BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to document the recent etiological spectrum of chronic diarrhea with malabsorption and also to compare features that differentiate tropical sprue from parasitic infections, the two most common etiologies of malabsorption in the tropics. METHODS: We analyzed 203 consecutive patients with malabsorption. The etiological spectrum and factors that differentiated tropical sprue from parasitic infections were analyzed. RESULTS: The most common etiology was tropical sprue (n=98, 48.3%) followed by parasitic infections (n=25, 12.3%) and tuberculosis (n=22, 10.8%). Other causes were immunodeficiency (n=15, 7.3%; 12 with human immunodeficiency virus and 3 with hypogammaglobulinemia), celiac disease (n=11, 5.4%), Crohn's disease (n=11, 5.4%), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (n=11, 5.4%), hyperthyroidism (n=4, 1.9%), diabetic diarrhea (n=4, 1.9%), systemic lupus erythematosus (n=3, 1.4%), metastatic carcinoid (n=1, 0.5%) and Burkitt's lymphoma (n=1, 0.5%). On multivariate analysis, features that best differentiated tropical sprue from parasitic infections were larger stool volume (P=0.009), severe weight loss (P=0.02), knuckle hyperpigmentation (P=0.008), low serum B12 levels (P=0.05), high mean corpuscular volume (P=0.003), reduced height or scalloping of the duodenal folds on endoscopy (P=0.003) and villous atrophy on histology (P=0.04). Presence of upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms like bloating, nausea and vomiting predicted parasitic infections (P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Tropical sprue and parasitic infections still dominate the spectrum of malabsorption in India. Severe symptoms and florid malabsorption indicate tropical sprue while the presence of upper GI symptoms indicates parasitic infections.
Atrophy ; Burkitt Lymphoma ; Carcinoid Tumor ; Celiac Disease ; Crohn Disease ; Diarrhea* ; Endoscopy ; Erythrocyte Indices ; HIV ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Hyperthyroidism ; India ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nausea ; Pectinidae ; Sprue, Tropical ; Tuberculosis ; Vomiting ; Weight Loss

Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective α2-adrenoceptor agonist with a vast array of properties, making it suitable for sedation in numerous clinical scenarios. Its use was previously restricted to the sedation of intensive care unit patients. However, its use in pediatric dental sedation has been gaining momentum, owing to its high suitability when compared with conventional pediatric sedatives. Its properties range from sedation to anxiolysis to analgesia, due to its sympatholytic properties and minimal respiratory depression ability. Because dexmedetomidine is an efficacious and safe drug, it is gaining importance in pediatric sedation. Thus, the aim of this review is to highlight the properties of dexmedetomidine, its administration routes, its advantages over the commonly used pediatric sedatives, and especially its role as an alternative pediatric sedative.
Analgesia ; Dexmedetomidine ; Humans ; Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Intensive Care Units ; Midazolam ; Respiratory Insufficiency

Behaviour management and dental procedures performed in very young, pre-cooperative, highly anxious, or medically disabled children are challenging tasks. Various drugs and methods have, however, been introduced to facilitate treatment for this patient population. Midazolam is a benzodiazepine used as an adjunct to behavior management techniques in the dental treatment of pediatric patients. Midazolam can be used as a safe and effective drug for conscious sedation, general anesthetic premedication, and treatment of seizures during dental procedures. Nevertheless, further research involving pediatric patients would be beneficial.

This study aimed to assess the combined use of extraoral vibratory stimulation and extraoral cooling in reducing the pain (subjective and objective) of dental local anesthesia administration in children.PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Ovid SP databases were searched up to July 2021. Article titles were screened and full-text evaluations of the selected articles were performed. Finally, seven studies (391 children, aged 4 – 12 years) were included in this qualitative and quantitative analysis. The pooled data determined the combined effect of extraoral vibration and extraoral cooling as a single measure. Extraoral vibration or cooling alone were not compared. The measured primary and secondary outcomes were pain perception and subjective and objective pain, respectively. When compared with the control, extraoral vibration and cooling resulted in significant differences in the mean combined data for the variables, pain perception, and pain reaction.Children’s subjective pain as measured by pain scores were reduced when extraoral vibration and cooling was used during local anesthesia administration (mean difference -3.52; 95% confidence interval [-5.06 - 1.98]) and objective pain (mean difference -1.46; 95% confidence interval [-2.95 - 0.02] ; mean difference -1.93; 95% confidence interval [-3.72 - 0.14]).Within the confines of this systematic review, there is low-quality evidence to support the use of combined extraoral vibration and cooling for reducing pain (subjective and objective) during intraoral local anesthesia administration in children.