Acute osteomyelitis and septic arthritis of the shoulder in premature neonates--report of two cases.

Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis and septic arthritis are pyogenic infections of bone and joint, respectively. At the youngest age, they usually occur at the same time--hence the common name "osteoarthritis". When it comes to neonates, osteoarthritis is an infrequent finding, but it can give a permanent disability and can be even fatal unless early recognized and adequately and promptly treated. An early diagnosis is rather challenging because the signs and symptoms of this disease are subtle and/or nonspecific. The therapy involves a combination of intravenous antimicrobial therapy in high doses and of sufficient duration, with a mandatory decompression of affected joint by needle aspiration or artrhrotomy. The aim of this paper is to present two premature newborns with rare localization of osteoarthritis - the humerus and shoulder joint, as well as to point to the modern diagnostic and therapeutic approach to this disease.

PCB pollution of early milk in the Province of Vojvodina.

Seven EPA PCB congeners (28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, and 180) were determined in samples of early human milk collected from 18 mothers in Novi Sad, using GC-ECD (HP 5890) supplied with a Quadra fused silica column 5% Ph for PCBs. The sum of seven PCB congeners was 3.26±3.90 (X¯±S.D.), median 1.25, range 0.4-14.31 and the range of individual congeners was for: 28: 0.04-0.37; 52: 0.04-0.44, 101: 0.04-1.21; 118: 0.05-0.62; 138: 0.13-4.61; 153: 0.13-4.81; 180: 0.10-3.07, ng/g wet. No correlation was found between maternal age and seven PCB congeners. In two primiparous mothers below 30 years, the sum of seven PCB congeners was three to fourfold, and in one multiparous twofold higher than the average for the group. Unchanged level of assumed total PCBs in early human milk in 2003, compared with measured total PCBs in 1993, suggest the continuous inlet of these chemicals into the environment.