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Malrotation of the gut can present at any age but the majority of patients present in neonatal period or early infancy. Most children present with a history of recurrent colicky abdominal pain, vomiting which can be bilious and failure to thrive. Delay in diagnosis leads to increase in mortality and morbidity. Here we present a series of three patients, one girl aged 6 years, one 10 months old boy and one 10 years old boy, who got admitted at our Pediatric Department in a one month period. Patients had a history of recurrent abdominal pain and occasional vomiting, seen and managed by multiple paediatricians and GP doctors with extensive diagnostic workup but never the accurate diagnosis was made. Thorough history was taken and examination done, planned work up done for diagnosis. High index of suspicion is needed in children presenting with recurrent pain in the abdomen. Targeted work-up should be done and patients be kept on follow-up for diagnosis of late presentation of congenital malrotation of the gut.

Background: Pyogenic meningitis is one of the serious causes of mortality and morbidity in children. It is more prevalent in third world countries with poor vaccination coverage. This study was done to determine the vaccination status and clinical spectrum of pyogenic meningitis in children presenting to a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from August, 2017 till January, 2020 over 2.5 years. Records of children who got admitted in pediatric B ward, of either gender between ages of 1 month to 14 years diagnosed as case of pyogenic meningitis were included. Records of vaccination status along with signs of meningeal irritation, complications and outcome during hospital stay were documented. Data was analyzed by SPSS 20 and chi square test applied. P value < 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: There were 117 patients, 78 males and 39 females. Age ranged from 1 month to 14 years with mean age of 5.51± 4.19 years. Patients who were vaccinated up to date were 49.6% and 37.6% were not vaccinated at all. Main presenting feature was fever and seizures especially under one year of age. There was significant association between seizures and age group with p value of 0.001. Signs of meningeal irritation (neck stiffness, brudzinski sign, kerning sign) and paradoxical irritability were present in 85 (72.6%) patients mostly above 1 year of age. There was significant association between signs of meningeal irritation and age group (5 years and above) with p value of

Background: Celiac Disease (CD), characterized by chronic small intestinal inflammation, is an immune-mediated disorder, with a strong family history and association with DQ2 HLA haplotype. It has been postulated that children with CD show less response to hepatitis B vaccine due to overexpression of HLA-DQ2 haplotype. This study was done to determine the response of hepatitis B vaccine in children with CD in our tertiary care setting in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Pediatrics outpatient department (OPD) of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad Pakistan from April 2018 till March 2020. Children with CD (n=38) aged 1-14 years with completed HBV vaccination, anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA antibody (tTG-IgA) >150 IU/ml and/or typical histological findings of CD on small-bowel biopsy, were included in the study. Hepatitis B surface antibody (HbsAb) titer of ≥10 mIU/ml was taken as antibody positive, while HbsAb levels < 10 mIU/ml were considered as vaccine non-responsive. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Chi square test was applied for comparison with P-value < .05 taken as significant.Results: Out of 38 diagnosed cases of CD, 15 (39.5%) were males and 23 (60.5%) were females. Mean age of children was 8.32±3.26 years with an age range of 3-14 years. HbsAb levels ranged from 0.10 to 62.7 mIU/ml with a mean of 11.2+17.42 mIU/ml. HbsAb levels were less than 10.0 IU/ml in 73.7% of children with CD. Small intestinal biopsy was performed in 11 (28.9%) patients. There was a significant relationship between anti tTG-IgA levels and histopathology findings with P-value of .001.Conclusions: In children having celiac disease, there was low rate of protective antibody response to hepatitis B vaccine.

Childhood masturbations (CM) is stimulation of genital by pre-adolescent children with accompanying symptoms including sweating, tachycardia, blushing, muscle contraction and increase rate of breathing. We are presenting case series of three patient, who presented with history of vague symptoms and ultimately diagnosed and managed as case of CM. A 2 years old girl presented with history of to and fro movements. A 3 years old girl presented with history of rubbing of inner thighs and 3 years old boy presented with history of holding and rubbing genitalia with forward bending and symptoms of increase breathing, flushing and sweating. Video recording was available with two patients, which helped in making final diagnosis. Parents were counselled and patients referred for behavioural therapy. Conclusion: In young child CM should be considered in differential diagnosis whenever history is not fully suggestive of seizures.

This study has been done in children with Steroid dependent nephrotic syndrome (SDNS) to check for the response to cyclophosphamide and relapse on follow up for one year after completion of treatment.This study was conducted over two years and nine months. Patients were taken as steroid dependent when there were two consecutive relapses occur on steroids tapering or within two weeks of stopping treatment. Children of either sex between ages of 1-14 years, diagnosed case of SDNS were included in this study. Renal biopsy was not done in any patient. After achieving remission with oral steroids, cyclophosphamide was given after calculation of maximum cumulative dose 168 mg/kg for 8 - 12 weeks along with oral steroids. Follow up done every two weeks till completion of treatment for response and adverse effects and thereafter for one year.There were 31 patients, 23 (74.2%) male and 8 (25.8%) females. Age ranged from 1.5 years to 11 years with mean age 5.44±2.39 years. There was full response to cyclophosphamide as none of patient had proteinuria on cyclophosphamide therapy. After completion of cyclophosphamide course, four patients (12.9%) relapsed on follow up while 87.9% remain in complete remission. Only one female patient (3.23%) had adverse effect in form of hair fall and she recovered after completion of treatment. None of patient showed any other adverse effect including haematuria.Cyclophosphamide is an effective therapy in management of childhood SDNS with minimum adverse effects in medium term.

Primary nocturnal enuresis is one of the common problems in children. Mostly parents are concern for this condition in children and also children are depressive from this condition. The main stay of treatment is the training of child. The objective of this study was to look for the outcome of conservative management of primary nocturnal enuresis.This study was done in OPD of paediatrics department. Patients aged five year or more were included in the study. Patient age, weight, sex, blood pressure, family history in siblings and parents, number of wet days/week, recorded on specific proforma along with renal function tests. Patients were advised fluid restriction after evening and micturition before sleep and after 2-3 hours of sleep. Follow up was done after six months to observe for the impact of habit change. Data has been analysed by SPSS 20 and results are taken significant with p-value0.05.Out of 81 patients, 41 were male and 40 females. Age ranged from 5 to 14 years and mean age was 8.2±2.35 years. There were 11.1% parents who had primary nocturnal enuresis during childhood and in 29.6% siblings, history was positive. Follow up at 6 months, 58% patients improved while 42% showed no improvement. There was significant relationship between evening fluid restriction, micturition before and after sleep with improvement at 6 months with p-value of 0.010,0.001 and 0.002 respectively.Conservative management is the effective intervention in children as parents should be emphasized for habit change.

OBJECTIVE: To assess for the neurological complications and Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination status of children with tuberculosis meningitis (TBM). METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, Pakistan. Data of diagnosed case of TBM who received anti-tuberculous therapy from 2017 to 2020 was retrieved from records. Records of children, aged 6 months to 10 years of either gender were included and vaccination status was documented along with CT scan findings. Neurological complications in hospital and outcome were recorded as discharge, expiry and transfer to other hospital. RESULTS: Out of 40 patients, 17 (42.5%) were males and 23 (57.5%) females. Age ranged from 6 months to 8 years with mean age of 2.81±2.29 years. Weight ranged from 5 to 24 kg and mean weight was 10.36±4.96 kg. About 72.5% patients were

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019. It was first reported in Wuhan, China and has since become a global health concern. Keeping in view, the magnitude of the problem, scientists around the globe are working to develop effective therapeutic strategies. This review focuses on previous findings regarding SARS-CoV, which may prove helpful in future research on SARS-CoV-2. In addition, it also highlights recent developments in medicine and biotechnology toward developing effective drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. This review will analyze available data on this topic and will help researchers develop new thoughts using information already available as a step toward developing novel therapeutic strategies against SARS-CoV-2.

The human serum is a vital component of the innate immunity of the host that acts as the first line of defence against invading pathogens. A key player in serum-mediated innate immune defence is a system of more than 35 proteins, collectively named as the complement system. After exposure of the pathogen, these proteins are activated in a cascade manner, ultimately forming a membrane attack complex (MAC) on the surface of the pathogen that directly lyses the bacterial cell. Formation of the MAC can be demonstrated in vitro by using serum bactericidal assay (SBA) that works in the absence of cellular components of blood after incubating the serum along with bacteria. Here, we describe the age-related differences in the bactericidal activity of human serum against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic human pathogen causing an array of hospital and community-acquired infections. We demonstrate that adult sera were highly effective in the in vitro killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as compared to children and the elderly (p < 0.0001). Sera from children were seriously compromised in the killing P. aeruginosa, whereas elderly sera showed a reduced level of killing. Data revealed a positive correlation between age and serum-killing with higher coefficient of determination values of 0.34, 0.27, and 0.58 and p values of < 0.0001, < 0.001, and < 0.0001, respectively, after 60, 90, and 120 minutes of incubation. Hence, our study highlights the age-related difference in the bactericidal activity of human sera. We conclude that sera of children are totally compromised, whereas elderly sera are only partially compromised, in the killing of P. aeruginosa.

The human serum is a vital component of the innate immunity of the host that acts as the first line of defence against invading pathogens. A key player in serum-mediated innate immune defence is a system of more than 35 proteins, collectively named as the complement system. After exposure of the pathogen, these proteins are activated in a cascade manner, ultimately forming a membrane attack complex (MAC) on the surface of the pathogen that directly lyses the bacterial cell. Formation of the MAC can be demonstrated in vitro by using serum bactericidal assay (SBA) that works in the absence of cellular components of blood after incubating the serum along with bacteria. Here, we describe the age-related differences in the bactericidal activity of human serum against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic human pathogen causing an array of hospital and community-acquired infections. We demonstrate that adult sera were highly effective in the in vitro killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as compared to children and the elderly (p < 0.0001). Sera from children were seriously compromised in the killing P. aeruginosa, whereas elderly sera showed a reduced level of killing. Data revealed a positive correlation between age and serum-killing with higher coefficient of determination values of 0.34, 0.27, and 0.58 and p values of < 0.0001, < 0.001, and < 0.0001, respectively, after 60, 90, and 120 minutes of incubation. Hence, our study highlights the age-related difference in the bactericidal activity of human sera. We conclude that sera of children are totally compromised, whereas elderly sera are only partially compromised, in the killing of P. aeruginosa.