Diabetic Ketoacidosis Following Mumps.

A-13-year-old girl presented with diabetic ketoacidosis with convincing clinical signs of parotitis (fever, drooling of saliva, inability to swallow with development of bilateral parotid swelling) and pancreatitis (fever, abdominal pain and vomiting), along with high serum amylase and positive mumps IgM titer. This suggests that mumps virus may have been the causative factor, probably as a result of concomitant involvement of the pancreas

Maternal and neonatal factors affecting physiological jaundice in western U.P.

Several maternal and fetal factors are responsible for neonatal jaundice, which is a common observation in large number of newborns. However, role of these factors in causation of this condition is not well established. Fifty pregnant mothers and their fifty two newborns were studied in the present study. Mothers with complicated pregnancy or septicemia at the time of delivery were excluded. In addition newborns with congenital or chromosomal abnormalities were excluded. Serum concentrations of bilirubin of all neonates were measured on days 1, 3 and 5. It was found to be lower on day 1, with a peak at day 3. The area under serum bilirubin level-time curve (AUC) for each neonate was also calculated. Fetal sex and birth weight were not found to significantly affect the neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Newborn of bipara mothers were found to have significantly lower (P < 0.05) serum bilirubin level on day 1 as compared to primipara mothers only but higher (P < 0.05) on day 3 as compared to either primi or multipara mothers. Yet, AUC of serum bilirubin curve was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in newborns of bipara mothers than others. Significantly (P < 0.05) higher serum bilirubin on day 1 was also observed in preterm neonates than full term ones. However, maternal haemoglobin and mode of delivery were not shown to affect the neonatal bilirubin levels in these newborns.

Nerve injuries in neonates.

A clinical study of 40 cases of nerve injuries in neonates with one-year follow-up is presented. The total incidence of such injuries was 1.50%. Thirty-three cases sustained nerve injury due to obstetrical trauma and in 7 cases it was due to postnatal trauma like intragluteal injection and tight splintage. Almost in all cases there was history of prolonged or obstructed labour. Upper limb nerve injuries were commonest followed by facial palsy. Twenty-three cases (76%) showed complete recovery while 17% had partial and 7% no recovery at all. Hence nerve injuries are not uncommon in neonates. If managed properly the recovery is good. Intragluteal injection in the neonatal period should not be recommended.