This child is experiencing delayed speech. By the age of 2, a child should be able to combine at least 2 words to make a very simple sentence.

According to the Rumack-Matthew Normogram, accurate levels of paracetamol can be measured only between 4-15 hours. The levels measured before 4 hours post-ingestion would highly underestimate the level of paracetamol ingested.The patient in question presents 2 hours after ingestion. Hence the most appropriate time to measure the levels of acetaminophen would be a further 2 hours later. Other options:- Note that the treatment with NAC can be delayed until the 4-hour level is obtained and compared to the nomogram.- Furthermore, haemodialysis is only indicated if she develops hepato-renal syndrome that is likely to occur 72-96 hours post-ingestion.- Indications for acute liver transplantation include persistent acidosis, hepatorenal syndrome and worsening coagulopathy.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a cancer of the lymphoid line of blood cells characterized by the development of large numbers of immature lymphocytes. Symptoms may include feeling tired, frequent infections with fever as well as anaemia with thrombocytopenia. As an acute leukaemia, ALL progresses rapidly and is typically fatal within weeks or months if left untreated. The patient’s age also favours the diagnosis of ALL as it occurs most commonly in children, particularly those between the ages of two and five.

A preterm with respiratory distress syndrome presents with the condition as a result of immature lungs and inadequate surfactant production. Management of RDS therefore includes surfactant therapy, oxygen administration and mechanical ventilation, as well as measures such maintaining acid base levels and blood haemoglobin in an intensive care unit. Dexamethasone is not shown to be particularly effective when given to a preterm, but can however be used to prevent or decrease RDS severity when given to the mother before delivery.

At the age of 18 months, Gertrude should be able to follow a one step command. At this age she would also be capable of putting words together in 1 or 2 word phrases, scribbling, throwing a ball, and building a tower of four cubes. At 2 she should be able to feed herself with a spoon or a fork, copy a vertical line, ride a tricycle, kick a ball and balance on one foot. Activities such as jumping will follow later on in her development at 3 years.

The most probable cause for the patient’s presentation would be intra-abdominal adhesions, and the most appropriate management for this patient would be nasogastric decompression and intravenous fluids.Malrotation typically presents in the first month of life with bilious vomiting. There is a lifetime risk of intra-abdominal adhesions. This presents with bilious vomiting and dilated bowel loops on plain abdominal film. 2/3 of adhesional obstructions resolve by conservative management with nasogastric decompression and intravenous fluids. If this fails to resolve after 24-48 hours or if there are signs of peritonism, a laparotomy is indicated.Other options:- Recurrent volvulus, urgent laparotomy required: The child is now 8-years-old and recurrent volvulus is unlikely as bowel should be fixed by intra-abdominal adhesions.- Intra-abdominal adhesions, surgery for division of intra-abdominal adhesions: Although surgery may be required, the majority of adhesional obstructive cases respond to conservative management.- Gastroenteritis with incompetent pylorus, intravenous fluids: While it is true that patients with malrotation can have bilious vomiting in gastroenteritis, the abdominal X-ray is suggestive of obstruction.- Likely sepsis with bilious vomiting, intravenous fluids and antibiotics: While a septic ileus can give bilious vomiting, this patient has no inflammatory markers suggestive of sepsis.

Relative risk is the probability of an outcome occurring in an exposed group as compared to the probability of that outcome in an unexposed group. In the scenario given, 50% of the children exposed developed the disease while only 10% of the children who were unexposed developed the disease. The relative risk was therefore 50/10=5. There is no further information about whether the study was controlled, the confidence interval, or the type of study. It therefore cannot be confirmed whether the chemical is causative and if it should be avoided.

The boy seems to have a varicocele so the most appropriate next step would be reassurance. A varicocele is an enlargement of the veins within the scrotum called the pampiniform plexus. A varicocele only occurs in the scrotum and is very similar to varicose veins that can occur in the leg. Because a varicocele usually causes no symptoms, it often requires no treatment.

The post-ingestion plasma level, which is required in order to guide the treatment, reaches a peak at 4 hours. Levels requiring antidote (N-acetyl cysteine) include: 100 mcg per ml at 4 hours, 35 mcg per ml at 10 hours and 25 mcg per ml at 12 hours. These levels are in conjunction with the levels recorded and they should all be put down on a treatment nomogram.

The patient is most likely to have Bulimia nervosa. A young girl with a low body mass contributes to the low urea. Hypokalaemia and hyponatraemia are due to vomiting. Her urine sodium is also low.- In Addison’s diseases, there are low levels of sodium and high levels of potassium in the blood. In acute adrenal crisis: The most consistent finding is elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine. Urinary and sweat sodium also may be elevated. – In Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion (SIADH) there is hyponatremia with corresponding hypo-osmolality, continued renal excretion of sodium, urine less than maximally dilute and absence of clinical evidence of volume depletion.

Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus is a condition characterised by neonatal onset myoclonic jerks during NREM. Characteristic for this disorder is the absence of electroencephalographic findings.

Children are able to use a palmar grasp by the age of 6 months and use a pincer grasp by the age of 9 to 10 months. They can sit with support by 6 months and sit without support by 7 to 9 months. They can vocalize by 3 months. Stranger fear appears from 7 to 10 months. So this baby’s development is normal.

The swelling and bruising on the mandible needs to be checked for fractures. A facial X-ray can adequately visualize this.

Adrenal insufficiency is a serious medical condition that leads to inadequate secretion of corticosteroids. There are three main types of adrenal insufficiency: primary, secondary, and tertiary, based on the location of the abnormality. Primary adrenal insufficiency is caused by any pathology located inside the adrenal glands. The most common cause of primary adrenal insufficiency is Addison’s disease, which is an autoimmune condition. Adrenoleukodystrophy is an X-linked neurodegenerative disease that also causes primary adrenal insufficiency. Secondary adrenal insufficiency is caused by any pathological impairment of the pituitary gland or the hypothalamus. The important causes of secondary adrenal insufficiency include iatrogenic (steroid use), pituitary tumours like craniopharyngioma, and conditions leading to panhypopituitarism like Sheehan’s syndrome. Tertiary adrenal insufficiency is caused by the deficiency of the corticotropin-releasing hormone. Hypoparathyroidism does not cause adrenal insufficiency.

Based on the history and clinical presentation, she most likely has iron toxicity.Iron can cause scarring of the gut mucosa. This explains her pyloric stenosis. This typically occurs at the pylorus as this is where iron tablets tend to pool and cause maximal tissue damage.Other options:- Citalopram: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) ingestion rarely causes serious consequences. It can rarely lead to serotonin syndrome (autonomic instability, mental status change, and increased neuromuscular tone).- Ibuprofen: While it may cause gastritis, ibuprofen does not cause pyloric/intestinal stenosis.- Thyroxine: An overdose of thyroxine will cause features of hyperthyroidism which are not present in the patient in question.- Zinc: High doses of zinc can cause abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

The most common physiological factors that influence renin secretion include renal perfusion pressure, renal sympathetic nerve activity, and tubular sodium chloride load.The perfusion pressure in the renal artery is the most profound parameter to influence renin secretion; when the renal perfusion pressure falls (i.e. hypovolaemia), renin secretion rises, and vice versa.

Ectoderm derivatives include the adrenal medulla, posterior pituitary, the epidermis of the skin, nails, hair, sweat glands, mammary glands, sebaceous glands, the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, the retina and lens of eye, the pupillary muscle of the iris, melanocytes, Schwann cells and odontoblasts.

Epiglottitis is characterized by the abrupt onset of severe symptoms. Without airway control and medical management, symptoms may rapidly progress to respiratory obstruction and death in a matter of hours.Usually, no prodromal symptoms occur in children. Fever is usually the first symptom, and temperatures often reach 40°C. Acute epiglottitis may result in sudden, complete upper airway obstruction. Classic signs in children are four D’s: drooling, dyspnoea, dysphagia, and dysphonia.

Inhaled objects are more likely to enter the right lung for several reasons. First the right bronchus is shorter, wider and more vertical than the left bronchus. Also, the carina (a ridge-like structure at the point of tracheal bifurcation) is set a little towards the left. The terminal bronchiole is a very small space and impossible for the seed to lodge here.

A lumbosacral lipoma is a form of congenital spinal lipoma and can be regarded as a cutaneous marker of dysraphism. It is not a skin condition but rather represents a defect in the process of neurulation and leads to a constellation of other abnormalities. The most common other systemic abnormalities associated with midline lumbosacral lipoma include complex anorectal and urological malformations. Other mentioned conditions are benign rashes or birthmarks.

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic disease. It presents with hyperpigmentation patches on the oral mucosa, lips, palm and soles, and nasal alae. It also presents with hamartomatous polyps in the gut, hence the fresh blood in this particular case.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most frequent cause of congenital infection worldwide, with an estimated incidence in developed countries of 0.6-0.7% of all live births.The clinical spectrum of congenital CMV infection varies widely, from the complete absence of signs of infection (asymptomatic infection) to potentially life-threatening disseminated disease. At birth, 85-90% of infected infants are asymptomatic, and 10-15% present with clinical apparent infection (symptomatic disease).The presentation in this latter group is a continuum of disease expression whose more common findings are petechiae, jaundice, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, microcephaly, and other neurologic signs.

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves frequent episodes of binge eating followed by inappropriate purging behaviour. The underlying reason for this behaviour is distorted self-image. Bulimia leads to several medical issues, including various laboratory derangements. Among these deranged laboratory parameters are the hormone cholecystokinin, which is found to be decreased in women having bulimia. It is hypothesized that the bingeing episodes observed in patients with bulimia are due to lower levels of CCK since normal levels of CCK are involved in maintaining satiety and controlling the urge to binge eat.

Answer: Oculogyric crisisOculogyric crisis is an acute dystonic reaction of the ocular muscles characterized by bilateral dystonic elevation of visual gaze lasting from seconds to hours. This reaction is most commonly explained as an adverse reaction to drugs such as antiemetics, antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiepileptics, and antimalarials. Metoclopramide is a benzamide selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist that is used as an antiemetic, with side effects that are seen frequently in children.1 The most common and most important side effects of metoclopramide are acute extrapyramidal symptoms, which require immediate treatment. Acute dystonic reactions occur as contractions of the muscles, opisthotonos, torticollis, dysarthria, trismus, and oculogyric crisis.

Precocious puberty refers to the appearance of physical and hormonal signs of pubertal development at an earlier age than is considered normal.Most patients, particularly girls suspected of having central precocious puberty, are otherwise healthy children whose pubertal maturation begins at the early end of the normal distribution curveIn a series of more than 200 patients evaluated at a single medical centre, central precocious puberty occurred 5 times more often in girls than boys.GnRH-dependent precocious puberty is treated with GnRH agonists or Luteinizing Hormone Releasing Hormone (LHRH). Follow up every 4-6 months to ensure that progression of puberty has been arrestedFavourable signs include normalization of accelerated growth, reduction (or at least no increase) in size of breasts, and suppression of gonadotropin levels after a challenge of GnRHThe ideal testing frequency has not been established. Monitor bone age yearly to confirm that the rapid advancement seen in the untreated state has slowed, typically to a half year of bone age per year or less

Hyposplenism is associated with thrombocytosis. Other features of hyposplenism are: – Howell-Jolly bodies and acanthocytosis, occurring secondary to haemolysis.- Pappenheimer bodies: These are granular deposits of iron found within the RBCs.- Lymphocytosis and monocytosis.Causes for hyposplenism include:- Congenital asplenia- Iatrogenic splenectomy: Following trauma or treatment for ITP, thalassemia or spherocytosis).- Autosplenectomy: Secondary to sickle cell anaemia, coeliac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, essential thrombocythemia or splenic arterial thrombosis).

Among the given options a 2-year-old child with normal developmental milestones will be able to pull and push large wheeled toys and squat to play with toys on the floor.Other options:- Bouncing and catching a ball is learnt by the age of 5.- The ability to pedal a tricycle should be attained by 3 years of age, not 2.- A child can walk on tip-toe by 2.5 and run on tip-toe by (option D) 3 years of age, not 2.- The ability to momentarily maintain balance using one leg (option E) should be attained by 3 years.

A 2 year old child who is developing normally should be able to point to three body parts, identify familiar objects in his environment such as a crayon or a toy and follow simple instructions.At 3 years old he should be able to copy a circle, jump up and down and name three colours.

The study described in the question is a ‘cohort’ study.Other options:A prospective observational study – When groups are classified according to one or more factors at a given time and followed forward to determine outcomes (usually some health status)- Although there is in one sense a control group (those who do not develop the health problem), this is not generally called a ‘controlled’ trial. – An ecological study would look at outcomes in different groups (countries or regions usually) who follow different practices.

Biliary atresia is a rare condition that usually becomes symptomatic 2 to 8 weeks after birth. It can be congenital or acquired. Typical symptoms include jaundice, weight loss, dark urine and pale stools.