Hemiplegia and motor aphasia following scorpion sting.

Hemiplegia and motor aphasia are rare complications following scorpion sting. This report describes a case of hemiplegia and motor aphasia occurring in a young child, following a scorpion sting.

Capillary refill time in term neonates: bedside assessment.

Capillary refill time (CRT) is yet to be established as a specific clinical sign of peripheral circulation in neonates. This study was conducted to assess the influence of four body sites used for measurement, interobserver variability, sex, birth weight, age at assessment and room temperature on CRT recorded in healthy term neonates, at bedside. Two observers measured CRT in four different body sites (forehead, chest, palm and heel) of each of 155 healthy term neonates. Significant differences occurred between the mean CRT recorded by the two observers in forehead (mean +/- SD: 2.62 +/- 0.8 s and 1.88 +/- 0.57 s; p < 0.001), palm (2.99 +/- 0.61 s and 2.75 +/- 1.12 s; p < 0.05) and heel (3.08 +/- 0.79 s and 4.24 +/- 1.84 s; p < 0.001). Only CRT in chest (2.7 +/- 0.42 s and 2.62 +/- 0.74 s) produced no significant differences in the means with a statistically significant and clinically fair, but not strong, interobserver agreement (r = 0.4; p < 0.001). No significant associations occurred between CRT and sex or birth weight. The associations of chest CRT with age at assessment (r = -0.23; p < 0.01) and room temperature (r = 0.27; p < 0.01) were clinically not important. In conclusion, CRT in neonates needs to be validated further before it can be useful as a specific clinical sign of peripheral circulation.

Attire and appearance of pediatrician: parents'/guardians' opinion.

Professional appearance of a pediatrician is an important element affecting the perception of competence of the doctor among patients and their parents/guardians, thus influencing their compliance. As there is no study on this issue addressing the Indian scene, we requested responses to a questionnaire containing 15 questions from the parents/guardians of the children. The purpose of the study was to assess their opinion regarding attire and appearance of pediatricians. Five each of the questions were related to common aspects of appearance and attire of the pediatrician in general and that of the male and the female pediatrician in particular. A total of 210 parents/guardians responded to see the question listed in the questionnaire. Assertive responses to each question were analysed for any association with the following categories--Urban, Rural, Males, Females, Urban Males, Rural Males, Urban Females, Rural Females, age below 40 years and age 40 years or more. Majority of the total assertive respondents preferred a formal/traditional attire and appearance for the pediatrician. Although most of the above categories concurred with this general opinion, some categories showed statistically significant, but practically unimportant, differences in the extent of agreement. The respondents generally favoured a white coat and nameplate on the pediatrician, shoes and a necktie for the male pediatrician and saree for the female pediatrician. They did not approve clothes with bizarre designs, use of perfumes by the pediatrician, long hair, T-shirts and jeans pant for the male pediatrician, chudidar, lipstick and other make-ups, costly jewelery and short hair for the female pediatrician.

Radial artery cannulation in neonates: a new method.

In neonates arterial cannulation is a relatively difficult procedure without the aid of transillumination. This paper discusses a simple method to make the radial artery prominent in neonates. The principle used is displacement of perivascular interstitial fluid to make the course of the artery visible so that, under direct vision, cannulation of the artery becomes almost as easy as a venous cannulation.