Ethnicity and gender related differences in extended intraesophageal pH monitoring parameters in infants: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is believed to be more common in adult males as compared to females. It also has been shown in adults to be more common in Caucasians. We wanted to determine ethnicity and gender related differences for extended pH monitoring parameters in infancy. METHODS: Extended pH monitoring data (EPM) from infants <1 year of age were reviewed. Results were classified in two groups, as control and Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) group based on the reflux index (RI). The GERD group had RI of equal to or more than 5% of total monitoring period. The parameters of RI, total number of episodes of pH < 4, and the number of episodes with pH < 4 lasting more than 5 minutes were compared by genders and by ethnic groups, Caucasians and African American (AA). RESULTS: There were 569 infants, 388 controls, 181 with GERD (320 males, 249 females; 165 Caucasians, 375 AA). No statistical difference in EPM parameters was detected between genders in both groups. However, Caucasian infants had a significantly higher incidence of GERD than AA infants (p = 0.036). On stratifying by gender, Caucasian females had a significantly higher number of reflux episodes >5 minutes as compared to AA females in the control group (p = 0.05). Furthermore, Caucasian females with GERD showed an overall higher trend for all parameters. Caucasian males had a trend for higher mean number of reflux episodes as compared to AA males in the control group (p = 0.09). CONCLUSION: Although gender specific control data do not appear warranted in infants undergoing EPM, ethnic differences related to an overall increased incidence of pathologic GERD in Caucasian infants should be noted

In vitro antimicrobial potential of organic solvent extracts of novel actinomycetes isolated from forest soil

In vitro screening of antibacterial and antifungal activities of hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and water extracts of selected promising actinomycetes strains were studied towards Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, dermatophytes and opportunistic pathogens. Crude antimicrobial metabolites were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction and solid-liquid extraction method using hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts was assessed by the broth micro dilution method. All the extracts obtained from eight strains showed promising activity against tested Gram-positive bacteria. The hexane extracts of strain ERI-1 exhibited activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis at a concentration of 5 mg/ml. Ethyl acetate extract of strain ERI-4 showed MIC of 5 mg/ml but S. epidermidis and S. aureus. B. subtilis exhibited activity at 2.5 mg/ml. However, ethyl acetate and lyophilized water extract of strain ERI-3 inhibited the growth of Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Epidermophyton floccosum and Scropulariopsis sp at 10 mg/ml. Overall significant antibacterial and antifungal activities were noted in the ethyl acetate extract of ERI-1 and ERI-3. Methanol extract of ERI-26 exhibited good antibacterial and antifungal activities.Keywords: Actinomycetes, organic extracts, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), antimicrobial activityAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(18), 1891-189

Coombs-positive giant cell hepatitis of infancy: effect of steroids and azathioprine therapy.

An 8-month-old boy and a 7-month-old girl presented with an acute, Coombs-positive auto-immune haemolytic anaemia and severe hepatitis. The clinical manifestations were pallor, jaundice and hepatomegaly. The liver histology revealed diffuse giant cell transformation and extensive necrosis with central-portal bridging. Combined immunosuppressive regimen with steroids and azathioprine led to prolonged clinical and biological remission with a respective 2 years and 7 months follow up. The girl, however, after 7 months developed a progressive encephalopathy of unknown aetiology, while liver and haematological disease were still under control. She died subsequently from severe recurrent seizures. We conclude that acute Coombs-positive giant cell hepatitis of infancy can be improved by sustained immunosuppressive therapy

Esophageal and pulmonary scintiscanning in gastroesophageal reflux in children

The analysis of 19 esophageal and pulmonary scintiscans performed with a non-reabsorbable radioactive tracer shows that this is a simple and efficient way of detecting the presence of a GER or a bronchial aspiration of gastric contents in children. This examination proves to be more sensitive, with a lower amount of radiation necessary, than the radiological gastroesophagography. It is less invasive and takes place under more physiological conditions. It is especially useful when symptoms lead one to suspect a syndrome of GER with aspiration

QoS-aware optimization of sensor network queries

The resource-constrained nature of mote-level wireless sensor networks (WSNs) poses challenges for the design of a general-purpose sensor network query processors (SNQPs). Existing SNQPs tend to generate query execution plans (QEPs) that are selected on the basis of a fixed, implicit expectation, for example, that energy consumption should be kept as small as possible. However, in WSN applications, the same query may be subject to several, possibly conflicting, quality-of-service (QoS) expectations concomitantly (for example maximizing data acquisition rates subject to keeping energy consumption low). It is also not uncommon for the QoS expectations to change over the lifetime of a deployment (for example from low to high data acquisition rates). This paper describes optimization algorithms that respond to stated QoS expectations (about acquisition rate, delivery time, energy consumption and lifetime) when making routing, placement, and timing decisions for in-WSN query processing. The paper shows experimentally that QoS-awareness offers significant benefits in responding to, and reconciling, diverse QoS expectations, thereby enabling QoS-aware SNQPs to generate efficient QEPs for a broader range WSN applications than has hitherto been possible. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg