Anesthesia for Children With Craniofacial Abnormalities in the Developing Countries: Challenges and Future Directions.

Interest in global health to provide safer pediatric surgical care in developing countries has increased during the last decade. A collaborative effort between surgeons and anesthesiologists has provided the opportunity to deliver specialized care to children, particularly in the areas of cleft lip and palate repair. However, medical resources, facilities, and adequately trained personnel, especially in pediatric anesthesia, are often limited in these countries. Challenges, educational efforts, and future directions for the globalization of anesthesia are discussed. Involvement of international entities may help raise awareness, channel efforts, expand programs and encourage volunteerism to ultimately provide safer care to pediatric patients, have better outcomes and reduced anesthesia-related morbidity and mortality.

Palmoplantar pustular psoriasis following initiation of a beta-blocker: disease control with low-dose methotrexate.

Palmoplantar pustular psoriasis is a debilitating chronic disease that can have a serious impact on patients' quality of life. There currently is no therapeutics standard for controlling palmoplantar pustular psoriasis, but various treatments, many of which have serious toxic side effects, have been used to treat this disease, including methotrexate. We report a case of palmoplantar pustular psoriasis in a 76-year-old woman that was triggered by initiation of a beta-blocker. The patient's condition was controlled with a low-dose regimen of methotrexate. It is important for dermatologists to recognize that pustular psoriasis can be treated with low-dose methotrexate to avoid potentially toxic effects of higher doses of methotrexate, which is especially true in cases of drug-induced disease, as seen in our patient.