The Sixty Second Film and Video Festival

An innovative curatorial experiment and exhibition of International artists' new video and film works

Erythrocyte Transketolase Activity, Markers of Cardiac Dysfunction and the Diagnosis of Infantile Beriberi

Infantile beriberi, or clinical thiamin (vitamin B1) deficiency in infants, is a forgotten disease in Asia, where ∼100 years ago it was a major public health problem. Children aged ∼2–3 months present in cardiac failure but usually rapidly improve if given thiamin injections. It remains relatively common in Vientiane, Lao PDR (Laos) probably because of prolonged intra- and post-partum maternal food avoidance behaviours. There has been very little recent research on the best diagnostic techniques. We conducted a case control study of 47 infants with beriberi and age-matched afebrile and febrile controls in Vientiane. The conventional measures of thiamin deficiency, basal and activated erythrocyte transketolase activities (ETK) and activation (α) coefficients, were assayed along with three markers of cardiac dysfunction - plasma brain natriuretic peptide, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, and troponin T. Basal ETK was a better biochemical marker of infantile beriberi than the activation coefficient. Raised plasma troponin T may be a useful indicator of infantile beriberi in babies at risk and in the absence of other evident causes

A comparison of pain scales in Thai children

Three commonly used pain scales, the visual analogue scale, the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Scale, and the Faces Pain Scale Revised were administered to 122 Thai children, of whom half were HIV infected, in order to assess their validity. These scales presented moderate to good correlation and moderate agreement, sufficient for valid use in Thai children

Pain: a common symptom in human immunodeficiency virus-infected Thai children.

AIM: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of pain in Thai human immunodeficiency virus-infected children. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed at the HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Bangkok, Thailand from November 2002 to January 2003. Sixty-one human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients aged 4 to 15 y, an equal number of age-matched children with no chronic disease and their caregivers participated. We interviewed children and their caregivers using a structured questionnaire on pain. The main outcome measure was the percentage of human immunodeficiency virus-infected children reporting pain. RESULTS: Forty-four percent of the human immunodeficiency virus-infected children reported pain compared to 13% of the children with no chronic disease (odds ratio, OR = 5.3; 95% CI: 2.0-14.3). Seven percent of the infected children experienced chronic pain. Children in human immunodeficiency virus clinical categories B and C reported more pain than children in categories N and A (OR = 4.0, 95% CI: 1.1-14.7). Pain in infected children tended to occur in the abdomen, lower limbs or head. Only 44 percent of the infected children experiencing pain received analgesic medication. CONCLUSION: Despite being a common experience, pain is insufficiently taken into account and treated in Thai children with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, adequate pain identification, assessment and management should be systemically considered in their routine care

Corrosion Monitoring of 304L Stainless Steel in Nitric Media using Electrical Resistance Probe in Intergranular Corrosion Mode

International audienc

Obstructive biliary ascariasis with cholangitis and hepatic abscesses in Laos: a case report with gall bladder ultrasound video.

A 12-year-old Lao boy with obstructive biliary Ascaris infection is described and video of the gallbladder ultrasound presented. The patient developed severe complications of obstructive cholangitis, a large right pleural effusion and hepatic abscesses requiring prolonged antibiotic therapy. The differential diagnosis of worms in the gall-bladder is discussed

Epidemiology of bacteremia in young hospitalized infants in Vientiane, Laos, 2000-2011.

As data about the causes of neonatal sepsis in low-income countries are inadequate, we reviewed the etiology and antibiotic susceptibilities of bacteremia in young infants in Laos. As Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of bacteremia in Lao infants, we also examined risk factors for this infection, in particular the local practice of warming mothers during the first weeks postpartum with hot coals under their beds (hot beds). Clinical and laboratory data regarding infants aged 0-60 days evaluated for sepsis within 72 h of admission to Mahosot Hospital in Vientiane, Laos, were reviewed, and 85 of 1438 (5.9%) infants' blood cultures grew a clinically significant organism. Most common were S. aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Whereas no methicillin-resistant S. aureus was found, only 18% of E. coli isolates were susceptible to ampicillin. A history of sleeping on a hot bed with mother was associated with S. aureus bacteremia (odds ratio 4.8; 95% confidence interval 1.2-19.0)

Causes of community-acquired bacteremia and patterns of antimicrobial resistance in Vientiane, Laos.

There is no published information on the causes of bacteremia in the Lao PDR (Laos). Between 2000 and 2004, 4512 blood culture pairs were taken from patients admitted to Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Laos, with suspected community-acquired bacteremia; 483 (10.7%) cultures grew a clinically significant community-acquired organism, most commonly Salmonella enterica serovar typhi (50.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (19.0%), and Escherichia coli (12.4%). S. aureus bacteremia was common among infants (69.2%), while children 1-5 years had a high frequency of typhoid (44%). Multi-drug-resistant S. Typhi was rare (6%). On multiple logistic regression analysis, typhoid was associated with younger age, longer illness, diarrhea, higher admission temperature, and lower peripheral white blood cell count than non-typhoidal bacteremia. Empirical parenteral ampicillin and gentamicin would have some activity against approximately 88% of clinically significant isolates at a cost of US $1.4/day, an important exception being B. pseudomallei. Bacteremic infants in this setting require an anti-staphylococcal antibiotic