Cardiac Pacing and Defibrillation in Children and Young Adults

The population of children and young adults requiring a cardiac pacing device has been consistently increasing. The current generation of devices are small with a longer battery life, programming capabilities that can cater to the demands of the young patients and ability to treat brady and tachyarrhythmias as well as heart failure. This has increased the scope and clinical indications of using these devices. As patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) comprise majority of these patients requiring devices, the knowledge of indications, pacing leads and devices, anatomical variations and the technical skills required are different than that required in the adult population. In this review we attempt to discuss these specific points in detail to improve the understanding of cardiac pacing in children and young adults

Paederus Dermatitis Amongst Medical Students in US M, Kelantan

We report a retrospective review of 12 medical students with a peculiar erythemato-vesicular dermatitis entomologically caused by an endemic beetle Paederus foscipes. The clinical features, outcome in these cases and treatment are discussed. The students were residents of hostels in the USM campus in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. The causative agent in all these cases was found to be Paederus fuscipes (rove beetle). The most common site of involvement in all these cases was the face, followed by the neck. The average duration of symptoms was two days and pruritis was a common symptom. About 83 % of the patients made a complete recovery. However two patients (16%) had residual pigmentation. Key words: Erythemato-vesicular dermatitis, Paederus fuscipes

The Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS)-1: A Multinational Review of 165 Patients with Tubercular Anterior Uveitis

Purpose: The Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS) Group sought to address the diagnostic uncertainty through retrospective cohort analysis of treatment regimens and therapeutic outcomes for patients with tubercular Anterior Uveitis (TAU) across international centers. Methods: Multicentre retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with TAU between January 2004 to December 2014 that had a minimum follow-up of 1 year. Results: One hundred and sixty-five patients were included. One hundred and seven subjects received antitubercular therapy (ATT) (n = 107/165; 64.9%) with all the patients receiving topical steroid therapy. Treatment failure was noted in 17 patients (n = 17/165; 10.3%), more frequently described in patients that received ATT (n = 13/107, 12.2%), than those that did not receive ATT (n = 4/58, 6.9%). Conclusion: In this retrospective study, addition of ATT did not have any statistically significant impact on outcome in patients with TAU. © 2020, © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Visual Morbidity in Ocular Tuberculosis–Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS)-1: Report #6

Objective: Aim of the study was to examine extent, natural history, and clinical features associated with visual impairment (VI) in patients diagnosed with ocular tuberculosis (OTB) by the Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS)-1. Methods: Multi-center retrospective cohort study. Main outcomes were VI. Results: A total of 302 patients were included in the study, including 175 patients whose data related to BCVA were available throughout the 2 years of follow up. Mean BCVA grossly improved at 12, 18, and 24 months of follow-up (p < .001). Mean BCVA was worse at 12–18th month follow-up for patients treated with ATT versus patients who were not treated with ATT, but patients treated with ATT had a statistically significant improvement in BCVA at the 24-month endpoint. Conclusions: OTB is associated with significant visual morbidity, future well-designed prospective studies are warranted to establish the causal association between OTB and visual loss. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC