Homocysteine, an indicator of methylation pathway alternation in Down syndrome and its regulation by folic acid therapy

Down syndrome [DS] is a complex genetic disease. Some clinical features of patients with this syndrome could be related to functional folate deficiency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the total homocysteine [T-Hcy] metabolism in DS children and to determine whether the supplementation with folic acid therapy would shift the genetically induced metabolic imbalance or not. Thirty-five infants with DS, with the mean age of 17.66 +/- 12.24 months were included in this study. They were selected from those attending the Genetic Outpatients Clinic in Children hospital. Our results revealed that Down syndrome children had a significant decrease in serum plasma T-Hcy level after the treatment with folic acid [11.79: +/- 0.92 vs. 14.41 +/- 4.93 micro mol/L]. A significant negative correlation was found between T-Hcy and folic acid serum levels [r = -0.112; P<0.05]. We concluded that the regulation of methylation pathways in Down syndrome patients becomes important in the light of possible normalization of the metabolic imbalance and the detection of increased sensitivity to therapeutic interventions

Food consumption during Ramadan and its influence on serum lipid parameters

This investigation was done to assess the change in serum lipid parameters before and after fasting during Ramadan and to hold correlation between dietary consumption pattern and these lipid parameters. The study was done on 20 healthy volunteers, who abstain from food as usual during the holly lunar month. A dietary consumption sheet was implemented for each individual. Fasting blood samples were drawn from volunteers three times, once before, once after and the third after the end of Ramadan. Serum glucose, triacyl glycerols, total cholesterol, low density and high density lipoprotein cholesterol were estimated in samples. The results showed significant changes in serum lipid parameters and in most cases, they were dependent on the dietary consumption pattern. It was concluded that fasting during Ramadan, with the physiological requirement of energy sources, would have beneficial effect on lipid parameters and, in turn, upon the general health state of individuals