Laryngeal Fibrous Hamartoma Presenting With Airway Obstruction at Birth.

Laryngeal Fibrous Hamartoma Presenting With Airway Obstruction at Birth.

J Craniofac Surg. 2013 Jul; 24(4): e383-e384
K?lal FM, Acar M, Acar B, Karahan F

Hamartoma is an extremely rare congenital malformation of the larynx. Hamartomas of the nasal cavity or nasopharynx are classified as epithelial, mesenchymal, and mixed epithelial and mesenchymal types. Presenting symptoms result from airway obstruction and may include slowly rising respiratory distress, stridor, changes in voice, eating, and activity levels. We present a 1-day-old newborn with a history of stridor and respiratory distress caused by a polypoid mass on the anterior half of the left ventricular band. We performed an excisional biopsy under direct laryngoscopy. Histopathologic finding after excisional biopsy was consistent with hamartoma. We report and discuss the pathological features and differential diagnosis of this rare laryngeal hamartoma. To our knowledge, laryngeal hamartoma presenting with stridor has not been described in the literature thus far. HubMed – eating

First autochthonous case of canine Angiostrongylus vasorum in Slovakia.

Parasitol Res. 2013 Jul 14;
Hurníková Z, Miterpáková M, Mandelík R

Angiostrongylus vasorum is a metastrongyloid nematode that may cause cardiopulmonary disease, neurological signs and coagulopathies in dogs. The parasite has an indirect life cycle with molluscs as intermediate hosts, in which the infective third larval stage develops. Recently, A. vasorum has been repeatedly reported in dogs outside the endemic areas, indicating that this parasite is widely distributed over Europe. This is the first record of an autochthonous infection in a dog from Slovakia that was casually diagnosed during routine preventive parasitological examination. A. vasorum first-stage larvae were recovered using the Baermann technique and identified by length and characteristic tail morphology. The animal originated from Slovakia and had not travelled abroad. The dog had been regularly walked on grass fields with a concentrated presence of common species of Gastropoda and frogs. The owner reported that the dog had been licking and eating grass and it had shown curiosity for molluscs and frogs. The first finding of A. vasorum-infected dog in Slovakia has confirmed that the parasite is spreading beyond the traditional hyperendemic foci, which accentuates the need for monitoring and increasing of disease awareness in primary care clinical practice. HubMed – eating

Acute treatment of anaphylaxis in children.

Can Fam Physician. 2013 Jul; 59(7): 740-741
Goldman RD

Question A 3-year-old was rushed to my office after eating a friend’s chocolate bar that contained nuts. He immediately developed urticaria on his face and swelling of his lips, and he had a persistent cough. What is the best treatment for a child with anaphylaxis? Should this family receive a prescription for an epinephrine autoinjector device? Answer Intramuscular epinephrine injection is a safe and effective treatment of anaphylaxis in children. Children with systemic allergic reactions should carry epinephrine autoinjectors at all times, and should certainly have one with them at school. In order for epinephrine autoinjectors to be effective, children and their families need to be educated on how to properly use the devices, as well as keep in mind the product’s expiration date. HubMed – eating

Lower body weight is associated with less negative emotions in sad autobiographical memories of patients with anorexia nervosa.

Psychiatry Res. 2013 Jul 11;
Brockmeyer T, Grosse Holtforth M, Bents H, Herzog W, Friederich HC

Food restriction and weight-loss have been proposed to represent pathogenic mechanisms of emotion regulation in anorexia nervosa (AN). However, there is a lack of studies empirically examining this hypothesis. Therefore, the present study compared 25 women with AN and 25 healthy control women (HC) regarding spontaneous emotional processing of autobiographic memories. Participants’ idiographic memories of sad autobiographic events were analyzed using computerized, quantitative text analysis as an unobtrusive approach of nonreactive assessment. Compared to HC, AN patients retrieved more negative but a comparable number of positive emotions. Moreover, the lesser the body weight in AN patients, the lesser negative emotions they retrieved, irrespective of current levels of depressive symptoms and duration of illness. No such association was found in HC. These preliminary findings are in line with models of AN proposing that food restriction and weight-loss may be negatively reinforced by the alleviation of aversive emotional responses. HubMed – eating