure was the commonest neurological condition of children presenting to neurology Conclusion: OPD and referred from pediatrics. Fever precipitated seizure being the commonest etiology. The prognosis and outcomes were good but there were prolonged days of hospitalization. Children with unprovoked seizures require brain-imaging studies for better understanding of seizure etiology

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the renal parenchyma.

No case of a primary renal parenchymal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has been reported previously in the literature although renal pelvic SCCs are well known. We report an unusual case in a 60-year-old lady who presented with significant weight loss. She was found to have a mid and lower pole left renal tumor with enlarged para-aortic nodes. A left radical nephrectomy and nodal dissection was performed and the pathological stage was T4N1M0. No adjuvant therapy was given. She is alive at 13 months post-surgery.

Larsen Syndrome: A Case Report.

Larsen syndrome was first described in 1950 by Larsen, Schottstaedt and Bost. This rare inherited disorder is characterized by congenital dislocation of multiple joints along with other anomalies of heart, face, hands and bones. Awareness of this condition and assosciated complications helps in better follow up and management of these patients.

Effects of injection of serotonin into nucleus caudatus on food and water intake and body weight in albino rats.

Serotonin is known to inhibit food and water intake. However, the effect of its injection into nucleus caudatus on food and water intake is not known. In the present study, serotonin hydrochloride, buspirone (the serotonin 5-HT1A agonist) and ondensetron (the 5HT3 antagonist) were injected into nucleus caudatus through stereotaxically implanted cannulae in three different dosages (1, 2 and 5 microg) and their effects on 24 h food and water intake, and body weight were recorded. The injection of serotonin hydrochloride resulted in a dose- dependent decrease in food intake attaining maximum of 27.3% at 5 microg dose, whereas water intake and body weight were decreased 12% and 4.3% respectively only at the highest does. Buspirone elicited a dose dependent inhibition of food and water intake and body weight (22.3%, 19.8% and 5.1% respectively), whereas ondensetron elicited an increase in food and water intake (37.8% and 36.3% respectively) without significantly altering bodyweight. It was concluded that serotonin hydrochloride injected into nucleus caudatus inhibits food and water intake significantly. These effects are mediated via 5-HT1A and 5HT3 receptors. The effect of injections of 5-HT1A receptor agonist is more pronounced on water intake. The effect of injections of 5HT3 receptor antagonist is also more pronounced on water intake.

Evaluation of glycoproteins as prognosticators in head and neck malignancy.

Although several serum glycoprotein assays have been conducted for identifying tumor markers and prognosticators of malignancies, presently assessment of effectiveness of treatment of these malignancies remains subjective and good and effective tumor markers and prognosticators of head and neck malignancies are yet to be identified. In our study, serum samples from forty patients with head and neck cancers who were divided into four groups of ten patients each on the basis of their clinical staging and serum samples from ten healthy individuals comprising the control group was taken and subjected to biochemical analysis of serum protein bound hexose, serum fucose, serum sialic acid levels before starting treatment of the cancers and after completion of the cancer treatment and compared with the levels of these serum glycoproteins amongst the control group. All the head and neck cancer patients showed elevated levels of the serum glycoproteins as compared to the control group. It was further noted that the increased levels of the serum glycoproteins correlated well with the clinical staging of the malignancies. Post-treatment levels of all the serum glycoproteins were decreased significantly but, only the serum sialic acid level in 6 out of 10 patients with stage-I malignancy returned to the base line levels as seen in the control group. Serum sialic acid levels showed very close correlation with tumor staging and maybe considered as a good tumor marker and prognosticator for detection of cancer and evaluation of effectiveness of treatment of head and neck malignancies.

Adult Wilms' tumour (report of two cases).

Wilms' tumour, an embryonic neoplasm, the most common renal tumour in childhood, had occasionally been reported in adults. Authors report two such cases and have reviewed the relevant literature. While Wilm's tumour in children classically demonstrates the curative potential of combined modality treatment, no such clear guide lines are available for those occurring during adulthood. Pathologic diagnosis of adult Wilm's tumour is difficult because of the multiplicity of undifferentiated adult tumours that must be considered in the differential diagnosis. As no predictive parameters for optimal therapy exist, a combination of surgery, irradiation and chemotherapy probably is indicated for all stages of disease.

Congenital fibrosarcoma. Report of three cases.

Congenital/Infantile Fibrosarcomas are relatively rare soft tissue tumours. Only 238 cases have been reported till 1986 in the world literature of which 60 were truly congenital. A distinction must be made between them and their adult counterparts because of differences in their clinical behaviour. The authors report three cases and highlight their biological behaviour. Despite having an aggressive histological appearance they have a relatively benign course.

Variables influencing regularity of leprosy patients in attending treatment clinics.

Regularity in attending clinics as well as taking drugs assume a very significant place in leprosy control programme since irregularity of leprosy patients can lead to poor disease control, drug resistant disease, and development of physical deformities and disabilities thus leading to programme failure. Further, these complications also create socio-economic and psychological problems to the victims as well as their families in myriad ways. This paper reports a study aimed at identifying the variables, among a set of 29 selected demographic, socio-economic and disease-related variables, having significant association with regularity of leprosy patients in attending treatment clinics. It was found that age of the patients, type of family, duration of the disease, time lag between diagnosis of the disease and starting treatment and knowledge of patients and their families about the disease were significantly associated with treatment regularity.