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Background and aims: Acute appendicitis (AA) is a challenging diagnosis in children because the symptoms can mimic other common causes of abdominal pain.Clinical scoring systems, as the Alvarado score (AS), are tools that can predict the risk of AA in children and evaluated signs, symptoms and blood exams.Material and methods: A retrospective study of children between the ages of 4 and 18 years referred to the emergency department for abdominal pain and submitted to appendectomy. Two groups were defined: those with histology-confirmed appendicitis and those without appendicitis. Univariate analysis was performed with logistic regression to compute odds ratio [CIs]c for each possible predictor.Results: The univariate analysis showed that six of the variables were significant predictors of appendicitis. These were leucocytes (OR=3.2 [2-5.1]), neutrophil (OR=3.6 [1.3-10.1]), AS (continuous variable) (OR=1.6 [1.3-2.1]), ASa‰¥5 (OR=7.6 [2.9-19.9]), ASa‰¥6 (OR=6.9 [2.5-18.7]) and ASa‰¥7 (OR=5.6 [1.6-19.7]). All other recorded findings were not statistically significant.The negative appendectomy rate was estimated in 18%. It was an expected rate according to the information from other studies which reported a rate of 15-30%.Clinical findings when associated in a score, as the AS, can predict the risk of this clinical situation. Using three different cut-points (5, 6 and 7 points) of AS we observed positive and significantly associations, that remains even after adjustment for age and gender.Conclusion: Individually high leucocytes and neutrophil counts are associated with AA. Clinical story, signs and symptoms, as well, laboratory exams when grouped on a score can predict the risk of AA.

Background and aim: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a monogenic disorder with heterogeneous phenotypic presentation. In atypical cases, the sweat test may show border-line or normal values and the diagnosis involves the search for mutations in the CFTR gene, clinical features and follow-up.Case report: We present a case of an adolescent boy affected by recurrent acute pancreatitis (AP) started at puberty, with normal sweat values, carrier of compound heterozygosity (I507del+IVS8(5T)). The I507del mutation is a severe CFTR mutation. In contrast, the IVS8(5T) mutation is not associated with clinical cystic fibrosis but, in compound heterozigosity with a more severe mutation, can be causative of mono- or oligo-symptomatic CFTR-related disorders.Conclusion: This is probably the first case report of an atypical CF in a patient with the compound heterozygosity I507del+IVS8 5T. It confirms the challenges and difficulties for diagnosing atypical CF and highlights the role of CFTR mutations in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pancreatitis.

Neste trabalho é apresentada a síntese e a caracterização de cinco novas iminas derivadas de compostos do tipo 2-(2`-hidroxifenil)benzazóis, fluorescentes devido a um mecanismo de transferência protônica intramolecular no estado excitado (ESIPT). Estas iminas foram caracterizadas por espectroscopia de absorção na região do infravermelho (IV) e por espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear de hidrogênio (1H-RMN) e apresentaram deslocamentos de Stokes compatíveis com compostos que sofrem o mecanismo de ESIPT. Os produtos apresentaram sensível variação do máximo de emissão de fluorescência devido à reação de protonação em meio ácido, o que permite seu uso como sensores ópticos de pH. Ensaios demonstraram que as iminas sintetizadas são sensíveis à presença de Ni2+ devido à reação de complexação com o metal, causando uma alteração do máximo de emissão de fluorescência. The present work presents the synthesis and characterization of five new imines derived from 2-(2`-hydroxyphenyl)benzazole derivatives, fluorescent due to an excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism. These imines were characterized by infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR) and by hydrogen-1 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and presented Stokes shifts compatible with ESIPT compounds. These products presented a considerable shift of the maximum fluorescence emission due to the protonation reaction in acid medium, which allows their use as pH optical sensors. Tests showed that the synthesized imines are sensitive to Ni2+ due to the complexation reaction with the metal, causing a shift of the maximum fluorescence emission.