Psychiatric assessment was done according to the DSM-IV TR criteria in 19 children with predialysis chronic renal failure (CRF) and 19 children with end-stage renal disease on regular hemodialysis. The prevalence rate of psychiatric disorders in all the studied patients was 52.6%. Adjustment disorders were the most common disorders (18.4%), followed by depression (10.3%) and neurocognitive disorders (7.7%). Anxiety and elimination disorders were reported in 5.1 and 2.6%, respectively. The disorders were more prevalent (P=0.05) in dialysis (68.4%) than in predialysis patients (36.8%). The presence of psychiatric disorders was not significantly correlated with sex, severity of anemia, duration of CRF or the efficiency or the duration of hemodialysis. In conclusion, psychiatric disorders were prevalent in our patients, especially in those on hemodialysis. Both adjustments with depression and depressive disorders were the most common psychiatric disorders. This array of disorders was more likely explained by the difficulties encountered in living with CRF rather than by demographic or physical factors.

IntroductionRespiratory failure is a life threatening complication of Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS). There is no consensus on the specific treatment for this subset of children with GBS.MethodsThis was a prospective randomized study to compare the outcome of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and plasma exchange (PE) treatment in children with GBS requiring mechanical ventilation. Forty-one children with GBS requiring endotracheal mechanical ventilation (MV) within 14 days from disease onset were included. The ages of the children ranged from 49 to 143 months.Randomly, 20 children received a five-day course of IVIG (0.4 g/kg/day) and 21 children received a five-day course of one volume PE daily. Lumbar puncture (LP) was performed in 36 patients (18 in each group).ResultsBoth groups had comparable age (p = 0.764), weight (p = 0.764), duration of illness prior to MV (p = 0.854), preceding diarrhea (p = 0.751), cranial nerve involvement (p = 0.756), muscle power using Medical Research Council (MRC) sum score (p = 0.266) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein (p = 0.606).Children in the PE group had a shorter period of MV (median 11 days, IQR 11.0 to 13.0) compared to IVIG group (median 13 days, IQR 11.3 to 14.5) with p = 0.037.Those in the PE group had a tendency for a shorter Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) stay (p = 0.094).A total of 20/21 (95.2%) and 18/20 (90%) children in the PE and IVIG groups respectively could walk unaided within four weeks after PICU discharge (p = 0.606).There was a negative correlation between CSF protein and duration of mechanical ventilation in the PE group (p = 0.037), but not in the IVIG group (p = 0.132).ConclusionsIn children with GBS requiring MV, PE is superior to IVIG regarding the duration of MV but not PICU stay or the short term neurological outcome.The negative correlation between CSF protein values and duration of MV in PE group requires further evaluation of its clinical usefulness.Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT01306578

Drug-induced liver injury (DiLi) is a frequent cause of liver injury and acute liver failure. We aimed to review all hospitalized DILI cases in a tertiary Egyptian center from January 2015 through January 2016. Cases with elevated alanine aminotransferase more than 3-fold and/or alkaline phosphatase more than 2-fold the upper limit of normal value were prospectively recruited and followed for one year. Drug history, liver biopsy whenever feasible and application of Roussel Uclaf causality Assessment Method (RUcAM) were the diagnostic prerequisites after exclusion of other etiologies of acute liver injury. in order of frequency, the incriminated drugs were: Diclofenac (31 cases, 41.3%), amoxicillin-clavulanate (14 cases, 18.7%), halothane toxicity (8 cases, 10.7%), ibuprofen (4 cases, 5.3%), Khat (3 cases, 4%), tramadol (3 cases, 4%), Sofosbuvir with ribavirin (2 cases, 2.7%), and acetylsalicylic acid (2 cases, 2.7%) with one offending drug in 93.3% of cases. Forty-four cases (58.7%) were males; while 56 cases (74.7%) had HCV related chronic liver disease. Thirty-two cases (42.7%) presented with pattern of hepatocellular injury, while 23 cases (30.7%) were with cholestasis, and 20 cases (20.7%) with a mixed hepatocellular/ cholestatic injury. One case received a transplant (0.75%), 7 cases died (9.3%), 23 cases (30.6%) developed liver decompensation (hepatic encephalopathy and ascites), and 44 cases completely resolved (58.7%). In conclusion, Diclofenac is the commonest offender in DILI occurrence in an Egyptian cohort. Age and prothrombin concentration were the only predictors of unfavorable outcomes of DiLi. Drug induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the least understood areas in hepatology research. Since 1960, DILI is considered one of the commonest causes of withdrawal of approved medications from the marketplace 1. The mounting rates of DILI reports had notified it as a leading confusion of acute liver failure (ALF) 2. Despite critical DILI presentations, resolution of injury is common. Typical incriminating factors that were attributed to DILI occurrence were the medical personnel's' unawareness of the drugs morbid effects upon the liver and the availability of the over the counter drugs to the general public. On review of these cases, the main challenges that presented were the paucity of national well-structured notification programs with a subsequent substantial shortage of data registries. In addition, the lack of an objective test for the diagnosis of DILI, similarities to other liver diseases and the difficulty in defining the offending drug in patients on many medicines, complicated its recognition 3. Nevertheless, a high index of suspicion is necessarily to establish the diagnosis 4. In Egypt, there is lack in epidemiological data and DILI registry. This was the reason for designing this prospective study investigating DILI occurrence, demographic, clinical, laboratory and histopathological characteristics along with disease outcomes in an Egyptian cohort. patients and methods This prospective study...

Primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in children accounts for 7-20% of all cases of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS). To evaluate the clinical course of children with primary FSGS, the records of 72 patients with biopsy-proven FSGS admitted between 1995 and 2008 were retrospectively analysed. Forty-eight patients were male (66.7%). The mean age at presentation was 76.5 +/- 54 (range 12-192) months. The mean duration of follow-up was 76.3 +/- 42 (range 9-156) months. Seventeen patients (23.6%) presented with gross haematuria at initial presentation, 15 (20.8%) presented with hypertension and 10 patients (14%) presented with chronic renal insufficiency (CRI). The initial response to oral prednisolone was steroid resistance in 63 patients (87.5%) and steroid dependence in 4 patients (5%), while 5 patients (6.9%) were biopsied from the start because of atypical presentation. According to pathological classification, there were the tip variant (2%), collapsing variant (6%), perihilar variant (7%) and NOS (not otherwise specified; 85%). At the last clinical visit, 12 patients (16.7%) were in complete remission and 11 (15.3%) had progressed to CRI. Renal survival rates at 5 and 10 years were 93% and 68%, respectively. In conclusion, in this study we had a low percentage of FSGS, and fewer patients presenting with gross haematuria and hypertension compared with previous reports. In addition, the short-term overall renal survival seems to be better in our cohort.

To describe the psychological adjustment in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD), we studied behavioral problems in 19 patients with CKD stage 5 on regular hemodialysis, 19 patients in the predialysis stage, and 19 control children, using the child behavior checklist (CBCL) and the semi-structured clinical interview for children and adolescents (SCICA). For CBCL scales, the mean score on the internalizing scale was significantly higher in the children on dialysis than in predialysis and control children. No significant differences in the mean scores of the total problem or externalizing scales were found between the groups studied. The mean score of SCICA observed problems and total self-reports were significantly higher in the control group than in the CKD groups. The mean score on total self-report was significantly higher in the control children than in the predialysis group. There were significant positive correlations between SCICA self-report and all CBCL scales. No significant correlations were found between these CBCL and SCICA scales and age, gender, severity of anemia, duration of CKD or the efficiency or the duration of hemodialysis in the CKD patients. In conclusion, multi-method assessment of children's adjustment through different informants yields a comprehensive view of child psychopathology in CKD that calls for psychosocial support and early identification of maladjustment.