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Status epilepticus (SE) is one of the most important pediatric emergent conditions because of major cause of morbidity and mortality. SE should be diagnosed and treated emergently, because it is one of the diseases that may lead to serious sequalea. The aim of the study is to evaluate neuroimaging methods and electroencephalography (EEG) findings of patients with SE, who were under follow up at our hospital. 162 patients (age range, 0-18 years) with SE treated and followed at our hospital between December 2006 and May 2009 were enrolled in our study. Patients age, sex, MRI- CT imaging and EEG findings were recorded from patients files. Patients age and sex were similar. CT was available in 41 patients and MRI was available in 36 patients. CT results of 28 patients were normal, but some pathologies were found in 13 patients. MRI results of 14 patients were normal, but some alterations were detected in 22 patients. EEG was present in 97 patients. EEG results of 49 patients (%50.5) were normal. Consequently, there is no enough data regarding the necessity of the use of neuroimaging methods in case of previous etiology-confirmed SE. However, neuroimaging methods may be considered useful to determinate etiology of SE, response to treatment, and effects on long-term prognosis. Moreover, we can highlight that the early period EEG may be important in determining prognosis. [Med-Science 2015; 4(3.000): 2356-63]

Blood culture is the most usefull test for the diagnosis of bacteremia and infectious diseases either it provides optimising the treatment to microorganism. For the treatment and management of bacteremia in child patients group, it is obligated to be more carefull. Therefore, blood culture is used more often in child patients group. Although, collecting blood culture without indication results cost increase due to unnecessary testing and treatments. This study is performed by investigating the results of blood cultures obtained from the patients that are hospitalized at Diskapi Childrens Hospital in 2007 and 2008. The practitioners have been educated for blood culture obtaining techniques and indications. Number of blood culture testing and changes in indications are analysed at all departments seperately and also whole of the hospital. Blood culture collecting rates were 26.2% before and 21.9% after educations. After educations, despite increase for bacteremia related reasons, collecting blood cultures for bacteremia unrelated reasons such as indirect hyperbilirubinemia, acute bronchiolitis, acute gastroenteritis, routine procedure was decreased. After educations, number of blood culture testing was decreased. It is also observed that blood cultures are more often obtained with indication. Rate of collecting blood culture due to bacteremia independent reasons was decreased. Its seen that routine blood culture collecting is not less and could not be eliminated completely with educations. This study emphasizes the need of routine education programs about blood cultures for medical and financial gains. [Med-Science 2014; 3(4.000): 1571-81]

Complications of chronic non-healing wounds led to the emergence of nanotechnology-based therapies to enhance healing, facilitate tissue repair, and prevent wound-related complications like infections. Here, we design alpha lipoic acid (ALA) conjugated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and boron carbide (B4C) nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance wound healing in human dermal fibroblast (HDFa) cell culture and characterize its antimicrobial properties against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, gram positive) and Escherichia coli (E. coli, gram negative) bacterial strains. ALA molecules are integrated onto hBN and C4B NPs through esterification procedure, and molecular characterizations are performed by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV-vis spectroscopy. Wound healing and antimicrobial properties are investigated via the use of cell viability assays, scratch test, oxidative stress, and antimicrobial activity assays. Based on our analysis, we observe that ALA-conjugated hBN NPs have the highest wound-healing feature and antimicrobial activity compared to ALA-B4C. On the other hand, hBN, ALA-B4C, and ALA compounds showed promising regenerative and antimicrobial properties. Also, we find that ALA conjugation enhances wound healing and antimicrobial potency of hBN and B4C NPs. We conclude that the ALA-hBN conjugate is a potential candidate to stimulate regeneration process for injuries.

INTRODUCTION: Families are often concerned that febrile seizures may have negative effects on the neurodevelopment of their children. The aim of our study was to demonstrate the effects of febrile seizure on the neurodevelopment in children using the Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DDST). METHODS: This cross-sectional and prospective study included 28 patients hospitalized for febrile seizures during a six-month period. The children's age, sex, number of seizures, number of recurrences, and family history of seizure were recorded. The DDST was performed at admission (1st DDST) and one year later (2nd DDST). The results were evaluated in three categories as ‘normal,' ‘suspicious,' and ‘abnormal.' RESULTS: The 1st DDSTs were found as normal, suspicious, and abnormal at the rates of 53.6%, 39.3%, and 7.1%, respectively. The 2nd DDSTs were normal, suspicious, and abnormal at the rates of 67.9%, 28.6%, and 3.6%, respectively. Fourteen of the 15 found as normal were normal, but 1 was suspicious. Six of the 11 found as suspicious remained suspicious, 4 were normal, and 1 was abnormal. One of the 2 patients found as abnormal was normal, the other was suspicious. There were no significant differences between the scores of the 1st and 2nd DDSTs (p=0.423). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We found that febrile seizures were not associated with neurodevelopmental delay when using the DDST II. According to the results of this study, it may be possible to reassure parents about the normal neurodevelopment expectations for their children despite having febrile seizures.

INTRODUCTION: Blood culture (BC) is the gold standard test in diagnosis of bacteremia. Also, it is a frequently used test in pediatric patients. The objective of this study was to observe the changes in contamination rates after educations about obtaining BC. METHODS: Rates of contaminations and true positive results and contaminant agents were analyzed retrospectively at 2007 in a pediatrics hospital. At 2008, periodic educations about sample obtaining techniques of BC were given to medical personnels who were the sample collectors in this hospital and same parameters were analyzed prospectively. RESULTS: After educations, rate of true positive results was increased from 3.9% to 6.9%. Contamination rate was decreased from 8.73% to 6.94%. Members of skin flora were the major contaminant agents both before and after educations. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Periodic educations about sample obtaining technique of BC should be useful in decreasing the contamination rates in pediatric patients.

Introduction: Upperrespiratory tract infections (URTI) arethe most common infections of childhood.The purpose of our study is to develop a clinical scoring method todistinguish viral and bacterial infections in the patients who were diagnosedwith URTI. Methods: This study was conducted in pediatric 220 patientswith URTI whose ages were between 5 and 15. The previous studies about clinical scoring ofbacterial and nonbacterial URTI were reviewed to determine signs and symptomsto evaluate in our study. These signs,symptoms and throat swab culture results of the patients wererecorded. Results: Throat swab culture were positive at 93 patients(42%). According to this clinic scoring system; fever, painful anteriorservical lymphadenopathy, lack of cough, tonsillar hypertrophy were found to bestatistically significant in terms of predicting bacterial infections.Dysphagia, abdominal pain, headache, lack of conjunctivitis, the absence ofhoarseness and the absence of diarrhea were found to be statisticallyinsignificant. Conclusion: Acording to total score – culture relationship,total score 7 and higher could be considered significant. As a result of ourstudy, we could not develop an effective scoring due to the high number ofparameters, low sensitivity and specifity.

Aim: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a frequent health problem in premature infants. Pharmacologic closure is recommended only for hemodynamically significant PDA (hsPDA) that is defined according to the clinical and echocardiographic criteria. The aim of this study was to explore the value of commonly used criteria in defining hsPDA and predicting the required number of courses of ibuprofen treatment to close PDA in premature infants. Methods: Sixty premature infants with a gestational age of ≤33 weeks were evaluated prospectively. Clinical and echocardiographic criteria [O2 requirement, ductus diameter (DD) and left atrial-to-aortic root diameter ratio (LA:Ao)] were used to define hsPDA. Clinical improvement after pharmacologic closure of PDA and association between the criteria and required number of ibuprofen courses were investigated. Results: O2 requirement decreased by PDA closure but was not different between patients with hsPDA and the others with PDA. Also, O2 requirement was not found to be associated with required number of ibuprofen courses. DD and LA:Ao were greater in patients with hsPDA. DD was found to be associated with required number of courses of ibuprofen treatment. Conclusion: Although there was an improvement in O2 requirement with PDA closure, echocardiographic criteria were found to be more valuable in defining hsPDA. DD should also be used to estimate the duration of treatment.