Erythema nodosum associated with Salmonella enteritidis.

BACKGROUND: Erythema nodosum (EN) is the most frequent type of panniculitis in childhood. Although frequently idiopathic, it may be associated with a wide variety of conditions ranging from infections, to sarcoidosis, to collagen vascular diseases to drugs. CASE REPORT: We present an 8-year-old boy who developed EN during the course of febrile gastroenteritis due to salmonella enteritidis. He received intravenous ampicillin 150 mg/kg/day divided in equal doses every six hours for 10 days. The skin lesions gradually disappeared, and he recovered fully without sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: Salmonellosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of EN in children with gastrointestinal symptoms, and stool cultures should be performed when indicated.

Changes in tuberculin sensitivity among first-grade students of elementary schools in Evros, Greece due to immigration.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the tuberculin sensitivity trends among first-grade students of elementary schools tested according to the Greek national school-based screening and vaccination programme. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of tuberculin skin test (TST) results from 1988 to 2004 in unvaccinated first-grade students in Evros, Greece. METHODS: All 6-7-year-old children who were unvaccinated for tuberculosis were tested by a highly experienced team. This study tested whether gender (male vs female), national origin (native vs foreign-born children) and place of residence (urban vs semi-urban vs rural) correlated with tuberculin reaction positivity. RESULTS: In total, 8588 children (47.1% girls) were tested. Tuberculin reaction positivity was independent of gender. The difference in TST positivity between native and foreign-born children between 1993 and 2004 was highly significant, with substantially more foreign-born children having a positive Mantoux test (P<0.0001). The percentage of children with a positive TST peaked at 13% in 1995 due to initial admission of foreign-born children, originating from countries of the former Soviet Union, into the Greek educational system. In addition, a positive Mantoux test was more common among children living in rural (8.1%) and semi-urban (6.4%) areas compared with children living in urban areas (3.5%, P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: The increase in TST positivity noted was due to admission of foreign-born children into the Greek educational system. School-based tuberculosis screening programmes should continue in Greece because the prevalence of tuberculosis appears to show substantial variation between years.

Alterations in maximal inspiratory mouth pressure during a 400-m maximum effort front-crawl swimming trial.

AIM: The aim of this study was to examine the changes of maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (PImax) during a 400-m front crawl swimming trial. METHODS: Eleven well-trained competitive swimmers (age: 17.6+/-0.8 years, mean+/-SE) performed a 400-m front-crawl trial with maximum effort (296.2+/-4.76 s). Then, on different days they swam a 300-m, 200-m and 100-m trials at a velocity corresponding to the 400-m trial. Measurements of PImax from residual volume at upright body position before and immediately after each trial were conducted using a portable mouth pressure meter. RESULTS: Maximal inspiratory mouth pressure did not change significantly after the 100-m and 200-m trial compared to baseline (131.8+/-9.7 and 123.7+/-10.3 vs. 140.9+/-8.9 cmH(2)O, P>0.05). However, PImax was significantly lower after the 300-m (118.8+/-7 cmH(2)O, P=0.02) and 400-m trials (118.1+/-9.9 cmH(2)O, P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that during a maximum effort of 400-m front crawl, the reduction of inspiratory muscle strength occurs after 300-m. This should be considered for competitive swimming training by implementing swim race distance-specific respiratory muscle training.