Normal and abnormal height and weight development in children and adolescents in Krakow--changes and trends in the last thirty years

The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of height and weight disharmony in children and adolescents in Krakow, i.e. both overweight and underweight in relation to height and the trends in last thirty years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 4532 individuals -- a random sample of children and adolescents (2416 boys and 2107 girls) were examined in 2000. The results of the examination were compared with data obtain in 1971 (random sample of 4090 individuals) and with results from 1983 (random sample of 6536 individuals). Percentile position of height and weight were compared: the difference of two or more percentiles channels classified the results as overweight or underweight depending on height. THE RESULTS: Of the research prove that the frequency of occurrence of dis-harmonious body built increases with age, both with regard to overweight and underweight related to height and this phenomenon is more frequent in girls. In last thirty years a progressive increase of frequency of overweight was observed, but in girls it was noticeable and statistically significant only in 1971 -- 1983.     

Trends in perinatal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in India

Although the infant mortality rate (IMR) has reduced by 50% during the past century, it compares poorly with the advanced countries and some developing countries. The observed fall in IMR has been mostly in post-neonatal mortality, with the result that neonatal deaths now account for over 60% of all infant deaths. The overall perinatal mortality rate (PMR) in India is still over 50 per 1000 and has shown virtually no decline during the past decade, However, PMR differs widely in different states, urban/rural areas, different hospitals and so on. PMR is seen to correlate better with social development than economic development of the representative community. The causes of perinatal deaths suggest poor health of mother and poor health facilities and are hence potentially preventable. Various studies have shown that PMR can be significantly reduced within a short span of time. The registration of vital statistics continue to be highly unsatisfactory especially in rural areas.     

Bacteriuria in Pregnancy and Infection in Amniotic Fluid and Infant

Women with asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy had sterile amniotic fluid at the time of delivery.There was no evidence that maternal urinary infection was associated with infection in the infant.     

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents in a county in Sweden

Overweight among young people in Sweden is increasing. The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of overweight and obesity based on body mass index (BMI) values among children and adolescents. Overweight was defined as a BMI value > or = 91st percentile and obesity as a BMI value > 98th percentile on an international reference BMI curve. The study population included boys and girls from four age groups: 9, 12, 15 and 18 y. The data consisted of self-reported measures of height and weight that were obtained from questionnaires used in a cross-sectional study in December 1997. A validation study was performed using a part of the study population. A total of 7011 (81.7%) participants completed the questionnaire. The correlation between self-reported estimations and objective measures of height and weight was high in the oldest age groups (0.88-0.98), but lower in the 9-y-old age groups (0.37-0.72). These self-reported estimations in the 9-y-olds were excluded from further analysis. It was found that 12.3%, 11.6% and 11.4% of the boys in the 12-, 15- and 18-y-old age groups and 6.8%, 5.5% and 4.8% of the girls in the same age groups were overweight and 7.9%, 8.9% and 7.3% of the boys and 5.1%, 4.2% and 3.9% of the girls were obese. Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be high in the study population and is a serious public health problem. The prevalence of obesity was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in 15-y-old boys living in rural areas than in city and town dwellers of the same age.     

The prostate in the neonate and infant in cryptorchism and hypospadias

The prostates of 8 neonates with cryptorchism and of 4 neonates and 1 infant with hypospadias have been examined and the findings have been compared with those in 127 controls.The processes of proliferation of the prostatic tubule epithelium, squamous metaplasia and secretion were normal in 7 of the 8 cases with cryptorchism and in all 5 cases with hypospadias. These findings are in contrast to 4 other cases where cryptorchism was associated with congenital renal malformations and all of whom showed an abnormal appearance of the prostate (as described elsewhere).The secretory activity of the prostate was markedly reduced in a neonate with cryptorchism who also had extreme testicular hypoplasia and marked underdevelopment of the penis, probably indicating a prenatal hormonal imbalance.2 cases with hypospadias showed a very large and distended utricle and the possible significance of this has been discussed.Associated congenital malformations, involving other than the genital system, were present in 7 of the 8 cryptorchid cases and in all 5 cases with hypospadias, as compared with 17 of the 127 controls.     

TB and HIV in children - advances in prevention and management

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has had a major impact on the age and gender profile of adult tuberculosis (TB) patients, resulting in increased exposure of HIV-infected and uninfected children at a very young age. Young and/or HIV-infected children are extremely vulnerable to develop severe forms of TB following recent exposure and infection. There is an urgent need to implement safe and pragmatic strategies to prevent TB in children, especially in TB endemic areas where they suffer the greatest burden of disease. The management of TB in HIV-infected children poses multiple challenges, but recent advances in the implementation of prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) strategies and HIV care of infants offer hope. These include HIV testing and access to PMTCT for all pregnant women, routine testing of all HIV exposed infants and rapid initiation of antiretroviral treatment irrespective of clinical or immunological disease staging. In addition, careful scrutiny for TB exposure should occur at every health care visit, with provision of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) following each documented exposure event. Knowing the HIV infection status of child TB suspects is essential to optimize case management. Although multiple difficulties remain, recent advances demonstrate that the management of children with TB and/or HIV can be vastly improved by well focused interventions using readily available resources.     

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??Up to 650 000 deaths annually are associated with respiratory diseases from seasonal influenza??indicating the high burden of influenza and its substantial social cost to the world. The incidence of Influenza is high among children. Vaccine and antiviral medicine can both prevent influenza??and health education is always neglected. Neuraminidase inhibitor remains the main antiviral drug. During the management of influenza infections??doctors should pay great attention to its complications??especially pneumonia and encephalopathy.     

Differences in rubella immunity in Mali and Hamburg and their consequences

The rare occurrence of rubella embryopathy in Mali stimulated us to investigate the rubella immunity of the population. Sera from females from Hamburg (n = 97) between 16 and 42 years old were in 84,5% seropositive (hemolysin-in-gel test) whilst a sample of Malien females (n = 99) were positive in 92,9%. Our investigations showed that the Malien children were significantly (p = less than 0.001) earlier infected by rubella than in Hamburg (Mali: children under 8 years [n = 196] in 46.9%; Hamburg [n = 151] in 20.5%). In Mali 7-8 years old children were already in 87.5% seropositive (Hamburg: only in 46.7%). The early immunity in childhood is due to the bigger African family in comparison with the smaller European family. The height of rubella serum titers was in grown-ups identical, but the relationship was vice versa in both studied newborn populations. Newborns from Mali showed lower rubella antibody titers than their mothers (newborns from Hamburg had a tendency to higher titers). Similar relationships were found already in the amount of neutralizing polioantibodies in newborns from both countries. A rubella immunisation in Mali seems not to be indicated.     

Resistin and leptin in breast milk and infants in early life

Background

The role of adipokines in early life is considered an emerging topic issue in nutritional researches.

Aims

To evaluate serum resistin and leptin concentrations and their relations in infants and in breast milk.

Study design

We enrolled 41 term, AGA, healthy infants, of which 23 exclusively breast-fed (BF) and 18 formula-fed (FF), aged less than 6 months. Breast milk (BM) samples were collected from 23 breastfeeding mothers of the infants enrolled. Resistin concentration in serum and BM was determined by ELISA test (Human-Resistin-ELISA, Mediagnost, Reutlingen, Germany). Leptin concentration was determined by Radioimmunoassay method (LEP-R40, Mediagnost, Reutlingen, Germany). Infants weight, length and body mass index were measured. We used Mann–Whitney test. Spearman correlation was applied. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Data are reported as median and interquartile range (IR).

Results

Infants serum resistin concentration was 9.30 (5.02) ng/ml. Breast milk resistin concentration (n = 23) was 0.18 (0.44) ng/ml. Leptin concentration was 3.04 (3.68) ng/ml in infants serum and in BM was 2.34 (5.73) ng/ml. Serum resistin concentrations in BF infants correlated positively with BM resistin (r = 0.636, p = 0.035). We have shown a positive correlation between resistin and leptin in total group of infants (r = 0.44, p = 0.05), confirmed in breastfed subjects (r = 0.65, p = 0.02). No correlations were found between serum hormones and anthropometric parameters of infants.

Conclusion

Our findings show interestingly a positive correlation between resistin concentrations in BF infants serum and in BM and between resistin and leptin in infants.