Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of adolescents towards obesity in the preparatory schools in Ismailia city - Egypt

Introduction: obesity among children and adolescents is rising for more than two decades, appears to have hit a plateau. Obesity increases the risk for serious health conditions that affect their present, future health and quality of life, including insulin-resistance type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipid levels and low self-esteem. Over weight kids may be more likely to develop unhealthy dieting habits and eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, and they may be more prone to depression and substance abuse. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of adolescents in preparatory schools in Ismailia city-Egypt

Subjects and methods: This is a school-based cross sectional study that was carried out on 608 adolescents in some of the preparatory schools in Ismailia city according to randomization. The methods that were used included questionnaires to assess: [1] personal history, [2] family socio-economic status, [3] knowledge of the child towards obesity, healthy diet and importance of sports, [4] attitude of the child regarding eating habits, [5] the child's physical activity, [6] the child's daily screens' watching hours, [7] psychological impact of obesity on both the obese child and his family. The BMI percentile of the studied adolescents was also measured

Results: more than three fourth [87.2%] of the studied population falls under the normal weight categorization while 7.7% of them are overweight and 5.1% are obese. Statistically significant relations were proved between obesity and: illiterate mothers, high mother's educational level, adolescent's attitude regarding eating habits, practice of sports and physical inactivity. Psychological consequences of obesity were evident among obese adolescents as in 33.3% of the subjects there was a severe effect of obesity on their psychological status

Conclusion: associated with changes in life style in recent years, obesity has been increased steadily among children and adolescents. In this cross sectional study; adolescent's attitude regarding eating habits and his/her practices regarding physical activity are highly affecting obesity. On the other hand, Obesity severely affects the psychological state of obese adolescents

No for reagent strips as a predictor of bacterial contamination in platelet concentrates!

Public awareness has long focused on the risks of the transmission of viral agents through blood product transfusion this risk, however, pales in comparison to the less publicized danger associated with the transfusion of blood products contaminated with bacteria, in particular, platelet concentrates [PC]. It has been suggested that measuring the pH and glucose level of PC using reagent strips can serve as a suitable measure for detection of any bacterial contamination. A total of 500 random donor platelets pool units with a shelf life of 6 days were screened for bacterial contamination using urine reagent strips [Combi-Screen, Analyticon, Germany]. Glucose and pH were measured; results were compared with quantitative culture using aerobic blood culture bottles. A glucose level less than 250 mg per dL and/or a pH value of less than 7.0 was considered positive indication for bacterial contamination. Of the 500 PCs that were screened using reagent strips, 257 had a pH value of less than 7.0 [51.4%] with one sample only showing a concomitant hypoglycemia with glucose level of 100 mg/dl while none showed bacteria growth on culture. On the other hand 4 bacterially contaminated PC units with colony count >105 CFU/ml were not detected by reagent strips, as they were of normal ph and glucose levels, this was associated with a sensitivity and specificity of 0% and 51 .8%, respectively. So the use of reagent strips for the detection of bacterially contaminated platelets should be reconsidered

Do urine collection techniques affect contamination?

The aim of the microbiology laboratory in the management of urinary tract infection [UTI] is to reduce morbidity and mortality through accurate and timely diagnosis with appropriate antimicrobial sensitivity testing. Although optimal specimen collection, processing, and interpretation should provide the clinician with a precise answer, no single evaluation method is fool proof and applicable to all patient groups. So this study aimed at validating 3 different urine sampling techniques, clean catch midstream [CCMS], midstream [MSJ, and nothing techniques, regarding bacterial contamination. The study involved 300 urine samples taken from females, who were attending either the out patients clinics at the Main University Hospital or the Sporting Students Hospital in Alexandria. All urine samples were subjected to quantitative and qualitative cultures on blood agar and MacConkey's agar. Contamination was found in 66% of the studied specimens. CCMS, MS, and nothing techniques have approximately identical contamination rates and the difference between their results were not statistically significant [76% 80%, and 90%, respectively]. It can be recommended that midstream or nothing techniques could be used in collecting urine specimens instead of the tedious CCMS

Comparison of direct and standardized disk diffusion susceptibility testing of urine

Direct antimicrobial susceptibility testing [DST] of urine specimens remains controversial largely because of concerns regarding its accuracy, particularly with mixed cultures. To evaluate the performance of DST in the setting of acute urinary tract infection [UTI], DST was performed using 19 traditional and contemporary antimicrobial agents on urine specimens from 122 women with suspected acute UTI, and these results were compared with the results of standardized disc diffusion susceptibility tests done on the same specimens. Direct tests were interpretable; for 96.8% of the specimens met the criteria of UTI. Of the 1.178 antibiotic comparisons between the direct and the standard tests, 0.2% represented both very major [VM] and major [M] errors while 99.6% were in agreement. Errors were more common in association with older antimicrobial agents, non-Escherichia coli strains, low urine bacterial concentration and the presence of mixed growth in the direct test. Urine culture was negative in 45% of urine samples obtained from symptomatic women and DST was unnecessarily performed for such samples wasting both effort and money. In order to overcome such a problem, the present study evaluated concomitant wet mount examination of unstained uncentrifuged urine samples looking for bacteria, where finding =50 organisms/ml urine was associated with 98.8% sensitivity and a negative predictive value of 97%, which means that urine microscopy, can be used as a good negative screen. It is concluded that when used selectively and interpreted carefully, DST of urine specimens offers an efficient, rapid, and accurate method for antimicrobial susceptibility determination for acute UTI, providing that it is guided by the underused underestimated urine microscopy looking for the presence or absence of bacteria

role of parasitic infections in fever of undetermined origin among Egyptians in Dakahlia, epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic evaluation

This study investigated the role of parasitic infections as possible etiologic agents in prolonged fever of undetermined origin [FUO]. The value of some diagnostic serological tests was also proved. 43 patients who fulfilled the international criteria for prolonged fever were studied. All cases were exposed to urine examination and culture, stools examinations, hemogram, liver and renal function tests, chest X-ray, tuberculin test, bone marrow, liver biopsy, blood films, serological tests including ELISA, IHA and IFA for detection of schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis and malaria. The majority of cases with positive parasitic etiology were coming from rural areas. The pattern of fever was predominantly intermittent especially with malarial and schistosomal cases. Lymphadenopathy was detected in one third of cases, 60% of which were visceral leishmaniasis. The IHA test for leishmaniasis detected all cases at a titer of 256, 512 and 1024 reciprocally. The dot-ELISA detected 8 out of the 10 cases diagnosed by the IHA test. The detection of seropositive cases of visceral leishmaniasis in the studied area suggests the existence of reservoir or a focus and warrants epidemiological study to establish the actual situation