The effect of treatment with montelukast on levels of serum interleukin-10, eosinophil cationic protein, blood eosinophil counts, and clinical parameters in children with asthma.

Interleukin (IL)-10 is an important immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine. IL-10 levels are reduced in asthmatic airways. A regulatory mechanism involving IL-4 induced allergen-specific IL-10 production may be defective in allergic subjects, and this defect potentially contributes to more intense inflammation. The aim of this study was to define the effect of treatment with montelukast on serum levels of IL-10, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), blood eosinophil counts, and clinical parameters (symptom score and lung function tests) in children with mild and moderate persistent asthma. Twenty-five children with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma and 25 nonatopic healthy children as controls were enrolled in the study. Patients were treated with montelukast for four weeks. Lung function tests for forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% (FEF25-75) were performed before and after treatment. Serum IL-10, ECP levels, and blood eosinophil counts were determined in both the control group and asthmatic children before and after treatment. The mean serum IL-10 levels were significantly lower before treatment than after treatment (1.75 +/- 0.9 pg/ml and 5.49 +/- 3.6 pg/ml; p < 0.001) and in control subjects (5.6 +/- 2.8 pg/ml). After four weeks of treatment with montelukast, the mean blood eosinophil count value (608 +/- 73/mm3 and 469 +/- 57/mm3; p < 0.05) but not the ECP value (33.98 +/- 24.3 microg/L and 29.03 +/- 19.2 microg/L; p > 0.05) was significantly decreased. After treatment with montelukast, all clinical parameters and lung function tests improved. We found no statistical correlations between the serum level of IL-10 and the serum level of ECP, eosinophil count, lung function tests, or clinical scores after treatment with montelukast. Montelukast caused a statistically significant increase in serum IL-10 levels and decrease in peripheral blood eosinophil counts over the four-week treatment period. Our study indicates that montelukast provides clinical benefits for children with chronic asthma and produces an anti-inflammatory response by increasing serum IL-10 levels,

Community-acquired infection due to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: a rare cause of septic arthritis.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important nosocomial pathogen in hospitalized patients, particularly those with prior broad-spectrum antibacterial therapy. The microorganism mainly infects severely ill, debilitated patients and is most frequent in immunocompromised hosts. A prominent feature of this organism is its resistance to multiple antibiotics including beta-lactam agents, carbapenems and aminoglycosides. Community-acquired infection with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is reported rarely. This is the first report of a child patient diagnosed with septic arthritis due to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

[Massive parapneumonic effusion caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae in a child: a case report]. / Mycoplasma pneumoniae'ya bagli yogun parapnömonik efüzyonlu bir olgu sunumu.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is usually mild course and self-limited. Parapneumonic effusion is not a common feature of M. pneumoniae. The treatment of parapneumonic effusion is macrolides and chest tube with adequate pleural drainage. We report here on a child with M. pneumoniae infection complicated by massive parapneumonic effusion. Protracted course of fever and respiratory distress was noted in patient. Pneumothorax was occurred subsequent to chest tube drainage.

Youngest netherton patient with infantile asthma.

Netherton syndrome is a very rare disorder characterized with icthyosis, atopy, bamboo hair and intermittant aminoaciduria. The specifity of clinical and histopathological features of netherton syndrome is low in neonates and young infants who presents with predominating erythrodermia. Being the youngest infant presenting with the symptoms of infantile asthma we found it worth to report a six months old girl presenting with the feature of severe respiratory distress, generalized erythrodermia, and brittle hair.

Severe hypermagnesemia as a result of excessive cathartic ingestion in a child without renal failure.

A 14-year-old girl was referred to our hospital with lethargy and hypotension and was found to have a serum magnesium level of 14.9 mg/dL after having received an magnesium hydroxide (Magnesie Calcinee) for 7 days because of constipation. She was lethargic, her blood pressure was 70/40 mm Hg, and electrocardiogram revealed prolonged corrected QT interval and first-degree atrioventricular block. She has no renal dysfunction. Emergency hemodialysis after her condition ameliorated, her serum magnesium levels returned to normal. The present case suggests that massive oral magnesium ingestion with severe constipation and ileus may result severe hypermagnesemia without renal dysfunction.

Preliminary validation of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory in Turkey.

This study aims to provide preliminary findings on the validity of Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP Inventory) on Turkish sample of 23 abuser and 47 nonabuser parents. To investigate validity in two groups, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Psychopathic Deviate (MMPI-PD) scale is also used along with CAP. The results show that, with the 200.5 cutoff point, which is the average score of the whole Turkish sample, Abuse Scale correctly classified 83% of the participants in the abuse group and 78.8% of the participants in the control group, which gives 21.2% false-positive result. MMPI-PD to all group and Pearson correlation coefficient analysis is found to be significant for both groups. These results show us high reliability and validity of the abuse scale for Turkey.

Effects of epilepsy and antiepileptic drugs on nitric oxide, lipid peroxidation and xanthine oxidase system in children with idiopathic epilepsy.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of epilepsy, valproic acid and oxcarbazepine on nitric oxide levels, lipid peroxidation and xanthine oxidase levels in newly diagnosed epileptic children and healthy controls. A total of 49 patients with newly diagnosed idiopathic epilepsy and 15 healthy children were enrolled in this study. Of these 49 patients, 16 children were treated with valproate and 16 treated with oxcarbazepine. Nitric oxide, malondialdehyde and xanthine oxidase levels prior to antiepileptic drug therapy were measured in the serum. Blood samples were drawn before antiepileptic drug therapy and after 3 and 6 months of the antiepileptic drug treatment. Nitric oxide levels were statistically higher in the newly diagnosed epileptic patients. In oxcarbazepine group, the nitric oxide and malondialdehyde levels were found to be decreased. No statistically significant differences were noted in nitric oxide, malondialdehyde and xanthine oxidase levels in valproic acid treated group. Oxcarbazepine which is a frequently used new antiepileptic drug in childhood epilepsy may modify nitric oxide levels and lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that decreased lipid peroxidation would play a role in the mechanism of antiepileptic effects by oxcarbazepine treatment.