Norman C. Woody

Familial hyperlysinemia with lysine-ketoglutarate reductase insufficiency

Fibroblasts grown in tissue culture from the skin of normal subjects have lysine-ketoglutarate reductase activity (lysine: alpha-ketoglutarate: triphosphopyridine nucleotide (TPNH) oxidoreductase (epsilon-N-[L-glutaryl-2]-L-lysine forming)). The activity of the enzyme is considerably reduced in the skin fibroblasts grown from three siblings with hyperlysinemia. The high concentrations of lysine in the blood of these patients, the previous demonstration in the intact subject of a reduction in the ability to degrade lysine, and the present demonstration of diminished lysine-ketoglutarate reductase activity, accurately define the metabolic defect and establish the saccharopine (epsilon-N-[L-glutaryl-2]-L-lysine) pathway as the major degradative pathway for lysine in the human.

Congenital Syphilis: A Laid Ghost Walks.

After 6 years, when no example of florid congenital syphilis was seen in a hospital service with 10,000 live births annually, 7 babies with congenital syphilis were admitted within a year. This experience undoubtedly reflects an increased incidence of acquired syphilis in this area. Since several “generations” of pediatric residents had never seen florid congenital syphilis, this entity was not considered in the differential diagnosis at admission. With the use of case protocols of some of these infants, the common problems presented by infantile congenital syphilis are discussed.

Direct digital intratracheal intubation for neonatal resuscitation

Summary The technique of digital introduction of endotracheal tubes for neonatal resuscitation is easy to learn, requires simple and dependable equipment, and has few dangers and limitations. Proficiency in the method allows the unaided physician quickly and easily to establish and use a patent airway for neonatal resuscitation

Balantidiasis in Infancy. Review of the Literature and Report of a Case.

Summary Balantidium coli infection in a malnourished 5-month-old infant was treated with carbarsone, resulting in eradication of the parasite. She is believed to be the youngest patient with this condition on record. The disease may be encountered in all parts of the world. Air travel may increase opportunities for exposure. Unless considered, it can be overlooked as a cause of diarrhea. Immediate, proper examination of fresh stools should easily reveal the trophozoites in acute cases. At present, treatment with tetracyclines appears to be the preferred method. The epidemiology of balantidiasis is still obscure.

Untreated neonatal herpes simplex 2 meningitis without apparent neurologic damage

A N l l d a y o l d n e w b o r n i n f a n t deve loped zos te r i fo rm vesicles f r o m wh ich he rpes s implex v i rus 2 (HSV-2) was recovered. Two days later clinical s igns of m e n i n g o e n cephal i t is appea red and HSV-2 was isola ted f r o m spinal fluid. T h e in fan t was g iven no ant ivi ra l t r ea tmen t , r ecove red clinically w i t hou t sequelae, and has had normal g rowth and deve lopmen t .

Family screening studies in maple syrup urine disease (branched-chain ketoaciduria)

Studies of a family with branched-chain ketoaciduria confirmed the value of the leucine tolerance test for detecting heterozygotes. The test has been simplified for family screening through the use of paper chromatographic methods. When applied to this family, the incidence of heterozygotes was consistent with the hypothesis of autosomal recessive inheritance. Elevated urine levels of α-ketoglutaric acid were observed in infants with the disease and in several of their parents. An attempt to show that increased urinary excretion of α-ketoglutaric acid would serve to delineate heterozygotes was unsuccessful.

Management of breast feeding: How to be a grandmother

The young mother will succeed at breast feeding when she has the confidence whichcomes from understanding what is taking place between herself and her baby. The problems which arise for the initiate, mother or pediatrician, are outlined. These problems are solved when the instinctual responses and the normal patterns of behavior of mothers and babies are recognized by the physician and are made the basis for advising the mother. Such knowledge, once passed from mother to daughter, is being forgotten. The present-day pediatrician, in order to instruct his patient in the art of breast feeding, must be able to provide information once supplied by grandmothers.

Pediatric deaths in a large general hospital

Summary During 1942 there were 436 deaths among 12,470 children admitted under age 12. Forty-three per cent of all pediatric deaths occurred during the neonatal period of hospitalization for 5,084 infants born alive in the hospital; this group constitutes the basis for the first portion of our study, in which premature and mature infants are considered separately. The second portion is concerned with the remaining 57 per cent of all pediatric deaths among 7,386 infants and children from one day to 12 years of age at the time they were admitted; here patients younger and older than 2 years of age are considered separately. Leading and incidental causes for death, and pertinent differences by age, race, and sex were analyzed and discussed for each group. Finally, crude correlations of clinical and post-mortem diagnoses were made for 210 patients examined pathologically.