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Fertility potential of 135 patients who had an orchidopexy aged between 2 years 7 months and 15 years 8 months has been evaluated using semen analysis. The patients were divided into several groups taking into consideration the following criteria: (1) unilateral (112 cases) and bilateral (23 cases) orchidopexy; (2) the patient's age at the time of the operation: under 6, between 6 and 10, and over 10 years; (3) position of testes at the time of operation: abdominal, canalicular or inguinal. It has been found that increasing age at the time of unilateral orchidopexy the fraction of patients with normospermia decreases and the average number of spermatozoa both in 1 ml and in the sperm liquid as a whole goes down. In the smaller group of the bilateral orchidopexy patients the differences are not statistically significant. The beneficial effect of early operation is more clearly seen in the sub-groups of patients with the same pre-operative testicular position. Since the fertility potential is higher among the earlier operated patients, orchidopexy performed as early as possible (preferably between 1 and 2 years of age) may bring a chance to improve the results of treatment.

We describe the problems encountered during general anaesthesia in a 2-year-old boy who was suffering from an extremely severe form of Niemann-Pick disease. Attention focused on respiratory difficulties and intubation problems. The usefulness of the lateral position and the limits of the Mallampati score in this case are discussed.

The authors analyzed the concentration of malonic dialdehyde (MDA) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of children with intracranial hypertension. For the control group an intracranial pressure (ICP) of 250 mm H2O was taken as a reference point. The concentration of MDA was determined by a method using thiobarbituric acid. In a group of children with ICP values greater than the limiting value, the concentration of malonic dialdehyde was 0.629 mmol/mg protein, while in the control group with an ICP below 250 mm H2O, this value was 0.610 mmol/mg protein. The differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. from the results obtained it can be concluded that the concentration of MDA, as an isolated parameter, does not constitute a good measure of intensity of the lipid peroxidation processes in central nervous system (CNS) tissues, taken as an indicator of their disintegration in cases of hydrocephalus with intracranial hypertension.

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