There is no health without cultural safety: Why cultural safety matters

The authors would like to pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which this paper was written, the Wadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation and the Darkinjung people. One author (XX) would like to acknowledge her Wiradjuri ancestry and express respect to her Elders past and present and to Culture and Country.

Bilateral subfoveal serous detachment following Cisplatin chemotherapy

A 74-year-old gentleman with a background of metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour on combination chemotherapy of Cisplatin and Etoposide presented with a 3-week history of bilateral visual loss. Snellen visual acuity was right 6/9 and left 6/60. Fundus examination revealed clear media with isolated macular oedema in both eyes. Optical coherence tomography of the maculae showed localised bilateral subfoveal serous detachments. Cisplatin was thought to be the causative agent and was withheld following discussion with the treating Oncology team. Eight weeks after withholding Cisplatin, his vision improved with complete resolution of the subretinal fluid. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report to have illustrated bilateral subfoveal serous detachment caused by Cisplatin which resolved completely with cessation of offending drug.

Increasing prevalence of asthma diagnosis and symptoms in children is confined to mild symptoms

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of childhood asthma is increasing but few studies have investigated trends in asthma severity. We investigated trends in asthma diagnosis and symptom morbidity between an eight year time period in a paired prevalence study.

METHODS

All children in one single school year aged 8-9 years in the city of Sheffield were given a parent respondent questionnaire in 1991 and 1999 based on questions from the International Survey of Asthma and Allergy in Children (ISAAC). Data were obtained regarding the prevalence of asthma and wheeze and current (12 month) prevalences of wheeze attacks, speech limiting wheeze, nocturnal cough and wheeze, and exertional symptoms.

RESULTS

The response rates in 1991 and 1999 were 4580/5321 (85.3%) and 5011/6021 (83.2%), respectively. There were significant increases between the two surveys in the prevalence of asthma ever (19.9% v 29.7%, mean difference 11.9%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 10.16 to 13.57, p<0.001), current asthma (10.3% v 13.0%, mean difference 2.7%, 95% CI 1.44 to 4.03, p<0.001), wheeze ever (30.3% v 35.8%, mean difference 5.7%, 95% CI 3.76 to 7.56, p<0.001), wheeze in the previous 12 months (17.0% v 19.4%, mean difference 2.5, 95% CI 0.95 to 4.07, p<0.01), and reporting of medication use (16.9% v 20%, mean difference 3.0%, 95% CI 1.46 to 4.62, p<0.001). There were also significant increases in reported hayfever and eczema diagnoses.

CONCLUSIONS

Diagnostic labelling of asthma and lifetime prevalence of wheeze has increased. The current 12 month point prevalence of wheeze has increased but this is confined to occasional symptoms. The increased medication rate may be responsible for the static prevalence of severe asthma symptoms. The significant proportion of children receiving medication but reporting no asthma symptoms identified from our 1999 survey suggests that some children are being inappropriately treated or overtreated.

The Cornelia de Lange syndrome: a study of 9 affected individuals

Nine children with the Cornelia de Lange syndrome have been examined and investigated. Prominent among the clinically important features are retarded physical and mental development, limb malformation and limited life expectancy. Early diagnosis is important for prognostication and management, and is based on the recognition of the combination of the stigmata and typical facial characteristics.