Utku Karaarslan

Risk Factors for Candidemia in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patients

ObjectıveTo determine the risk factors for developing candida infections in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).MethodsThe present study was conducted as a case–control study and included the population of patients who were admitted to PICU during the period of March 2010–March 2011.ResultsDuring the study period, a total of 57 patients in PICU had candidemia, 4 cases were excluded due to their PICU stay less than 48 h and one due to the insufficient data. The most commonly isolated Candida species was C. albicans, followed by C. parapsilosis. The median duration of hospitalization in PICU was higher (22.0 d) in candidemia patients compared to control group (13.5 d) (p = 0.037). The patients with candidemia had higher rates of presence of mechanical ventilation, presence of central venous catheter, and being under total parenteral nutrition; compared to the control group.ConclusıonsThe longer PICU durations, mechanical ventilation, central venous catheter, total parenteral nutrition were the associated factors. Although trials for predicitive models or scoring systems for development of candidemia have been performed; more future studies were required for practical usage in clinics settings in order to prevent candidemia.

Clinical accuracy of tympanic thermometer and noncontact infrared skin thermometer in pediatric practice: an alternative for axillary digital thermometer.

Introduction The aim of this study was to compare the body temperature measurements of infrared tympanic and forehead noncontact thermometers with the axillary digital thermometer. Methods Randomly selected 50 pediatric patients who were hospitalized in Dr Behcet Uz Children’s Training and Research Hospital, Pediatric Infectious Disease Unit, between March 2012 and September 2012 were included in the study. Body temperature measurements were performed using an axillary thermometer (Microlife MT 3001), a tympanic thermometer (Microlife Ear Thermometer IR 100), and a noncontact thermometer (ThermoFlash LX-26). Results Fifty patients participated in this study. We performed 1639 temperature readings for every method. The average difference between the mean (SD) of both axillary and tympanic temperatures was −0.20°C (0.61°C) (95% confidence interval, −1.41°C to 1.00°C). The average difference between the mean (SD) of both axillary and forehead temperatures was −0.38 (0.55°C) (95% confidence interval, −1.47°C to 0.70°C). The Bland-Altman plot showed that most of the data points were tightly clustered around the zero line of the difference between the 2 temperature readings. With the use of the axillary method as the criterion standard, positive likelihood ratios were 17.9 and 16.5 and negative likelihood ratios were 0.2 and 0.4 for tympanic and forehead measurements, respectively. Discussion The results demonstrated that the infrared tympanic thermometer could be a good option in the measurement of fever in the pediatric population. The noncontact infrared thermometer is very useful for the screening of fever in the pediatric population, but it must be used with caution because it has a high value of bias.

Alpha lipoic acid intoxication, treatment and outcome.

Alpha lipoic acid intoxication, treatment and outcome excluded an underlying intracranial abnormality. In the following few days he became conscious and his neurological fi ndings disappeared without further seizure recurrence and with normal electroencephalography. He was discharged on the fi fth day without sequelae. Evidence from literature shows that ALA is able to decrease oxidative stress caused by high levels of reactive oxygen and other free radicals. Furthermore, ALA has some activities that provide a cofactor for glucose metabolism in mitochondria. These effects are supposed to be benefi cial for cellular damage and hence its usage in diabetic patients, especially for whom neuropathy is common. 2 Half life of orally administered ALA is merely 30 min. 3 In animal studies, high levels of ALA were reported to cause apathy, hypokinesis, convulsions, and hepatotoxicity. Although there is no reported toxic dose in childhood, our patient likely ingested 226 mg/kg, which is above the LD50 for cats and dogs. 4 ALA has prooxidant effects at high doses, causing redox reactions with iron and affecting mitochondrial permeability. 2 Metabolic acidosis may thus be due to direct mitocondrial effect of ALA. We also speculate that high levels of ALA may attenuate energy utilization in brain and cause resistant convulsions. Our patient ’ s improvement may also be attributed to symptomatic management and the short elimination time of ALA. That ’ s why pediatricians and pediatric emergency medicine physicians should keep in mind ALA intoxication in children admitting with seizure, acidosis, and unconsciousness especially with a household treated for diabetic neuropathy.

Mid-term assessment of cardiac autonomic functions in children with transposition of the great arteries after arterial switch operation.

OBJECTIVE It has been documented that impaired heart rate variability (HRV) is related to life threatening arrhythmias in children with surgically repaired congenital heart disease. We aimed to analyze the balance of the cardiac autonomic functions by assessing HRV in children with arterial switch operation (ASO). METHODS In this observational cohort study, HRV analysis using 24-h Holter electrocardiography recordings was examined in 22 patients (mean age: 59.5±38.7 months, 18 male, 4 female) who had undergone ASO during the newborn period and 22 healthy children (mean age: 65.1±39.4 months, 18 male, 4 female). After Kolmogorov-Smirnov testing for normality, Student t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used when appropriate. Chi-square was used for categorical data. RESULTS In 24-h HRV analysis showed that SDANN and VLF were significantly higher in patient group. Awake SDNN, rMSSD, pNN50, TP and VLF levels of patient group were significantly higher than those of control subjects. Awake LF/HF ratio in patient group was significantly higher than their counterpart in asleep group. In the patient group, awake rMSSD, pNN50, TP, LF and HF were significantly lower than their counterpart in the asleep group. CONCLUSION Children with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) following ASO have not decreased levels of time and frequency HRV parameters in the mid-term follow-up period. All HRV parameters reflecting vagal tone were increased in the patient group. It is suggested that vagal tone is more predominant than sympathetic tone for children with ASO.

Factors Affecting Brucella spp. Blood Cultures Positivity in Children

Brucella infections have a wide spectrum of symptoms especially in children, making the diagnosis a complicated process. The gold standard for the final diagnosis for brucellosis is to identify the Brucella spp. isolated from blood or bone marrow cultures. The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the factors affecting the isolation of Brucella spp. from blood cultures. In our study, the ratio of fever, presence of hepatomegaly, and splenomegaly were found to be higher in the bacteremic group. In addition, C-reactive protein levels and liver function enzymes were found to be higher in the bacteremic group. In our opinion, while evaluating the febrile child with suspected Brucella infection, we highly recommend sampling blood cultures regardless of the history of previous antimicrobial therapy and duration of the symptoms.

Echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac functions in newborns of mildly preeclamptic pregnant women within postnatal 24–48 hours

Abstract The aim of this study is to detect preeclampsia-related cardiac dysfunction within 24–48 hours of delivery in newborns born from preeclamptic mothers. Forty newborns from mildly preeclamptic mothers formed the study group and the control group was formed by 40 healthy newborns. Cardiac function for the groups were evaluated using conventional echocardiography and myocardial performance index (MPI) within the first 24–48 hours of their lifetime and the results of both groups were compared. A significant difference between the groups was observed especially in the PW Doppler MPI measurements (the left ventricle MPI 0.37 ± 0.09 and 0.26 ± 0.11, p < .001; the right ventricle MPI 0.29 ± 0.08 and 0.26 ± 0.07, p < .035) for the control group and the study group. Elongation in the left and right ventricle MPI was detected to be more significant in terms of comparing systolic and diastolic functions to determine preeclampsia-related cardiac injury in newborns from preeclamptic mothers within the first 24–48 hours of their lifetime. Impact statement Today, the methods which may detect cardiac injury earlier than conventional echocardiographic methods are used for evaluating cardiac functions. Among them, myocardial performance index (MPI) measurement with PW Doppler is the most common ones. While studies are available in the literature evaluating foetal cardiac functions with MPI in foetuses of preeclamptic women, studies evaluating cardiac functions with MPI index within the first 24–48 hours in postnatal period are not available. This is the first study to detect cardiac injury by measuring cardiac functions of the newborns of preeclamptic babies using conventional echocardiography (EF, SF, mitral and tricuspid E/A) and myocardial performance index within the first 24–48 hours of life and compare these values with those of a control group composed of healthy newborns with similar demographic characteristics. According to the results of the study, elongation in right and left ventricle MPI was detected to be more significant compared to systolic and diastolic functions for determining preeclampsia-related cardiac injury in newborns of preeclamptic mothers within 24–48 hours of delivery. Ventricle functions of the newborns of preeclamptic mothers should also be evaluated with MPI measurement besides conventional echocardiographic measurements.

Modified myocardial performance index is not affected in fetuses with an isolated echogenic focus in the left ventricle

Abstract Objectives: We prospectively investigated the efficacy of modified myocardial performance index (mod-MPI) in the assessment of cardiac functions in fetuses with and without an isolated hyperechogenic focus (IHF) in the left ventricle and compared with conventional fetal echocardiography. Methods: The study group consisted of 50 fetuses with only an IHF in the left ventricle, without any other cardiac or extracardiac anomalies; 50 fetuses without IHF served as controls. All fetal echocardiographic studies were performed between 20th and 24th weeks of gestation. Left ventricular functions were evaluated with both conventional echocardiographic methods (peak velocity of the aortic valve, mitral E/A ratio, fractional shortening) and mod-MPI. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of maternal age, BMI or gestational age at the time of examination (p > 0.05 for all). No statistically significant differences were found between the findings of conventional echocardiographic measurements and left ventricular mod-MPI between the study and control groups (p > 0.05 for all). Conclusion: Fetal left ventricular mod-MPI is not affected by the presence of an IHF in the fetal left ventricle between 20th and 24th gestational weeks and thus it does not need to be assessed in this situation.

Propofol infusion syndrome or adrenoleukodystrophy

Following a propofol anesthetic, a 5‐year‐old girl with lower extremity spasticity seized and developed hypertriglyceridemia, hyperkalemia, and metabolic acidosis. A presumed diagnosis of propofol infusion syndrome (PRIS) was made, but further investigation revealed neonatal adrenoleukodystrophy. PRIS should be considered with this constellation of symptoms, but other neurometabolic disorders must always be ruled out.

Utility of ductus venosus blood flow in the study of cardiac function in fetuses with intracardiac echogenic focus.

The purpose of this study was to investigate fetal ductus venosus (DV) wave velocities, DV velocity ratios, and DV diastolic time intervals to derive additional information on fetal cardiac function in the presence of an intracardiac echogenic focus (IEF).

Efficacy of early noninvasive ventilation in three cases of nonfatal drowning with pulmonary oedema in the paediatric emergency department

Drowning is still one of the most important causes of the preventable mortality worldwide. Some patients should be treated with noninvasive ventilation immediately in the emergency department (ED). The practice of noninvasive ventilation has been increased recently in the paediatric ED. We present here three nonfatal drowning patients with pulmonary oedema and hypoxia who were successfully treated with noninvasive ventilation in the paediatric emergency department. All of the patients had aspirated sea water during swimming. In addition, two of the patients had aspirated water during snorkeling. Noninvasive ventilation was applied to the patients immediately in paediatric emergency service. All of the patients clinical and radiological findings recovered rapidly. There are limited reports about use of noninvasive ventilation in nonfatal drowning cases in the paediatric emergency department. We emphasize that the early application of noninvasive ventilation should be a preventive method for reducing the morbidity of nonfatal drowning cases. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2016;23:42-46)