Clinical and Laboratory Comparison of Covid-19 and Influenza A/B in Children.

BACKGROUND: The clinical picture of COVID-19 shows significant similarity with influenza. In this study, it was aimed to compare the clinical and laboratory findings between pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and those with influenza A or B, and to obtain data on the differential diagnosis of COVID-19 from influenza in children. METHODS: The study included 104 patients with COVID-19, 140 patients with influenza A and 135 patients with in-fluenza B (379 patients in total) who were admitted to our tertiary hospital with symptoms of acute respiratory tract infection. RESULTS: Fever, cough, runny nose, and pharyngeal hyperemia rates were significantly lower in patients with COVID-19 than in those with influenza A/B. The highest leukocytosis and lymphocytosis rates were seen in influenza A patients. Eosinophil levels were found significantly lower in the influenza A/B patients compared to the COVID-19 group. C-reactive protein levels were significantly higher in the influenza A/B group when compared with the COVID-19 group. The mean PDW value was significantly higher in the COVID-19 patients compared to influenza A/B. CONCLUSIONS: Our study data show that low body temperature and loss of taste and smell support the diagnosis of COVID-19, and fever, cough, pharyngeal hyperemia, and runny nose support the diagnosis of influenza. While leukocytosis and increased C-reactive protein suggest influenza, high PDW and eosinophil levels support COVID-19.

The Importance of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte and Lymphocyte/Monocyte Ratios in The Diagnosis of Influenza in Children.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to analyze the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR) to investigate their value in supporting the diagnosis of influenza in cases with influenza-like symptoms. METHODS: A total of 5,693 pediatric patients who applied to the Pediatric Clinic between January 2015 and December 2018 were included in the study. Complete blood count and influenza rapid antigen tests were evaluated at the time of admission. RESULTS: The mean LMR was significantly lower in patients with influenza A than non-influenza A patients (p < 0.001). LMR was also significantly lower in those with influenza A or B compared to those in the influenza-negative group (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference (p = 0.83) in terms of the mean LMR between influenza B positive and negative patients. The mean NLR was significantly higher in influenza A positive patients in comparison with influenza A negative patients (p < 0.001), and it was significantly lower in influenza B positive patients than in influenza B negative patients (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that LMR and NLR, which had been rarely examined in the literature, had important value in the diagnosis of influenza. However, these values alone were far from being sufficient for the definitive diagnosis of influenza.

Reference intervals for complete blood count from Umbilical Cord Blood in newborns and comparison with Venous Blood Values.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Umbilical cord blood which can be obtained by a non-invasive method can be informative about the clinical status of the newborn. It was aimed to establish reference intervals for umbilical cord blood parameters, and to compare complete blood count results between umbilical cord and venous blood samples in this study. METHODS: This study was conducted at Medipol University Sefaköy Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 1898 newborns who were born in a two-year period between January 2018 and December 2019 were included in the study. Venous blood samples were taken from 184 of them, and umbilical cord blood samples were taken from 1714 newborns. RESULTS: The percentiles were determined according to gender and delivery method for the hematological parameters of umbilical cord blood. While mean platelet, eosinophil and mean corpuscular volume values were similar between the groups (p>0.05 for each), and significant differences were found between the groups in terms of all other mean hematological parameters (p<0.05 for each). CONCLUSION: The results of the complete blood count of umbilical cord blood samples can provide reliable information about the newborn. There are significant differences between umbilical cord and venous blood samples in terms of hematological parameters. For these reasons, it is necessary to determine reliable value ranges for umbilical cord blood hematological parameters in newborns. Data of our study can be a guide for further studies and clinicians.

The relationship of argyrophilic proteins of the nuclear-organized regions and atopic dermatitis in children.

BACKGROUND: The argyrophilic proteins of nuclear-organized regions (AgNOR), visualised with colloidal silver methods as black dots are known as AgNOR. To date, the relationship between AgNOR and cancer and inflammatory conditions has been investigated. However, there has been no report investigating the relationship between AgNOR and atopic dermatitis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between atopic dermatitis and AgNOR in paediatric patients. METHODS: Twenty-nine children with atopic dermatitis and 23 healthy children were included in the study. AgNOR test results were analysed prospectively. RESULTS: The mean AgNOR number (40.19 ± 21.06) in the patient group was significantly higher than the control group (12.83 ± 10.40) (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: This study investigated the association between AgNOR and atopic dermatitis for the first time in the literature. In the study, atopic dermatitis and AgNOR were found to be related. In the study, for the first time with the ROC analysis, AgNOR limit values with high sensitivity and specificity levels were determined in the diagnosis of atopic dermatitis.

Determination of underlying causes in asymptomatic, early-stage renal diseases by dipstick test.

AIM: To prevent possible chronic kidney diseases in healthy school- age children by screening for hematuria and proteinuria using a urine strip. METHODS: The incidence of hematuria and proteinuria was determined in 1848 healthy school-age children aged 7 to 14 years by urine screening in the eastern region of Turkey in 2008. Cases with persistent hematuria and/or proteinuria were referred to a pediatric nephrologist, and further examinations were carried out. RESULTS: Isolated hematuria, isolated proteinuria, and combined hematuria-proteinuria were found in 92 (4.9%), 16 (0.8%) and 10 (0.5%) patients, respectively. In addition, 11.9% (11/92) of cases of isolated hematuria and 40% (4/10) of cases of combined hematuria- proteinuria were observed to have persisted. Persistent hematuria and persistent hematuria-proteinuria were found in 11 (0.5%) and 4 (0.2%) patients, respectively. In these cases, underlying causes were found: renal stone disease, hypercalciuria, urinary tract infection, vesicoureteral reflux, atrophic kidney, and IgA nephropathy. CONCLUSION: According to this study, cases with persistent hematuria should be examined especially in terms of renal stones, hypercalciuria, and urinary tract infection.

A case of idiopathic intracranial hypertension related with vesicoureteral reflux.

Pseudotumor cerebri is idiopathic intracranial hypertension. The etiology of this syndrome has not been fully clarified. Excess cerebrospinal fluid production, scarcity of cerebrospinal fluid absorption, intracranial venous pressure elevation, increased intracranial blood volume are all thought to be responsible. The symptoms of the disease may be ordered according to prevalence as follows: headache due to increased intracranial pressure, blurred vision and diplopia. A thirteen-year-old female patient was brought in with complaints of headache, double and blurred vision. Systemic arterial hypertension (140/70 mmHg) was determined. Vesicoureteral reflux was detected as the hypertension etiology. In this article a rare pseudotumor cerebri case is presented secondary to vesicoureteral reflux which caused hypertension.