The normative values generated can serve as reference standard in the diagnosis of penile length abnormalities in Indian babies and in clarifying issues of ambiguous genitalia and maldevelopment of male external genitalia.

Introduction Birth asphyxia may cause neuro-developmental impairment in the affected newborns especially those who had hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy. Music therapy has been observed to help in reducing pain and stress in newborns and improve neurodevelopmental outcome. Objectives The objective of this study is to determine the effects of music therapy on the outcomes of birth asphyxia. Methods A randomized controlled trial involving 3095 newborns born between January 2013 and August 2019 with birth asphyxia was conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit of Burdwan Medical College. They were distributed in two groups—A (received music therapy along with coventional management) and B (only received conventional management), using computer-generated randomization. Pain score was assessed during any painful procedure and the neurodevelopmental outcome was measured at 3rd, 6th, 12th, 18th and 24th months. p < 0.01 was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 3095 newborns were included with a mean gestation of 34.3 ± 2.1 weeks and 56.7% of them were male. Mean hospital stay, oxygen dependency, requirement of mechanical ventilation and incidence of apnea were significantly lesser among newborns of group A. Newborns of group B showed a significantly higher mean pain score, whereas newborns in Group A exhibited significantly greater mental and motor neurodevelopmental quotients. Conclusions Music therapy was observed to help in reducing hospital stay, oxygen dependency, incidences of apnea, pain during procedures and also resulted in better neurodevelopmental outcome. However, before generalizing the findings, further multi-centric research should be undertaken.

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Ours was a descriptive observational cross-sectional study carried out in a tertiary care hospital in eastern India over a period of one year to study the profile of neurological involvement in paediatric dengue patients. Of 71 laboratory-confirmed cases, 20 (28.17%) had neurological involvement. Common forms observed were acute encephalopathy (40%), encephalitis (30%), pure motor weakness (15%), transverse myelitis (5%), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (5%) and Guillain-Barré syndrome (5%). The dengue IgM antibody could be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of only two patients with encephalitis. Neurological involvement was present in all four patients who died during the study period (two-tailed P value = 0.005).

Introduction: Poisoning is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in paediatric age group. Objective of this study was to determine the pattern of poisoning in paediatric age group in respect to epidemiological characteristics, aetiology, clinical features and mortality in a major part of South Bengal. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study conducted in the paediatric medicine ward and paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Burdwan Medical College from January, 2015 to December, 2015.All children in the age group of less than or equal to 12 years who visited the paediatric emergency with history of exposure to toxic substances were included in the study. Poisoning due to insect or animal bite was excluded from the study. Data was obtained from hospital records and the admission register of paediatric emergency, entered in the Microsoft excel sheet and analysed by using statistical software SPSS version 17. Results: During the study period, 393 patients with poisoning were reported, which was 1.9% of all pediatric admissions. Majority were in the 1-3 year age group (59.6%). Volatile hydrocarbons accounted for the highest proportion of poisonings (153 cases, 38.9%).. GI system involvement (36.5 %) was most common. The total mortality of poisoning patients was 8. Conclusion: Number of children, presenting with poisoning was higher in our study in comparison to other studies. Volatile hydrocarbons were common source of poisoning in our study. More epidemiological studies are required to identify socio-demographic risk factors of poisoning.