Shabih Manzar

Brain Abscess Following Mastitis in a 3‐month‐old Infant

Neonatal mastitis is rare and generally carries a good prognosis, once treated appropriately, but systemic spread could lead to complications. A case of a 3-month-old infant is presented who developed a brain abscess associated with neonatal mastitis.

Body Temperature and Outcome of Asphyxiated Neonate

To the Editor: In reference to the articles by Castillo et al1 and Schwab et al2 about the role of body temperature on asphyxiated brain, I would like to share the findings of our study on asphyxiated neonates, which had contradictory results. We reviewed 8 asphyxiated neonates (1-minute Apgar score of <5) with respect to their temperature at birth and their outcome. The data were collected with respect to …

Introducing peer evaluation during tutorial presentation

posed to achieve. Moreover, these do not assess the needs of the participants by determining their current level of competency and desired level of competency. What was done We designed an instrument to identify the participants’ current and desired levels of competency and to determine whether competency had improved after attending the programme. The instrument consisted of a pre-programme needs assessment and a post-programme attainment of competency somewhat analogous to the faculty development survey suggested by Bland et al. (1980). The pre-programme component identified participants’ perceived current and desired levels of competency in specified seminar topics. Competency in each topic was defined by 3 statements corresponding to minimum, average and high competency using a continuum scale (1 1⁄4 minimum competency, 9 1⁄4 maximum competency). For example, in the topic Feedback the statements were categorised as follows:

Leptin concentrations in maternal serum and cord blood: relationship to maternal anthropometry and fetal growth

Sir, I read with interest the article by Geary et al. (Vol 106, October 1999)’ on the relationship between leptin and anthropometric measurements. The study presented the relationships between maternal anthropometry and maternal leptin, and neonatal anthropomehy and cord leptin. A positive correlation has been shown. However, the relationship between the cord leptin concentration and maternal body mass index was not mentioned. Was there any correlation noted between the two? Recently positive correlations between maternal body mass index and fetal insulin and C-peptide concentrations in cord blood have been demonstrated*, and insulin has been shown to stimulate leptin production during pregnancy’.