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Have we got it right yet? Young people with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus are three times more likely to die in childhood than the general population.1 Despite advances in management over the past 20 years, the incidence of mortality associated with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) remains unchanged. Cerebral oedema is the predominant cause of this mortality; young children are particularly at risk, with an incidence of 0.7–1% of episodes of DKA.2,3 The mortality appears to be greatest among patients at first presentation,1,3,4 if there has been a long history of symptoms prior to admission,3 and during the first 24 hours of treatment.4 In a recently published retrospective multicentre analysis of children with DKA, low pco2 levels and high serum sodium concentration at presentation were identified as particular risk factors for the development of cerebral oedema, together with bicarbonate therapy.5 However, in the accompanying editorial, Dunger and Edge point out that this may simply be revealing an association between severe DKA and dehydration and the risk of cerebral oedema.6 The pathogenesis of cerebral oedema remains poorly understood but there may be many contributing factors.7 The aim of management of DKA is to restore metabolic homoeostasis while minimising the risks of complications including hypoglycaemia, hypokalaemia, cardiac failure, and in children the development of cerebral oedema. How best to achieve this remains contentious, with particular controversy centred on optimal fluid management. The most appropriate volume, type, and rate of fluid to be given have all been the subject of debate. A survey in 1994 of UK paediatricians found a threefold variation in the amount of fluid recommended within the first 12 hours.8 Since then national guidelines have been developed by the British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (BSPE). However, it remains …

PubMedID: 25145936 Urofacial syndrome (UFS) is an autosomal recessive congenital disease featuring grimacing and incomplete bladder emptying. Mutations of HPSE2, encoding heparanase 2, a heparanase 1 inhibitor, occur in UFS, but knowledge about the HPSE2 mutation spectrum is limited. Here, seven UFS kindreds with HPSE2 mutations are presented, including one with deleted asparagine 254, suggesting a role for this amino acid, which is conserved in vertebrate orthologs. HPSE2 mutations were absent in 23 non-neurogenic neurogenic bladder probands and, of 439 families with nonsyndromic vesicoureteric reflux, only one carried a putative pathogenic HPSE2 variant. Homozygous Hpse2 mutant mouse bladders contained urine more often than did wild-type organs, phenocopying human UFS. Pelvic ganglia neural cell bodies contained heparanase 1, heparanase 2, and leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains-2 (LRIG2), which is mutated in certain UFS families. In conclusion, heparanase 2 is an autonomic neural protein implicated in bladder emptying, but HPSE2 variants are uncommon in urinary diseases resembling UFS. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Nephrology. Kidney Research UK Wellcome Trust: 066647 Medical Research Council: G0600040 Medical Research Council: MR/L002744/1