Background: Approximately 85% of all term and most preterms develop clinical jaundice. Hyperbilirubinrmia is defined as a total bilirubin (TB) >95th percentile on the hour-specific Bhutani normogram. Pathological jaundice implies the onset of jaundice before 24 hours of age, rate of rise in TSB of >0.2 mg/dl/hour and jaundice persisting after 14 days in term and 21 days in late-preterms. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, progression and the predictors of pathological jaundice among the late preterm infants admitted in Paediatrics ward of a tertiary care centre, Imphal.Methods: A hospital based prospective cohort study was carried out in paediatrics department, RIMS during a period of 2 years (September 2019 to August 2022) with approval from research ethics board. Sample size was 100 based on consecutive sampling.Results: Pathological jaundice developed among 65.0% (95% CI: 54.7-74.1%) neonates. The median duration of onset was 47.0 hours. The mean bilirubin at the time of diagnosis of jaundice was 15.5 mg/dl. Three neonates underwent exchange transfusion. Of these 3, one had pre-exchange bilirubin encephalopathy. Male gender, breast feeding, sepsis, infants blood group (B +ve), jaundice among the siblings and birth trauma (birth asphyxia/cephalhematoma) were significantly associated with the development of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.Conclusions: Jaundice is condition that is often present and constitutes one of the major risks for neurodevelopmental issues in later life and the risk is further compounded by prematurity. Hence further studies with a larger sample size on a multicentric level could add robustness to our study thereby helping in better understanding and management of the condition.

Background: Wheezing is common throughout infancy and childhood except in the neonatal period where it is relatively rare. By 10 years of age, about 19% of children experience wheezing with an average onset at 3 years of age. This study was aimed to identify the diverse factors associated with wheezing in children aged 2 months to 60 months and to study clinical profile along with short term outcome of the same.Methods: It was a hospital based cross-sectional study carried out in the Department of Paediatrics, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital (RIMS), Imphal, Manipur. The Study population consisted of randomly selected 131 children aged 2 months to 60 months who were admitted in Paediatrics ward with the symptom of wheezing.Results: Authors found that age below 12 months, male sex, low socioeconomic conditions and artificial breastfeeding practices were important risk factors for wheeze.Conclusions: Wheezing is accountable for a high demand of medical consultations and emergency care services with relatively high rates of hospitalization. Along with ARI, it plays an important role in infant mortality. In Manipur, it is being observed that increasing number of children with wheezing are attended by paediatricians in ED, OPD and ward, thereby proving an added burden to the younger age group. Therefore proper health education and counselling of parents, promotion of exclusive breast feeding and improvement of socioeconomic status can play a vital role in preventing occurrence of wheeze among the children.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a group of rare inherited disorders of connective tissue with the common feature of excessive fragility of bones caused by mutations in collagen. Diagnosis is mainly based on the clinical features of the disorder. We report a late preterm a male neonate born to a 20 years old primigravida. He had clinical features of a type II OI and severe birth asphyxia.

Background: Late preterm neonates (34 to 36 weeks 6/7 days) were considered as ‘near term’ as they appeared apparently mature and comparable to term neonates. Many studies have now reported significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality among this group of neonates. This study aims to evaluate the maternal risk factors associated with and short-term outcome of late preterm neonates compared to term neonates.Methods: A Retrospective cohort study was conducted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital. All intramural late preterm neonates with gestational age of 34-36 weeks born during the study period were enrolled. The control group included term neonates (37-42 weeks) born during the study period. Data regarding the maternal risk factors and neonatal outcomes for both the late preterm and term neonates were collected from records maintained in the NICU. Results: There were 3275 deliveries during the study period, of which 2447 (74.8%) were term. Among the 828 preterm neonates, 500 (60.4%) were late preterms. The maternal risk factors significantly associated with late preterm neonates were PIH, eclampsia, APH, multiple gestation, PROM, oligohydramnios and abnormal dopplers. Incidence of Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), sepsis and hypoglycemia were higher among the late preterm group with an odd’s ratio of 56.01, 9.9 and 7.8 respectively. Incidence of hypocalcemia, seizures and Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension (PPHN) were also higher among this group. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality among the two groups.Conclusions: Late preterm neonates have a significantly higher neonatal morbidity compared to term neonates.

Hypothalamic Hamartoma (HH) may have diverse clinical manifestations. Its hallmark association is with gelastic seizures. Gelastic epilepsy is characterized by episodes of loud, hollow, mirthless, stereo-typed, forced laughter. The patient may stare and giggle briefly without any other motor manifestations. Hypothalamic hamartoma is most often the cause of gelastic seizures. Here, authors report a case of gelastic seizure with hypothalamic hamartoma in a 14-month-old boy with an associated tonic clonic seizure.  This case highlights the possibility of underdiagnosed hypothalamic hamartoma in younger age groups among pediatric population.