The growth assessment of very low birth weight infant at corrected two years old

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the growth status of very low birth infant at corrected age of two years. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on all babies with birth weight ≤1500 gr without any congenital anomalies, genetic disturbance and chronic disease (e.g. cardiopulmonary insufficiency, cholestasis, malabsorption). They were called at corrected age 2 years, namely the calendar age by month + (40-gestational age by week). Their height, weight and head circumference were recorded and a nutritional check list was prepared. The values were entered into the WHO Standard Growth Curve Chart for male and female genders (CDC, November 2009) in the <10th, 10-49th, 50-89th and ≥90th percentiles. Results: Forty-three children with mean gestational age of 30.08±3.23 weeks and mean birth weight of 1163.95±240.77 g were studied. Thirteen cases (30.2) in length, 10 cases (23.3) in weight, 6 cases (14) in head circumference and 17 cases (39.5) in weight-for-height were below the 10th percentile. There was no significant difference between the sex, gestation age and the birth weight of these children below and above the 10th percentile (P<0.05). Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, about one-third of infants born ≤1500 grams were below 10th percentile for height, and nearly a quarter of them were under10th percentile for weight at corrected 2 years old. Therefore, their growth should be more accurately controlled by health care centers based on the growth curve in the first year and any problem case should be referred to specialized centers

A Flexible Skewed Link Model for Ordinal Outcomes: An Application to Infertility

BACKGROUND: An important issue in modeling categorical response data is the choice of the links. The commonly used complementary log-log link is inclined to link misspecification due to its positive and fixed skewness parameter. AIM: The objective of this paper is to introduce a flexible skewed link function for modeling ordinal data with some covariates. METHODS: We introduce a flexible skewed link model for the cumulative ordinal regression model based on Chen model. RESULTS: The main advantage suggested by the proposed links is the skewed link provide much more identifiable than the existing skewed links. The propriety of posterior distributions under proper and improper priors is explored in detail. An efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is developed for sampling from the posterior distribution. CONCLUSION: The proposed methodology is motivated and illustrated by ovary hyperstimulation syndrome data

The serum sodium levels and recurrence of simple febrile seizure during the first 24 hours in children

Background: Febrile seizure (FS) is one of the most common neurologic disorders in children. Electrolyte imbalance especially hyponatremia may have an important role in triggering the febrile seizure. The measure of serum electrolytes will be useful in predicting the further seizure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of relative hyponatremia (RH) on the risk of recurrent febrile seizures. Methods: This prospective study was performed on 334 children (6-60-month) with convulsions, referred to Amirkola children's Hospital. The patients were divided into three groups: simple febrile seizure (SFS), complex febrile seizure (CFS) and seizure without fever. In each group, the serum sodium was measured at the beginning of the admission and followed for 24 hours, and electrolyte imbalance was evaluated in seizure recurrences. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 (student's t-test and logistic regression). Results: Of the 334 children, 105 (31.7%) and 229 (68.3%) patients were female and male, respectively. The mean serum sodium levels in patients with SFS, CFS and control group were 136.64, 134.91 and 137.38 meq/l, respectively (p<0.05), but potassium and calcium levels were in the normal range. CFS group had a significant RH in comparison to SFS group (p<0.05). Conclusions: The serum sodium level was significantly lower in simple and complex seizures compared to the control group. Measurements of serum sodium levels and hyponatremia diagnosis have a key role on predicting the FS occurrence and recurrence. Therefore, physicians should be careful to administer the serums and inject the solutions for children with fever

Neonatal seizure and short-term outcomes in hospitalized neonates

Background: Neonatal seizure is a common problem and associated with a great mortality rate, high risk of chronic neurodevelopmental impairments, also difficult to diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the neurodevelopmental outcome, clinical presentation and etiology of seizures in neonates admitted to Amirkola Children's Hospital (ACH). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 42 neonates with the initial diagnosis of seizure, aged less than 28 days, hospitalized in ACH, northern Iran, from April to September 2016 were selected using convenient sampling method. The patients' information was gathered during hospitalization period and 6 months after discharge. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 through descriptive and chi-square tests. Results: Among preterm and term neonates with seizures, the main diagnosis in neonates with seizures was idiopathic (38.1) and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) (14.3), hypoglycemia (9.5 ) hypomagnesaemia (7.1) and opiate withdrawal (4.8). Twenty-three neonates underwent brain computed tomography (CT) scan and 6 (14.3) of them had abnormal brain imaging. Seizure control with antiepileptics (P=0.006), metabolic disturbance (P=0.002) and time of drug discontinuation (P&#60;0.001) were significantly associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. Conclusions: Since idiopathic encephalopathy and HIE were the most common cause of neonatal seizures, it should be attempted to improve care during delivery

Measurement of iron, magnesium and chromium concentrations in the saliva of the patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment

Introduction: Stainless steel alloy used in orthodontics has elements such as iron - magnesium and chromium, which may be released due to corrosion in the mouth. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes of these elements in the saliva of patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment. Methods: In a clinical study with simple non-random sampling, 1ml saliva of 11 patients (7 females and 4 males) who needed fixed orthodontic treatment and had no restorations or crowns were collected. During the fixed orthodontic treatment at successive times (a day, a week, a month, two months and six months), 1 ml of saliva was collected and evaluated for the amount of iron (spectrophotometry), chromium (atomic absorption), and magnesium (spectrophotometry). Bracket, band and wire used in all patients were stainless steel alloy and were manufactured by Dentaurum Company. After sample collection, the data analysis was performed with "Azeri-5" and "10 SPSS" software and repeated measures test. Results: The mean concentration of iron 66.326±0.541, chromium 0.483±0.324 and magnesium 0.552±293 decreased during the study but these results were not statisticaly significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: Iron, chromium and magnesium concentration do not exceed the standard limits in saliva during orthodontic treatment

Effects of position on oxygen saturation and heart rate in very low birth weight neonates

Background: Optimal oxygenation in preterm neonates is very important, therefore different measures are recommended to improve their oxygenation. One of these measures is the position of these infants. The studies on the effects of prone and left lateral positions showed conflicting results. So, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of position on arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and heart rate (HR) in very low birth weight (VLBW) neonates. Methods: This non-randomized simple convenient interventional study was conducted on 40 VLBW 7-28-day infants with 29-35-weeks gestational age using in 2014-2015. The infants were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of Rouhani Hospital in Babol. Based on the inclusion criteria, each of them was initially kept in supine position for 120 minutes and then in prone and finally left lateral position for 120-min after 10-min rest. During this period, SaO2 and HR parameters were recorded every 15-min and data were analyzed. Results: The mean of SaO2 was 97.41±1.91%, 96.74±2.09% and 96.14±2.36% in prone, supine and left lateral positions, respectively and this difference was statistically significant (P=0.032). The mean of HR was 146.09±9.65, 148.15±11.46 and 146.02±10.54 (beat/min) in prone, supine and left lateral positions, respectively. HR was normal in all three positions but the HR variability in prone position was slightly less than other positions (P=0.596). Conclusions: The results of the current study indicated that in preterm newborns, the prone position made more desirable oxygenation and HR variability compared to the supine and left lateral positions

Comparison of heavy metals contamination and ecological risk between soils enriched with compost and chemical fertilizers in the North of Iran and ecological risk assessment

Abstract Background: Nowadays, uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture is one of the reasons for the entry of heavy metals into the environment. In this study, the heavy metals contamination of the soils enriched with compost and chemical fertilizers in the North of Iran and its ecological risk assessment were evaluated. Methods: In this study, 108 soil samples were collected from agricultural soils of some places of Babol in Mazandaran province. An atomic absorption spectrophotometer (PG-990) was used to determine the concentrations of lead, cadmium, and zinc in the soil samples. The assessment of soil contamination was performed by the contamination factor, degree of contamination indices, and the potential ecological risk of the heavy metals. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Descriptive and chi-square tests were used to compare the mean with existing standards. Significant level was considered at P < 0.05. Results: The highest lead concentration (35.7 ± 9.5 mg/kg) was observed at 5-cm depth, and the maximum cadmium (1.1 ± 0.2 mg/kg) and zinc (88 ± 22.6 mg/kg) concentrations were observed at 15-cm depth. The results showed that lead, cadmium, and zinc concentrations in the agricultural soils enriched with compost fertilizers were acceptable, but agricultural soils enriched with chemical fertilizers indicated higher content than those enriched with compost fertilizers and higher than the maximum allowable concentration. The maximum contamination degree, pollution index, and potential ecological risk in the agricultural soils enriched with the chemical fertilizers were 15.77, 1.97, and 293.48, respectively, and these soils had low potential pollution and moderate ecological risks. Conclusion: According to the results, it is necessary to use compost fertilizers for the agricultural soils enrichment. Keywords: Heavy metals, Ecological risk assessment, Agricultural soils, Compost and chemical fertilizer

Umbilical cord serum procalcitonin, as an early diagnostic marker of early neonatal sepsis

Background and Objective: The prognosis of early neonatal sepsis is significantly associated with rapid diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic therapy. Since blood culture has been reported positive in less than 16 of neonatal sepsis cases, various biochemical markers have been evaluated. This study was performed to evaluate the umbilical cord blood procalcitonin (PCT) as an early diagnostic marker of early neonatal sepsis. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 100 neonates in two groups of case and control. The case group consisted of three separate groups, including proven, suspected and clinical sepsis groups. The PCT level of umbilical cord blood was measured by immunoluminoassay method, and PCT 0.5-2ng/ml, 2-10 ng/ml and &#62;10ng/ml were considered weakly positive, positive and strongly positive, respectively. Sepsis screening tests and a culture taken from blood or other sterile fluids were studied in the case group. Findings: The PCT mean was 1.39&#177;1.52 and 0.17&#177;0.05ng/ml in the case (sepsis) and control groups, respectively. Finally, the PCT level was significantly higher in all cases in the proven sepsis group than in other sepsis groups. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that the mean value of PCT level in umbilical cord blood was higher in the sepsis group, and it was higher in the proven sepsis group than in the other two groups of sepsis

Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Pancreatic Β -Cell Function in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Vitamin D Deficiency: A Clinical Trial Study

Background Considering the increasing prevalence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) as an autoimmune disease in recent years and the positive effects of vitamin D (VD) on this disease, especially the preventive effect of VD on progressive reduction of pancreatic β-cells, we aimed to investigate the effect of VD on pancreatic β-cell function in T1DM patients. Materials and Methods From Sep 2016 to Nov 2017, this single-blind clinical trial study was performed on patients who have affected with T1DM in the last five years, referred to Endocrinology Clinic of Amirkola Children's Hospital in Babol city of Iran. The patients with VD level less than 30 ng/mL were treated with 50, 000IU Pearl VD for 9 months. The patients' C-peptide, 25 (OH) D, HbA1C and total daily dose(TDD) insulin were compared at the beginning and end of the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0. Results By examining all 30 randomly selected children meeting the inclusion criteria, it was found that VD increased the C-peptide level (0.06 nmol/L), slightly improved the pancreatic β-cell function as well as decreased their HbA1c (0.64%), and TDD insulin levels (0.05 unit) although none of the relationships was significant. However, a significant decrease in HbA1c level was found in the female group (p=0.04) as well as in the age group less than 10 years (p=0.007). Conclusion VD intake had no significant effect on serum C-peptide levels and reduction of HbA1c and TDD insulin though a significant decrease in HbA1c level was observed in the female group and in the patients less than ten years

Normal calcium, sodium and potassium to creatinine ratio in Babol healthy adolescents

Background: Due to difficulty of obtaining a 24h urine (especially in children), a random urine calcium sample is recommended to detect of hypercalciuria. However, recent studies have shown that the urinary calcium/creatinine ratio varies with age and geographic areas. So, the aim of this study was determining the normal value of urinary calcium to creatinine ratio in healthy adolescent’s children. Methods: Four hundred eight children of 12 to 14-year-old were randomly selected from middle school in Babol (north of Iran) and early morning urinary samples of them were studied for determining normal urine Ca/Cr, Na/Cr and K/Cr ratios. Children who had the family with the history of renal disease were excluded from this study. Results: In this study the 50% and 95% of urinary Ca/Cr ratio were 0.08±0.02 and 0.13 mg/mg for the whole group. The mean of urinary Ca/Cr ratio in boys and girls were 0.08±0.03 and 0.08±0.02, respectively. The mean of urinary Na/Cr ratio in boys was 1.4±0.48 and in girls was 1.21±0.33. Also, the mean of urinary K/Cr ratio in boys and girls were 0.30±0.11 and 0.29±0.10, respectively. Conclusions: This study was shown that the urinary Ca/Cr ratio of these children is different from other geographic areas. Also, a direct relationship was seen between urinary Ca/Cr ratio, Na/Cr and k/Cr ratios