[Norms for authors of Mexican medical journals in 1994 and 1995]. / Normas para los autores de revistas médicas mexicanas en 1994 y 1995.

OBJECTIVE: To find out how much information of the Vancouver Norms (VANNOR) are given to prospective authors in the Instructions for Authors (IFA) in a sample of Mexican medical journals (MMJ) published in 1994 and 1995. DESIGN: Prospective, cross sectional, descriptive, observational. MEASUREMENTS: The IFA in the last issue of the MMJ that were published in 1994 and 1995, were reviewed and 121 characteristics in the VANNOR were scored in nine categories (characteristics, presentation, title page, summary and key words, text order and contents, references, tables, illustrations and other instructions). A one point score was given to any characteristic present in order to obtain a score for each category and a total score for each journal. The total scores in the VANNOR affiliated journals (N = 33) versus the non-affiliated ones (N = 27) were evaluated by the Mann-Whitney and exact Fisher test with alpha = 0.05 (two-tailed). RESULTS: A statistically significant higher score was found in the IFA of VANNOR journals in 22 of the 121 characteristics, in six of the nine categories, as well as in the total score. CONCLUSION: VANNOR affiliated journals offer a significantly higher amount of information regarding the IFA than those not affiliated.

[Nephropathy in Schönlein-Henoch purpura]. / Nefropatía en la púrpura de Henoch Schonlein.

Over one hundred patients diagnosed with vascular purpura at the National Institute of Pediatrics between 1979 and 1988 were retrospectively studied. Frequency was similar for both sexes. 82% were between the ages of six months and 11 years old. The extrarenal clinical manifestations were: petechias in 98%; abdominal pain 78% arthralgias 45%; melena 39%; and arthritis in 19% of the cases, 49 patients had nephropathy of different degrees and they did differently, 32 had hematuria with or without proteinuria within a nephrotic range, seven suffered from a nephrotic syndrome, one with a nephritic syndrome and nine others had a combination of two or three syndromes (nephritic/nephrotic/renal failure) with an unfavorable evolution towards terminal renal failure in eight of them; on the other hand, this was not seen in the remaining patients. Thirteen renal biopsies were taken from patients with more severe clinical manifestations, finding in them mesangial proliferation or endo- and extracapillary proliferation. These findings suggest that the initial clinical presentation of the illness allows for the prediction of the future.