Children with Type 1 Diabetes

© 2015, Bahrain Medical Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.Background: The prevalence of diabetes in the Middle East is amongst the highest worldwide; Bahrain ranks amongst the top 10 countries. In particular, increasing number of children are being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) posing a significant public health concern. Objective: To evaluate the magnitude of type 1 diabetes in Bahrain. Design: A Case-Control Retrospective Study. Setting: Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic and Local Health Centers (LHC). Method: Fifty-nine cases and 53 controls were included in the study. Data from the Diabetes Registry were recorded for subjects meeting the inclusion criteria and questionnaire was administered to healthy controls. Chi Square or Student’s t-test was used as appropriate. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate independent predictors of T1DM. Result: Fifty-nine children aged 6-12 years diagnosed with T1DM in the years 2009 and 2010 were compared to 53 healthy controls. Children with T1DM were more likely to have suffered from a pre-diabetes illness such as tonsillitis 32 (54.2%) compared to controls 3 (5.7%), and have undergone a surgery prior to diagnosis 14 (23.7%), and to have mothers with T2DM or family history of GDM. No significant difference in infant-feeding practices was observed between children with type 1 diabetes and the healthy controls. Conclusion: Children with T1DM were more likely to have suffered from other infectious illnesses before the diagnosis was established. Whilst unable to fully investigate any potential genetic differences between cases and controls, this study provides support for the theoretical role of infections as a trigger for T1DM

Children with Type 1 Diabetes

© 2015, Bahrain Medical Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.Background: The prevalence of diabetes in the Middle East is amongst the highest worldwide; Bahrain ranks amongst the top 10 countries. In particular, increasing number of children are being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) posing a significant public health concern. Objective: To evaluate the magnitude of type 1 diabetes in Bahrain. Design: A Case-Control Retrospective Study. Setting: Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic and Local Health Centers (LHC). Method: Fifty-nine cases and 53 controls were included in the study. Data from the Diabetes Registry were recorded for subjects meeting the inclusion criteria and questionnaire was administered to healthy controls. Chi Square or Student’s t-test was used as appropriate. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate independent predictors of T1DM. Result: Fifty-nine children aged 6-12 years diagnosed with T1DM in the years 2009 and 2010 were compared to 53 healthy controls. Children with T1DM were more likely to have suffered from a pre-diabetes illness such as tonsillitis 32 (54.2%) compared to controls 3 (5.7%), and have undergone a surgery prior to diagnosis 14 (23.7%), and to have mothers with T2DM or family history of GDM. No significant difference in infant-feeding practices was observed between children with type 1 diabetes and the healthy controls. Conclusion: Children with T1DM were more likely to have suffered from other infectious illnesses before the diagnosis was established. Whilst unable to fully investigate any potential genetic differences between cases and controls, this study provides support for the theoretical role of infections as a trigger for T1DM

Feasibility of long-term irrigation as a treatment method for municipal wastewater using natural soil in Kuwait

Passing treated wastewater through soil is a natural and economic means to improve the quality of wastewater. The United Agricultural Production Company (UAPCO) farm located in the Sulaibiya area of Kuwait has been irrigated with tertiary treated wastewater since 1976. A field investigation at the farm has been conducted by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) to assess the applicability of the natural soil treatment method, in the long term, to improve the quality of the treated wastewater under the conditions prevailing in Kuwait. The collected data have been analyzed to assess the degree of improvement in quality of the infiltrated water with respect to the tertiary wastewater used for irrigation. The data analysis indicates that in spite of low clay content of the soil, improvement in the quality of the tertiary treated wastewater through soil aquifer treatment by the removal of ammonia (>90%), iron (>80%), organic carbon (>90%), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (100%) and bacteria (50-100%, depending on its type), can be expected over a long-term period. Soil leaching, however, tends to increase the total dissolved solids of the infiltrated water and the nitrification process increases the nitrate content.

Regulation of lysyl oxidase isoforms in vascular tissues and cells by TNF-[alpha] and its receptor

PLEASE NOTE: This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community: please click Download and log in with a valid BU account to access. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact [email protected] (M.S.D.) --Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2011 (Department of Periodontology and Oral Biology)Includes bibliography: leaves 83-97.Lysyl oxidase (LOX) plays a crucial role in the biosynthesis and cross-linking of extracellular matrix proteins, collagen and elastin . It has been stated that LOX is up-regulated in cardiovascular diseases. Excessive accumulation and deposition of insoluble collagen fibers around vascular cells are leading to atherosclerosis and restenosis. In addition to LOX it self, four related genes has been described (LOX1-LOX4 ) and the expression of these genes were found in vascular tissues. Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-a) is a major pro-inflammatory cytokine that is a key regulator of the inflammatory response process. TNF-a can be associated with the development of atherosclerosis following vascular injury. Its cellular effects are exerted by activating the plasma membrane receptors Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-I (TNFR-1) and Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-2 (TNFR-2), which are expressed on cells and tissues. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of TNFR-1 in the regulation of LOX and its isoforms in response to TNF-a in an atherosclerosis animal model in vivo and cell culture in vitro. [TRUNCATED