Spastics must get early treatment
Dr Harsharan Singh Oberoi

Thirty years ago, medical experts neither showed much interest nor had any serious concern towards children afflicted with cerebral palsy or by any other developmental abnormality. But for the past few years, they have become more enlightened. The statistics reveal that in India about 25 lakh children are affected by cerebral palsy.

The ever increasing number and the recent medical advances have made the doctors and physiotherapists the world over ponder seriously over the problem and start the therapies aimed at not only physical and mental development of the hapless victims, but also at instilling confidence among them so that they become self-reliant in carrying out their day-to-day activities.

Cerebral palsy is the name given to a group of conditions in which there are disorders of movement or posture caused by the damage to areas of the brain. It is a permanent condition and the most common cause for disability in children. It is probably caused due to the increased survival of very low birth-weight premature babies. The cause of cerebral palsy may be damage to the developing brain by exposure to certain infections during pregnancy or a brain injury during or shortly after birth. Other causes include bleeding in the brain, a lack of oxygen to the brain, low blood sugar levels and severe jaundice.

There are many types of cerebral palsy, but the most common type seen is spastic diplegia; it occurs on both sides of the body predominately affecting the legs. Each child with cerebral palsy may require life-long care and support.

Appropriate active management can make the children as normal as possible. This depends on the identification of an individual treatment plan with clearly defined practical goals. Active management includes physiotherapy, Botox therapy, play therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and surgery.

Encouraging children to walk and move normally as far as possible is one of the key aims. Recently, for management of spasticity in cerebral palsy, Botox (Botulinum Toxin Type A) was tried and found very useful in children. It has now become a standard method for management of spasticity in cerebral palsy. Botox injection is given at the motor-nerve junction of the spastic muscle. Botox acts by preventing the transmission of signals between a nerve and its target muscle.

Before Botox injection is Administered it is important that children are carefully examined for their suitability for this treatment.

It is important that parents of an affected child are aware of this problem and the treatment modalities available. The treatment should start at the earliest to get the best results.

Crackers: what to do in case of injuries?
Neelam sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh: Play it safe. With the festival of lights round the corner, the mantra of the season should be to take adequate precautions to avoid burn and eye injuries.

"Normally we see a lot of cases of burn injuries during the Divali celebrations as the sparks from crackers accidentally fall on the victim. The best remedy would be to pour water on the burn immediately to cool it down and then to apply silver sulphadiazine for the cooling effect. The patient should be immediately rushed to a doctor in case of a major burn,’’ said Dr G. Dewan of General Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh.

Doctors strongly advocate that children below the age of 12 years should not play with crackers, especially the rockets, as they can compound their problems. For those above the age of 12 years, crackers should only be burst under close supervision of parents and elders.

"Burn and hand injuries can be avoided if proper precautions are taken. We advocate that if possible children should completely avoid the use of crackers," said a senior doctor at the PGI, who adds that normally cases of burns on hands and arms and eye injuries come to the hospitals every year during the festival season.

Physicians also recommend that a bucket full of water should be kept while bursting crackers to immediately take control of the situation in case of a mishap. Loose fitting clothes and synthetic clothes should be completely avoided as small sparks can become lethal in a synthetic attire. Moreover, the smoke emitting from the crackers can be detrimental to the health of the patients with respiratory problems, who should completely cover themselves up while venturing out on the Divali night.

"Children make a big mistake when they burst crackers in a closed room to have an echo effect. With this, not only the chances of injuries go up , but also the thud of the explosion can affect the eardrums,’’ said Dr Rajan Chugh, a city-based practitioner.

Alcohol abstinence increases brain power

Washington: A new study conducted by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that there is a burst in new brain cell development during abstinence from chronic alcohol consumption. The findings were based on an animal model of chronic alcohol dependence, in which adult rats were given alcohol over four days in amounts that produced alcohol dependency.

“When used in excess, alcohol damages brain structure and function. Alcoholics have impairments in the ability to reason, plan or remember. A variety of psychological tests show alcoholics have a difficulty in ability to understand negative consequences.” Fulton T. Crews, lead researcher was quoted as saying.

The researchers led by Crews found inhibition of neurogenesis, or brain cell development, during alcohol dependency, followed by a pronounced increase in new neuron formation in the hippocampus within four-to-five weeks of abstinence. This included a twofold burst in brain cell proliferation at day seven of abstinence.

“We looked at dividing cells after our four-day binge model of alcohol dependency and confirmed what we previously observed: When the animals were intoxicated, the measure of dividing cells decreases. And after abstinence for one week, we saw a huge burst in the number of new cells being born,” co-author Nixon said. — ANI