Critical Illness Polyneuropathy in a Child: A Case Report.

Critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) and myopathy (CIM) are underreported conditions in critically ill children with prolonged intensive care unit stays and mechanical ventilation. We report a case of a 10-year-old boy with pneumococcal meningoencephalitis with severe sepsis and multiorgan dysfunction. The child required prolonged ventilation, sedation, and inotropic support. He had repeated extubation failures and the development of quadriparesis with areflexia. Electrophysiology studies were consistent with CIP with acute motor and sensory axonal polyneuropathy and elevated muscle enzymes. He was treated with supportive measures and physiotherapy along with management of the underlying condition. He recovered slowly over 68 days with a good recovery with a modified Rankin's scale score of 4 on discharge. There is a need to pay attention to all critically ill children and should have a high index of suspicion for the development of CIP/CIM which can have an impact on course and outcome.

Study of Stem Cells in Human Milk.

Stem cells are cells that have the ability to self-renew into an undifferentiated cell state, which can further delineate into distinct cell types. There are various sources of stem cells in the human body; some of them include cord blood, placental tissue, bone marrow, adipose tissue, dental pulp, etc.  Breast milk could become an important source of stem cells in the near future because of its non-invasive isolation technique. Based on this nature, this study was conducted to isolate stem cells from breast milk and to show further potential implications of these cells. The total number of cells isolated from the milk ranged from 1.5 × 105 cells to 3 × 105 cells. As there was prolongation in the lactation period, the number of cells in the milk lowered significantly. There was no significant difference in the cell count in various gestational age groups. The cytochemistry analysis of these cells with their specific cell markers confirmed the presence of a homogenous population of mesenchymal stem cells. Further differentiation of these breast milk stem cell analyses showed transformation into adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts in different culture mediums. So the presence of mesenchymal stem cells in human milk, which are multipotent in nature, makes it an important source of stem cells for further regenerative therapies, tissue culture techniques, and gene therapies. Due to this nature, these cells can be redirected to produce various tissues in the human body.