Background: Thalassaemia is a chronic disorder requiring lifelong transfusions and medications causing emotional and financial burden to the family. This study was done to assess the knowledge and awareness of parents having a thalassemic child and to ameliorate their experiences in the upbringing of their child.Methods:A cross sectional, descriptive study was conducted in Pediatric Ward of a Tertiary care Hospital in Navi Mumbai from May-August 2016 in which parents of 40 beta Thalassemia major children between age group of 6 months to 15 years were enrolled. Parents were interviewed through a questionnaire to assess their knowledge, awareness, the practices they follow in regard to the transfusion, treatment, vaccination and prevention of thalassemia. The study also focuses on the emotional suffering of the parents.Results: 47.5% of parents were aware of thalassemia being a genetic disorder.62.5% were aware of regular blood transfusion. 23 parents were aware of the regular medications taken by their children. 42.5% parents had adequate knowledge of the optional vaccines to be taken. 90% parents followed a good practice of getting their child for regular blood transfusion and 92.5% gave them regular medicines.31 parents would periodically get their child investigated but 65% of parents lacked in giving optional vaccines to the child.60% agreed to undergo MTP while only 45% knew about the antenatal detection.Conclusions:Majority of parents followed good practice and had a positive attitude, though the knowledge and awareness about the disease was inadequate.

Objective: Breastfeeding (BF) has been accepted as the most vital intervention for reducing infant mortality and ensuring optimal growth and development of a child. A major barrier to successful BF is inconsistency in information and improper cultural practices. To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices toward BF among nursing mothers following up in a tertiary care center in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 512 mothers in Navi Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra, India, between January 2016 and June 2016 using a pre-set questionnaire. The mothers with children under the age of 2 years were interviewed following which descriptive statistics were obtained. Results: Our study highlights the growing awareness of the advantages of BF. Of the 512 mothers enrolled in our study, 78.9% believed in exclusive BF (EBF) till 6 months while 51% actually practiced EBF. Nearly 78% mothers felt shy to feed in public places. BF was initiated <1 h of delivery in 35.9% mothers while insufficient milk was the predominant reason (41.4%) in mothers to stop BF before 2 years. Conclusion: The majority of our participants had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude toward EBF, with right posture practiced while feeding.

Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM) is a rare developmental abnormality of lung occuring in 1-4/100000 live births. The mainstay of treatment is usually surgical excision as it can lead to recurrent pneumonias, abscess or malignancy. We here report a rare case of CCAM who presented at one year of age with right sided lung cysts and had favorable outcome as it resolved spontaneously.

Objectives To study the rational use of the blood components in pediatric and neonatal wards. Methods It was a retrospective study conducted by department of pediatrics of a tertiary care centre in western part of India. The patients were included from the pediatric ward, pediatric surgery ward, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) over a period of three months. All the patients below 12 y of age receiving blood components, admitted in general pediatric wards, pediatric intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric surgery ward were included in the study. Each transfusion episode was assessed as per predetermined guidelines. Results Of the total 336 episodes of blood component transfusions, 244 episodes were appropriate and 92 episodes were inappropriate. Among these, platelets had highest inappropriate (36.84%) episodes followed by fresh frozen plasma (FFP) (28.95%) and packed red blood cell transfusions (PRBC) (21.21%). Majority inappropriate transfusions were seen in intensive care settings. Conclusions Almost one-third of blood component transfusions (FFP, platelets and PRBC) were given without any definitive indication. Judicious use of various blood products by following recommended guidelines may help in decreasing the inappropriate use of blood components.

Abdominal migraine is a migraine variant, causing chronic idiopathic recurrent abdominal pain in 4-15% of children. It is usually seen between the ages of seven to twelve years and is more common in girls, with peak prevalence at the age of ten years. We report a 3 year old girl suffering from recurrent abdominal pain since 1½ years of age, who underwent extensive investigations as well as diagnostic laparotomy with appendectomy, and was ultimately diagnosed to have abdominal migraine. She responded well to the prophylactic drug Flunarizine.

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Introduction: Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), once considered a single clinical entity, is now recognized as a heterogeneous syndrome with several variants, with varied presentations and complaints. A case of GBS with Miller Fisher Syndrome (MFS), which has rarely been reported in India, is described in this case report. Case report: A 5 year old female presented to us complaining of double vision since 4 days and difficulty walking since past 2 days. The patient also had a history of fever 20 days prior to admission. There was paralysis of the sixth cranial nerve bilaterally (ophthalmoplegia), which resulted in convergent strabismus. Poor articulation of words was observed (dysarthria). Muscle strength was noted as 3/5 for all four limbs and mild gait unsteadiness was observed, with tendency to fall on either side. Nerve conduction study was suggestive of mild early generalised demyelinating neuropathy of the right ulnar nerve. The clinical examination of the patient pointed towards the diagnosis of Miller Fisher syndrome, a rare variant of Guillain Barre Syndrome. Patient showed slow regression of motor deficit with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), administered at 2 gm/kg. Conclusion: Diagnosing MFS required high clinical suspicion as in many cases all symptoms may not appear at the same time. This case report demonstrates that clinicians should be aware of rare variants of GBS.