[Acquired peripheral facial palsy in children. Current data illustrated by 66 recent personal cases]. / Les paralysies faciales périphériques acquises de l'enfant. Données actuelles illustrées par 66 observations personnelles récentes.

The authors observed 66 cases of peripheral facial palsy (PFP) in children during a 5-year period (1986-1990). Bell's palsy (idiopathic facial paralysis) occurred in 26 children (39.3%), 1 month to 14.5 years old, with a complete recovery in 95% of the cases; a surgical decompression was carried out in 2 cases. The PFP was related to otitis in 16 cases (24.2%): acute otitis media (6), mastitis (4), serous otitis (5), cholesteatoma (1); the treatment was medical and surgical in all cases with complete recovery in 15 cases. In 15 cases the PFP was secondary to trauma (13) or surgery (2); complete spontaneous recovery occurred in 11 cases, and partial recovery following surgical treatment in 2 cases. A viral origin was retained in 6 cases: herpes zoster (3), mumps (1), echovirus (1), herpes (1); the recovery was complete in 4 cases, partial in 2 cases. In 3 cases the PFP was related to a rare cause: lymphoma, metabolic acidosis, Melkerson-Rosenthal syndrome. Bell's palsy remains the main cause of PFP in childhood; other etiologies can be ruled out by the case history, a careful physical examination, and a limited number of laboratory and/or X-ray studies; medical treatment, in particular prednisone, does not seem to have an effect upon the rate of recovery which is spontaneously high; similarly there is no evidence that surgical decompression really modifies the rate of recovery so that the authors suggest that it should be reserved to the complete forms with no clinical and electrical evidence of recovery after 3 weeks.

Schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. Distribution in Italy.

The present study extended an earlier report of USA states with high levels of schizophrenia also having high levels of multiple sclerosis (MS). A high correlation (r = 0.81) between schizophrenia and MS rates in the districts of Italy was found.

Assessment of the Mulder and Van Doorn kinetic procedure and rapid centrifugal analysis of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase activities.

The optimal experimental conditions of the enzyme assay described by Mulder and Van Doorn (1975, Biochem J. 151, 131-140) for the measurement of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase activities were tested towards structurally different aglycones. This assessment of this assay revealed that addition of Triton X-100 as enzyme activator was necessary because of its apparent inhibitory effects on interfering reactions. Under these conditions, accordance of the data with results published in the literature was obtained. We present for the first time an UDP-glucuronosyltransferase assay adapted on a fast analyser centrifuge which allows a rapid and sensitive measurement of enzyme activity that is very useful for kinetic constant determination, without consuming a large volume of reagents.

Influence of an infant walker on onset and quality of walking pattern of locomotion:an electromyographic investigation.

Acquisition of bipedal locomotor skill in human infants was studied electromyographically with regard to the deprivation or enrichment behavior resulting from the frequent and regular use of an infant walker. Subjects were six sets of male, fraternal twins. One randomly selected sibling from each set underwent a training program, commencing at the age of 300 days, spending a total of 2 hr. per day in a walker. Siblings not included in this group were subjected to no special training. EMG recordings were taken of all subjects at specified intervals in order to establish a model of the typical motor pattern at various stages of skill development. These data were then contrasted with EMG data similarly obtained from the walker-trained subjects. Use of an infant walker modified the mechanics of the infant's locomotion in a number of important ways. It was shown that use of the walker enables an infant to commit substantial mechanical errors yet succeed in bipedal locomotion. Inasmuch as the mechanics of walker-assisted and non-assisted bipedal locomotion are dissimilar in so many important ways, positive transfer from walker-training appears questionable.