Migasena P

Proteinase inhibitors and other biochemical criteria in infants and primary schoolchildren from urban and rural environments

1. Preschool children and schoolchildren from a rural area in the northeast of Thailand were compared with children from urban areas for prealbumin, albumin, transferrin, alpha 1 B-glucoprotein, the acute-phase reactants alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, haptoglobin and the proteinase inhibitors alpha 1-protease inhibitor (A1PI) as well as alpha 2-microglobulin (alpha 2M). Urinary urea nitrogen:creatinine (U-C) as well as haemoglobin were also determined. Village preschool children were grouped according to their SD score for weight-for-height based on the (US) National Center for Health Statistics (1976) standard into a normal group with SD scores of greater than or equal to --1.99 and an undernourished group with SD scores of less than or equal to --2.00. 2. There was no significant difference between the normal and the undernourished groups of preschool children for any of the factors measured. 3. Haemoglobin and prealbumin concentrations of preschool children were lower in the rural children than in the urban preschool children from Bangkok. 4. In rural schoolchildren haemoglobin was lower but albumin, transferrin, alpha 1B-glycoprotein and haptoglobin were higher than in urban schoolchildren from the provincial town of Khon Kaen. 5. Serum concentrations of the proteinase inhibitors A1PI and alpha 2M were significantly higher in the rural children than in the urban children. 6. U-C values were lower in rural schoolchildren compared with urban schoolchildren.

Riboflavin supplementation in a resettlement village in north-east Thailand.

I. A high prevalence of biochemical ariboflavinosis was shown to be present in the preschool children and a small group of adults in a village in north-east Thailand using an in vitro test based on erythrocyte glutathione reductasc (EGR) activity. z. A riboflavin supplement of 10 mgld mas given to all subjects for 7 d. 3. It was demonstrated that the riboflavin supplement cured the biochemical ariboflavinosis and the results supported the prcvious suggestion that a stimulation 3 20 % of the in vitro EGR activity was a good indicator of ariboflavinosis. 4. A dietary survey carried out on twenty preschool children during the experimental period showed riboflavin intake to be low, 0.18 2 0.06 mg/Mcal. 5 . No glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD)-deficient subjects were shown to be deficient in riboflavin by the in vitro test. The possibility of using in vivo stimulation of EGR activity by riboflavin is discussed as a possible way of demonstrating ariboflavinosis in G-6PD-deficient subjects.

Pregnancy, nutrition and parasitic infection of rural and urban women in northeast Thailand

Abstract Outcome of pregnancy as well as nutritional status and intake, haemoglobin, albumin and parasitic infection rate of pregnant women from the villages and of women in a high socio-economic class from the urban sector in Northeast Thailand were investigated. Females in the rural areas get pregnant at a younger age. Generally, the nutritional status of urban women is better than that of their rural counterparts. Differences in haemoglobin between the groups could only be observed at the onset of pregnancy because pregnant rural women were treated frequently with iron tablets. No difference in the albumin level could be observed between groups. Total energy intake was the same in both groups but higher intakes of fat, protein, vitamins and trace elements were found in the group of urban women. Liver fluke infection was associated with lower maternal weight gain in the rural women. 52.3% of the women in the villages had insufficient maternal weight gains below 7 kg, as compared to only 11.5% of the urban women. 15.8% of the babies delivered by the village women and 5.4% by the urban women had low birth weights. In the rural women, the risk of delivering low birth weight babies was more than 3, and of insufficient weight gain, more than 6 times higher than in the urban women.

Lipid composition of serum lipoprotein in opisthorchiasis.

Lipid composition (i.e. total cholesterol, free cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, triglycerides and phospholipids) in the individual serum lipoprotein fractions (i.e. high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein and very low-density lipoprotein) were studied in 24 healthy controls and 18 opisthorchiasis patients admitted to the Bangkok Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Tropical Medicine. The two groups were similar in age range, sex ration and anthropometric data. Other background data such as blood pressure and alcohol consumption, were also similar in the two groups. All the patients had the habit of eating raw or half-cooked fish. Abnormalities of high-density lipoprotein content in the opisthorchiasis group showed as low cholesterol and cholesteryl ester concentrations but with high triglyceride concentrations. These may result from disturbance of the synthesis of nascent disk high-density lipoprotein or the removal of lipid content in lipoproteins.

The serum protein pattern in primary hepatoma and amoebic liver abscess.

A study of the serum proteins pattern of 30 patients with primary liver cell carcinoma and 11 with amoebic liver abscess was carried out. When compared with controls significant differences were found for both conditions in the values of pre-albumin, transferrin, albumin, haptoglobin, alpha 2-macroglobulin, and alpha 2HS-glycoprotein. In the differential diagnosis of amoebic liver abscess and primary hepatic carcinoma, the estimation of albumin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, haptoglobin ceruloplasmin, alpha 2H2-glycoprotein and transferrin was found helpful.

Nutrition, Infection and Immune Response

Infectious diseases and malnutrition are two of the most common health problems in children of developing countries. The situation is more severe if these two conditions occur concurrently. The interaction of infection and malnutrition may be considered to be cyclic insofar as one condition is capable of accentuating the other. Not only may malnutrition increase host susceptibility to infection, but infection on the other hand may also precipitate malnutrition, particularly in borderline cases. Altered eating habits, loss of appetite, malabsorption and negative nitrogen balance are often secondary to chronic infections so common in developing countries. For example, diarrhea and measles can frequently aggravate subclinically malnourished infant also frank kwashiorkor.