Acta paediatrica
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The classical combination of abdominal pain, vomiting, rectal blood loss and a palpable abdominal mass is only present in a minority of children with intussusception. Neurological signs and symptoms have been described, but are not a well understood phenomenon. We performed a retrospective study to ascertain the frequency and nature of these symptoms and to describe the characteristics of the patients presenting in this atypical way. ⋯ Intussusception should be considered in the differential diagnosis in young children presenting with lethargy, hypotonia and/or sudden alterations of consciousness even in the absence of the classical symptoms of intussusception.
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To describe policies towards family visiting in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and compare findings with those of a survey carried out 10 years earlier. ⋯ The presence of parents and other family members in European NICUs has improved over a 10-year period. Several barriers, however, are still in place, particularly in the South European countries.
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To determine the potential predictive power of C-reactive protein (CRP) as a marker of serious bacterial infection (SBI) in hospitalized febrile infants aged < or =3 months. ⋯ C-reactive protein is a valuable laboratory test in the assessment of febrile infants aged < or =3 months old and may serve as a better diagnostic marker of SBI than total WBC count.
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Genome-wide association studies have described an association of the ATG16L1 (autophagy 16-like 1) gene rs2241880 variant with Crohn's disease (CD). Therefore, we evaluated this polymorphism in early-onset CD in 152 children and 253 controls and for the first time determined ATG16L1 colonic expression in German CD children. ⋯ We confirmed the association of CD with ATG16L1 rs2241880 variant in early-onset CD. As no epistatic interaction with three common NOD2/CARD15 mutations was observed, the p.Thr300Ala substitution is an independent risk factor for paediatric CD and supports the role for autophagy in disease pathogenesis.
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To investigate whether promoting shorter ventilator treatment decreases the number of painful procedures and the use of analgesics in preterm infants. ⋯ Early nCPAP and early extubation policies were successfully implemented in an NICU resulting in less invasive respiratory support. This was associated with fewer painful procedures and less pain medication in the preterm infants who required respiratory support. Despite this positive effect, the number of painful procedures in all preterm infants stayed at the same level. Our results provide further support for the use of nCPAP in preterm infants.