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K Rajeshwari
Email:
[email protected]
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Probiotics and childhood constipation (Int J Pediatr. 2014;doi:
10.1155/2014/937212)
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Data about the role of probiotics in the treatment of constipation
in children are inconsistent. In this placebo-controlled trial to
investigate the efficacy of probiotics in childhood constipation,
56 children aged 4-12 years received lactulose plus probiotic or
lactulose plus placebo daily for four weeks. Stool frequency and
consistency, abdominal pain, fecal incontinence, and weight gain were
studied at the beginning, after the 1st week, and at the end of the 4th
week in both groups. At the end of the fourth week, the frequency and
consistency of defecation improved significantly in the probiotic group.
At the end of the first week, fecal incontinence and abdominal pain
improved significantly in intervention group but, at the end of the
fourth week, this difference was not significant. A significant weight
gain was observed at the end of the 1st week in the treatment group.
Are we discovering another magic bullet?
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Congenital heart defects and maternal fever (J Perinatol.
2014;doi :10.1038/jp.2014.76)
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The aim of this study was to systematically review the relation between
maternal fever in the first trimester and congenital heart defect (CHD)
in offspring. Meta-analysis yielded a pooled odds ratio of 1.53 (95%
CI=1.36, 1.73) for the magnitude of the relation between maternal fever
in the first trimester and CHD in offspring. Subgroup analysis showed it
to be associated with ventricular septal defects and right sided
obstructive defects.
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Growth hormone treatment and idiopathic short
stature (J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab.
2014;doi:10.1515/jpem-2013-0461.)
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In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of
growth hormone (GH) for idiopathic short stature (ISS). Several studies
have evaluated the effect of GH in children with ISS, in whom improved
growth velocities and height standard deviation scores (SDS) have been
reported. However, clinical variables influence the height improvement.
This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effects of GH treatment
on ISS, and to analyze clinical factors associated with growth velocity
in prepubertal children (age <10 yr). Children diagnosed with ISS were
divided into two groups: GH-treatment group and control group. Growth
velocity of the GH-treatment group exceeded that of controls by 3.37
cm/year. After one year, the height of the GH-treated group exceeded
that of the control group by 0.73 SDS. A negative correlation was found
between age and growth velocity in the GH-treatment group.
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External classroom noise and school
performance (Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2014; doi:
10.1515/ijamh-2014-0006.)
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The present study investigated the effect of low, medium, and high
traffic road noise as well as irrelevant background speech noise on
primary school children’s reading and mathematical performance. A total
of 676 participants of the 4th and 5th elementary classes participated
in the project. The participants (age 9-10 yrs) were enrolled in public
primary schools from urban areas. Schools were selected on the basis of
increasing levels of exposure to road traffic noise and then classified
into three categories (low noise: 55-66 dB, medium noise: 67-77 dB, and
high noise: 72-80 dB). Reading comprehension and mathematical skills
were measured using a test designed specifically for the purpose of this
study. Children in low-level noise schools showed statistically
significant differences from children in medium- and high-level noise
schools in reading performance (P<0.001). Girls in general did
better in reading score than boys, especially in schools with medium-
and high-level noise.
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Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis disease in children
(Lancet 2014;383:1572-9)
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Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis threatens to reverse recent reductions
in global tuberculosis incidence. Although children younger than 15
years constitute more than 25% of the worldwide population, the global
incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis disease in children has
never been quantified. This study aimed to estimate the regional and
global annual incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in children.
The setting-specific estimates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis risk
and tuberculosis incidence were used to estimate regional and global
incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis disease in children in
2010. Ninety-seven studies met inclusion criteria for the systematic
review of risk of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Thirty-one studies
reported the risk of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in both children
and treatment-naive adults with tuberculosis and were used for
evaluation of the linear association between multidrug-resistant disease
risk in these two patient groups. It was identified that the
setting-specific risk of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was nearly
identical in children and treatment-naive adults with tuberculosis,
consistent with the assertion that multidrug-resistant disease in both
groups reflects the local risk of transmitted multidrug-resistant
tuberculosis. After application of these calculated risks, it was
estimated that around 999792 children developed tuberculosis disease in
2010, of whom 31948 had multidrug-resistant disease.
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