American journal of diseases of children

KELLEY, VINCENT C.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020015001

THE INITIAL reports of Hench, Kendall, and co-workers1 on the effects of hormonal preparations on rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatic fever furnished the impetus which has resulted in widespread intensive investigations on the efficacy of cortisone and corticotropin (ACTH) in the treatment of rheumatic fever.2

FINBERG, LAURENCE; CHOW, BACON F.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020029002

REPORTS of several investigators have indicated that vitamin B12 has growthpromoting properties.1 The possibility that this compound might be of especial benefit to premature infants, as an accelerator of growth and hematopoiesis, has been put to test by a number of clinics, with entirely negative results.2 The present study is concerned with 117 infants admitted to the premature nursery of Baltimore City Hospitals in 1950. Studies were made of the weight gain, the hemoglobin levels, and the red blood cell counts of two groups of premature infants; one group comprised infants who received a daily oral supplement of 30 μ of a solution of crystalline vitamin B12, and the other was a control group. METHODS Upon admission to the premature nursery infants were assigned alternately to the vitamin B12 group and to the control group. All infants received similar care during the first week of life.

ADAMS, FORREST H.; ANDERSON, RAY C.; RICHDORF, LAWRENCE F.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020032003

CIRRHOSIS been frequently reported in children, and reference has often been made to multiple cases in families. However, the familial and genetic aspects of cirrhosis are not generally recognized. It is the purpose of this communication, first, to report the histories of four sisters all of whom were seen by one of us (L. F. R.) and who died within the first three months of life with postmortem findings of cirrhosis of the liver, and second, to evaluate briefly familial factors underlying cirrhosis of the liver in children. REPORT OF CASES The parents of these children were of primarily Scandinavian extraction, unrelated by blood, and in good health. The mother's first pregnancy resulted in a boy infant who showed no abnormalities and is now living and well. Case 1.—As a result of the second pregnancy, which was normal, a full-term girl was born Jan. 4, 1934, with a birth weight

HSIA, DAVID YI-YUNG; GELLIS, SYDNEY S.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020039004

EVIDENCE of hepatic dysfunction in infectious mononucleosis in adults has been well established. Pfeiffer,1 in his original description of glandular fever in 1889, mentioned enlargement of the liver as one of the major physical findings in the disease. Snapper and his co-workers2 in Europe and Downey and McKinlay3 in this country first described the presence of jaundice in a patient with infectious mononucleosis. Wechsler and Rosenblum4 have shown that in an epidemic of 556 cases, jaundice developed in 7.5% of the patients. Studies of pathology have confirmed the presence of liver changes in infectious mononucleosis and suggested that they are similar to those seen in viral hepatitis.5 Cohn and Lidman6 first demonstrated the presence of positive results of liver-function tests in infectious mononucleosis in adults. This work has subsequently

LaBOCCETTA, ALFRED C.; DAWSON, KATHERINE E.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020048005

RECENT reports in the medical literature suggest that aureomycin might be effective in the treatment of pertussis. At the present time there is much to be desired in the treatment of pertussis even with the drugs now available. Many reports have been made on the benefits of human and rabbit antipertussis serum, the sulfonamides, pertussis vaccine, ascorbic acid, penicillin, polymyxin B, and streptomycin.1 The search for a more effective therapeutic agent continues. Many of the antibiotics heretofore recommended for the treatment of pertussis are highly effective against Hemophilus pertussis in vitro but not in vivo. Aureomycin has been reported recently2 to be effective in the treatment of pertussis. Most of the reports are based upon observations of small series of patients, and many of the studies lack parallel control. The purpose of this study is to compare the course of pertussis in patients treated with aureomycin with the

JOHNSTONE, DOUGLAS E.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020055006

FALSELY positive tests for fecal trypsin due to bacterial gelatinase 1 were found for more than one-half of 137 children2 with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas whose feces were tested by the x-ray-film technique.3 Previous studies4 have indicated that soybean trypsin inhibitor will inhibit gelatin liquefaction due to pancreatic trypsin and pancreatin-U.S.P. but not that due to bacterial gelatinase. The reliability and consistency of results obtained by the "spot film" technique for fecal trypsin are affected by the following factors: (1) The pH of the fecal suspension1 (2) Age of the specimen (3) Consistency of the stool (4) Differences in the type of x-ray and photographic film used in the test5 (5) Presence of barium and certain other heavy metal ions in high concentration in the fecal specimen6 (6) Temperature at which the fecal suspension is incubated on the x-ray film (7) Presence of bacterial gelatinase7

RUTSTEIN, DAVID D.; NICKERSON, RITA J.; HEALD, FELIX P.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020063007

GREGG'S report1 in 1941 stimulated interest in the etiological relationship of environmental factors in early pregnancy to congenital defects in the child. His observations relating maternal rubella to congenital cataract and congenital heart disease were supported by the more extensive study of Swan and his associates,2 which also revealed that deaf-mutism and microcephaly were related to maternal rubella. Later Evans3 reported delayed eruption of teeth as another manifestation of the rubella syndrome. The frequent implication that patent ductus arteriosus and septal defects are related to maternal rubella4 is not supported by any conclusive data in existing literature. Among 442 reported cases of congenital heart disease following maternal rubella,5 it was possible to find only 77 in which a specific heart lesion was noted.6 (Footnotes continued on next page) The specific lesions reported7 were as follows: 42 patent ductus arteriosus, of which 17 were

HILL, FONTAINE S.; DAVIS, BILLIE CAMP

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020078008

IN A PREVIOUS communication,1 the electroencephalographic findings in sickle cell anemia were reported. Included in this study were eight patients who presented an exacerbation of the symptomatology of sickle cell disease and who, therefore, were considered to be in a state of sickle cell crisis. Since the electroencephalograms were abnormal for all eight of these patients, we felt that further evaluation of electroencephalographic patterns of patients with sickle cell crisis was indicated. It is the purpose of this paper to present a heretofore unreported electroencephalographic finding and to analyze the electroencephalograms of 12 additional patients who had been hospitalized with signs and symptoms of sickle cell crisis. Evidence has been presented previously to correlate the nature of brain potentials with clinical manifestations in those patients with central nervous system symptoms of sickle cell anemia. METHODS The diagnosis of sickle cell anemia was established definitely in each case before it

STEVENS, HAROLD

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020082009

THIS IS a report of the first case of encephalitis associated with cat-scratch fever ever described. Over 100 cases1 of this newly described syndrome of catscratch fever have been reported in the world's literature. In all instances the authors uniformly have emphasized the benign and self-limiting nature of the illness, and none has suggested the possibility of neurotropic activity of the unidentified virus. None has described the prolonged coma, prostration, convulsions, and neurological involvement observed in the case summarized here. Although Dr. Lee Foshay of Cincinnati is credited with defining this clinical entity and developing the skin test for it, most of the articles on cat-scratch fever emanate from French medical centers,2 only five articles appearing in American medical journals.3 The origin of cat-scratch fever is not definitely proved, and the isolation of the virus and reproduction of the disease in animals have not been achieved to

MURPHY, WILLIAM F.; FLANNERY, JOHN L.

1952 American journal of diseases of children

doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1952.02050020087010

THE FOLLOWING cases of congenital toxoplasmosis are presented to illustrate a deviation from the general pattern of signs and symptoms that ordinarily occur in this disease, as well as the fact that the disease was transmitted by the mother to her identical twins. Toxoplasmosis has been described previously in identical twins by Zuelzer1 in 1944 and by Abbott and Camp2 in 1947. The disease has been reported in binovular twins by Bamatter3 in 1947 and by Farquhar4 in 1950. REPORT OF CASES Case 1.—Charles W. M., the first of identical twins, weighing 5 lb., 14 oz. (2,700 gm.), was born by cephalic presentation at term to a healthy primigravida 22-year-old woman on Aug. 11, 1947. The patient and the mother were discharged from the hospital in good condition on the sixth postpartum day. The infant thrived on evaporated-milk formula and routine infant care. When he was