effect of beclomethasone inhalation and oral montelukast sodium on serum IgE levels and clinical parameters in asthmatic children

IgE is considered to play a crucial role in allergic immune responses. Inhaled steroids and anti- leukotrienes are anti-asthmatic drugs which down regulate the immune responses. The present study was conducted to determine and compare the effects of a 6-months treatment with 600 mcg of inhaled beclomethasone and 5 mg of oral montelukast sodium on serum IgE, forced expiratory volume in 1[s] [FEV1] and clinical asthma scores in children with mild to moderate bronchial asthma. Sixty children with mild to moderate persistent asthma and sensitive to house-dust mites were randomly allocated to receive beclomethasone 600 mcg or montelukast 5 mg for 6 months. The level of serum total IgE, clinical parameters and FEV1 were measured before and after treatment. The results proved that, after 6 months of treatment, inhaled beclomethasone and montelukast, significantly decreased serum levels of total IgE, clinical asthma scores and FEV1 [P<0.01, P<0.01 and P<0.05 respectively]. There were no significant differences between inhaled beclomehtasone and oral montelukast in changes of all clinical parameters, FEV1 and serum total IgE levels. Both inhaled beclomethasone and oral montelukast decreased the serum IgE levels and improved the clinical parameters and pulmonary function in asthmatic children

Lipid peroxidation productts and anaemia in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis

Three groups of patients with chronic renal failure [CRF] undergoing hemodialysis [HD] were selected for this study. Twenty healthy individuals were selected as a control group. Plasma malondialdehyde [MDA] and 4-hydroxynonenal [HNE] were measured in these groups of patients and compared with the healthy control group. In conclusion, the present study showed that there are increased amounts of lipid peroxidation [LPO] in HD patients, particularly who showed a poor response to treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin [rhEPO] and a significant decrease in the oxidative stress occurs in patients with a good response to rhEPO therapy

Soluble transferrin receptors [sTFR] as a marker for iron deficiency in patients with end stage renal disease undergiong maintenance haemodialysis

In the present work, 27 patients were considered iron deficient [Group I; haemoglobin increased by 1.49 +/- 0.3 g/dl and transferrin saturation <20%] and 39 patients as iron replete [Group II; haemoglobin increased by 1.0 +/- 0.21 g/dl and transferrin saturation >20%]. Group I had significant lower haemoglobin, ferritin and Tsat levels and higher EPO dose, transferrin and sTFR concentration compared to group II. After i.v. iron therapy, there was a significant elevation of serum ferritin and Tsat levels and significant decrease in serum transferrin level in both iron deficient and iron replete group. In contrast, sTFR concentration significantly decreased in group I. Statistical analysis of the results revealed that all parameters of iron indices can differentiate between the two types of the iron status by a variable degree; sTFR [sensitivity 81.1%, specificity 75.4% at cut-off >1.9 mg/L], serum transferrin saturation [sensitivity 59.4, specificity 73.9% at cut-off <20%] and serum ferritin [sensitivity 35.3%, specificity 71.2% at cut-off < 100 ng/ml]. Neither transferrin saturation [Tsat] nor serum ferritin concentrations were indicative of EPO requirements. A highly significant correlation between the EPO efficacy index [EPO dose divided by haemoglobin concentration] and sTFR was observed