Human milk banking and milk kinship: perspectives of religious officers in a Muslim country.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to determine the knowledge, attitudes and views of the Muslim religious officers regarding infant feeding, breast milk, wet nursing, milk kinship and human milk banks (HMBs). STUDY DESIGN: A total of 401 religious officers were included in the study. Participants included 355 community service religious officers and 46 faculty religious officers. RESULTS: Two hundred fifty-four (63.3%) participants were in favor of administering donor human milk when breast milk is not available from the mothers. To the question 'What kind of human milk bank would you approve as far as the religious sensitivity is concerned?' a majority of the religious officers (71.3%) responded that they would only approve if the milk pool contained a restricted HMB where a limited number of recipients were allowed to use the mixtures in these milk pools. Only 7 (1.7%) participants advocated initiating Western-style HMBs in Turkey. CONCLUSION: Turkish religious officers have revealed that they would only approve the establishment of an alternative HMB by a maximum three donors where up to three recipients whose identities are known by one another are allowed to use donor milk from each milk pool.

Multiple dural arteriovenous fistulas involving the cavernous sinus, transverse sinus, sigmoid sinus and spinal drainage: CT angiography findings in 14-year-old boy.

Dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVF) are rare and constitute 10% to 15% of all intracranial arteriovenous malformations. Only few cases of DAVFs are reported in children. Here is the first case report describing CT angiographic findings in a 14 year old child having multiple DAVFs involving spinal canal, both cavernous and cerebral sinuses.

Prevalence of oral mucosal lesions from birth to two years.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of lesions of the oral mucosa from birth to two years in Turkish pediatric patients . MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 299 infants from newborn to two years of age were evaluated from the Outpatient Clinics of the Pediatric Department, in the Fatih University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. The mucosal lesions were documented. The data were presented as percentages and for categorical comparisons Chi-square or Fisher's Exact test were used. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the 299 infants, mucosal lesions were seen in only 65 (21.27%). In the study, the most common lesions were candidiasis (10.70%), Ebstein's pearls (2.68%), and geographic tongue (2.68%). The frequency of children with mucosal alterations was higher in the group of children from two to twelve months. CONCLUSIONS: Although the lesions that were found the most in our study were benign lesions, unrelated to systemic diseases, we still believe that oral mucosal lesions can be a sign of a systemic or dermatological disease in infants, which affects the oral feeding of the infants. Routine examination of the oral mucosa should be a part of the pediatric examination.

Spectral changes in electrical activity of pylorus due to L-NAME induced hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relation between hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) and the changes in the myoelectrical activity of the pyloric and gastric areas. METHODS: Three pregnant females, at 14 days of gestation two of which were named as D14n (NOS inhibitor group) and one was named as D14c (control). From the beginning of the study until the end of gestation, rats in D14n group received nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME for administrating their pups, and the rat in D14c group was drinking water for 21 days. The pups of each group underwent laparotomy at 42 days of their life and myoelectrical signals of their pyloric and gastric regions were recorded via bipolar electrodes and then evaluated through signal processing. RESULTS: Signal analysis showed that HPS induced pyloric segment reveals a suppressed spectral component that was detected in normal pyloric segment. The HPS induced pyloric segment also revealed higher power/ min and +/- SD compared to that of normal and gastric areas. In the pyloric segment, while the number of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) was lesser, the number of smooth muscle cells was higher than in the pyloric segment of controls. CONCLUSIONS: The spectral differentials depend on the type, population and condition of locally specialized muscular mechanism which can be affected from HPS. The HPS also has a relation to specific cells, such as ICC that generates NO, provoke the spontaneous pacemakers and biological slow waves (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 19).

Diffuse edema and bilateral massive pleural effusion as the presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus.

A rare case of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with massive bilateral pleural effusions and generalized edema as the first manifestations, is reported. The patient was a previously healthy 13-year-old boy. He presented with a history of fever, lack of appetite, gradually increasing fatigue, cough, diffuse edema, and moderate dyspnea. He responded well to corticosteroids with resolution of the pleural effusions, and edema. SLE should always be kept in mind in cases of massive pleural effusions and/or diffuse edema, even in the absence of other clinical manifestations of the disease.

Maternal serum and cord blood preptin levels in gestational diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: To assess preptin concentrations in pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and in the cord blood of their fetuses. STUDY DESIGN: In all, 31 pregnant women with GDM and 31 gestational age-matched healthy pregnant subjects participated. Maternal serum and cord blood preptin levels were measured with ELISA. The relationships between maternal serum and cord blood preptin levels, anthropometric and metabolic parameters were also assessed. RESULT: Maternal serum and cord blood preptin levels were found higher in patients with GDM compared with control pregnant women. Preptin concentration in maternal serum was positively correlated with maternal age, fasting insulin levels, 1-h blood glucose after glucose load and cord preptin concentrations at birth. However, relationships between maternal and/or cord serum preptin and fetal growth parameters at birth were not detected. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that preptin concentrations increase in maternal serum of women with GDM. Preptin levels may provide a novel approach to identify women with GDM.

Hallermann-Streiff syndrome with hemihypertrophy.

We report on a five year old girl with Hallermann-Streiff syndrome and hemihypertrophy. Hemihypertrophy does not appear to have ever been associated with Hallermann-Streiff syndrome.

A collodion baby with hypothyroidism.

Collodion baby is a rare keratinizing congenital disorder. Although it is milder in degree than harlequin fetus, the infant is at risk for increased water loss, thermal instability, percutaneous toxicity, and infection as a result of an impaired skin barrier function. Here we report on an 11 days-old collodion baby with hypernatremic dehydratation, septicemia and congenital hypothyroidism. To our knowledge congenital hypothyroidism associated with collodion baby is reported in only one case up to date.

Congenital brucellosis: case report.

A 6-hour-old infant was admitted with severe respiratory distress and hepatosplenomegaly. Her mother had arthralgia for 4 weeks in the 7/8th month of pregnancy and the infant was born at 31 weeks. Brucella spp was detected in blood culture and serology in mother and infant, supporting the diagnosis of brucellosis with presumed transplacental transmission.

Bilateral split feet: a new finding in Cornelia de Lange syndrome.

We report on a male infant with Cornelia de Lange syndrome and bilateral split feet. Bilateral split feet do not appear to have ever been a reported feature in any of the published cases of Cornelia de Lange syndrome.

Hanhart syndrome.

We report on a male infant with Hanhart Syndrome. It is classified in "oromandibular limb hypogenesis syndromes" which are a group of rare conditions involving congenital malformations of tongue, mandible, and limbs.

Perception of vulnerability among mothers of healthy infants in a middle-income country.

BACKGROUND: Although four decades have passed since the concept of 'vulnerable children' has been introduced into paediatric literature, research on vulnerability is limited to high-income, Western countries. To adapt and adopt practices that have been advised for paediatricians to prevent 'the vulnerable child syndrome', information is needed also on the prevalence and correlates of perceived vulnerability in children in low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries. OBJECTIVE: To determine the rate and correlates of the perception of vulnerability among healthy young children in a healthy population of children in Ankara, Turkey. METHODS: In this cross-sectional observational study, participants comprised of a 'prescriptive sample' of healthy, thriving children with no known health risk for vulnerability. Maternal perception of child vulnerability was assessed using the Child Vulnerability Scale (CVS). Potential risks factors for vulnerability including history of threatened abortion during pregnancy, child gender, birth order, maternal and paternal age and education were collected using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 519 children - 264 boys (50.9%) and 255 girls (49.1%) - comprised the sample. The internal consistency of the CVS was 0.71. Item-total scale correlations were 0.30 or above for all of the eight items. The median CVS score of the sample was 2.0 and 30 mothers (5.8%) were found to perceive their children as vulnerable. None of the socio-demographic variables that were investigated were found to be associated with high vulnerability scores. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to examine maternal perceived vulnerability of healthy children in a middle-income country. The findings imply that a high proportion of healthy children are perceived as vulnerable by their mothers and that previously studied socio-demographic factors do not explain perceived vulnerability. The results of this study may provide a comparison point for studies on childhood vulnerability in LAMI countries.

Mothers' knowledge of young child development in a developing country.

BACKGROUND: Although interventions on child development target supporting mothers' relationships with their children, little is known about maternal knowledge of child development in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to determine maternal knowledge about child development in Turkey. METHODS: The Caregiver Knowledge of Child Development Inventory (CKCDI) developed for this study consisted of questions on when children begin to demonstrate developmental skills and when caregivers should provide opportunities for developmental stimulation. RESULTS: In total, 1200 mothers of children aged