Data were prospectively obtained from exclusively breast-fed healthy term neonates at birth and from healthy mothers with no obstetric complication to determine risk factors for excess weight loss and hypernatremia in exclusively breast-fed infants. Thirty-four neonates with a weight loss ≥10% were diagnosed between April 2001 and January 2005. Six of 18 infants who were eligible for the study had hypernatremia. Breast conditions associated with breast-feeding difficulties (P < 0.05), primiparity (P < 0.005), less than four stools (P < 0.001), pink diaper (P < 0.001), delay at initiation of first breast giving (P < 0.01), birth by cesarean section (P < 0.05), extra heater usage (P < 0.005), extra heater usage among mothers who had appropriate conditions associated with breast-feeding (P < 0.001), mean weight loss in neonates with pink diaper (P < 0.05), mean uric acid concentration in neonates with pink diaper (P < 0.0001), fever in hypernatremic neonates (P < 0.02), and the correlation of weight loss with both serum sodium and uric acid concentrations (P < 0.02) were determined. Excessive weight loss occurs in exclusively breast-fed infants and can be complicated by hypernatremia and other morbidities. Prompt initiation of breast-feeding after delivery and prompt intervention if problems occur with breast-feeding, in particular poor breast attachment, breast engorgement, delayed breast milk "coming in", and nipple problems will help promote successful breast-feeding. Careful follow-up of breast-feeding dyads after discharge from hospital, especially regarding infant weight, is important to help detect inadequate breast-feeding. Environmental factors such as heaters may exacerbate infant dehydration.

Angiodysplasia is a frequent cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in adults with chronic renal failure (CRF); however, there is no data about this association in children. The mechanism of this association is not known. We report a 4.5-year-old boy with CRF presenting with hematochezia due to colonic angiodysplasia. He was on hemodialysis for the previous 9 months. Treatment with argon plasma coagulation (APC) was commenced following a short course of octreotide therapy. During the 3 years of follow-up, no occult or gross bleeding occurred. This case illustrates that octreotide and APC therapy seems to be useful for arresting bleeding from angiodysplasia and prevention of recurrent bleeding in children with CRF.

Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome (HUVS) is relatively uncommon and generally seen in the fourth decade of life. There are very few pediatric cases with the diagnosis of HUVS in the literature. In this report, we describe the first familial cases of HUVS in three siblings. The disease onset was during childhood period in all patients. One of them developed severe renal involvement and died. The other two had ongoing skin and eye manifestations and the elder one developed lupus. Presence of these three patients is a strong evidence for the role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of this rare vasculitis.

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We present imaging findings of a patient with an incomplete form of the PHACES syndrome with dolichosegmental intracranial arteries as the predominant component, and discuss the etiopathological and clinical significance of this finding.