Objectives: Materials And Methods: Clinical prole and outcome of neonates with hypernatremic dehydration. Cross sectional study conducted in a tertiary care centre in central India, includes sick neonates aged less than 28 days admitted in hospital for a period from April 2022 to March 2023, who found to have hypernatremic dehydration on admission with serum soidum >150 mEq/L. Clinical and demographic information in relation to mother and baby were recorded. Out of total 2076 neonates admitted during t Results: he study period, 25 babies were diagnosed as a hypernatremic dehydration, showing an institute prevalence of 1.2%. Median age of presentation was 9 days, with female to male ratio 1.03. 92% of the babies were exclusively breast fed.76 % were born via normal delivery. Maximum presented with not accepting feed (96%), along with fever (64%), decreased urine output (52%), convulsions (28%). Admitted babies had a mean serum sodium level of 173.9 mEq/L, with as high as 200 mEq/L. 9 babies (36%) presented with shock,19 (76%) presented with evidence of kidney injury. Statistically signicant correlation was found between percentage of weight loss to mortality and serum sodium levels to mortality. Hypernatremic dehydration is a common Conclusion: medical emergency encountered in neonatal ICU and can be caused by poor feeding. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are crucial for survival and better prognosis.

Background: Bacterial meningitis is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in children worldwide. C-reactive protein (CRP) raises rapidly in the first 24-48 hours of occurrence of bacterial meningitis and in large incremental increases thereafter. The present study was undertaken to find out the correlation between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-CRP and bacterial meningitis in paediatric age group. Methods: A total 123 children aged between 1 month to 12 years, in whom meningitis was suspected during the study period were included. Lumbar puncture performed at L3-L4 and CSF sample not more than 3 ml collected in 4 sterile containers. 1ml sent for protein and sugar, 0.5ml each sent for CSF cytology and CSF-CRP, 1ml sent for CSF culture sensitivity and gram staining. Results: The institutional incidence of bacterial meningitis was 3.37%. Fever (93.26%) and altered sensorium (92.30%), were the commonest symptoms and neck rigidity (58.65%) was the commonest meningeal sign. The neurologic assessment showed abnormal mental status (34.61%), abnormal cranial nerve findings (10.57%) and abnormal motor function (13.46%). The mean CRP level was 15.36±0.67 mg/l. Pneumococcus was the commonest isolated organism (53.48%) in CSF culture. The institutional mortality was 13.46%. CSF-CRP was positive in 104 (82.69%) of the culture-positive cases with a sensitivity of 82.69%, specificity 84.21%, positive predictive value 96.62% and negative predictive value of 47.05%. Conclusions: CRP levels in CSF offers a moderate sensitivity and specificity as well as high positive predictive value. This indicates that CSF-CRP is a better marker in differentiating bacterial meningitis and it can serve as a useful screening test for bacterial meningitis.