Iron profile and dietary pattern of primary school obese Egyptian children

Poor iron status affects billions of people worldwide. The prevalence of obesity continues to rise in both the developed and developing nations. An association between iron status and obesity has been described in children and adults. The aim of the study was to assess the iron profile and dietary pattern in primary school-aged obese Egyptian children. A case-control study was conducted on 120 children, both obese [n=60] and control group [n=60], recruited from three primary governmental schools located in Dokki Sector, El-Giza Governorate, Egypt. Their ages ranged from 6 to 12 years. All children were subjected to full medical and dietetic history, anthropometric measurements, thorough clinical examination, and determination of complete blood count, serum iron, total iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturation [TS], and ferritin. Despite similar dietary iron intake in the two groups, obese children showed highly significantly decreased hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, serum iron, and TS, and increased mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and total iron-binding capacity when compared with the nonobese group. The obese group showed a highly significant increased rate of iron deficiency [ID] [TS<15% or mean corpuscular volume<76 fl] when compared with the nonobese group. Obesity was a significant risk factor for the development of ID [odds ratio: 7.09, 95% confidence interval: 3.16-15.92]. The association between ID and obesity may have important public health and clinical implications. For primary school children with elevated BMIs, screening for ID should be considered. Increasing awareness of the importance of physical activity and carrying out nutritional education programs are required

Rapid detection of Candida species in intensive care unite of neonates and premature infants by species specific PCR of V3 region of large subunit ribosomal DNA

An increasing incidence of systemic candidiasis has been reported in neonates and low birth weight infants requiring intensive care. The rapid detection and identification of Candida species in clinical laboratories are extremely important for the management of patients with hematogenous candidiasis. The presently available culture and biochemical methods for detection and species identification of Candida are time consuming and lack the required sensitivity and specificity. In this study, we have applied nested PCR [nPCR] using universal and species-specific primers for detection of Candida species in clinical specimens. Primers to conserved sequences in the V3 region of large subunit ribosomal DNA [rDNA] were used to amplify DNA from Candida species, including, C. albicans, C. krusei, C. glabrata, and C. parapsilosis. Candida isolates showed 99% concordant results with CHROMagar Candida identification system. Evaluation by nPCR for detection of Candida species in, suspected [n ' 16] patients and healthy subjects [n ' 14] showed that nPCR results were consistently negative in healthy subjects. In the category of proven candidemia with negative blood cultures for Candida, seven patients [43.75%] were positive by nPCR; two of them had dual infection with C. albicans and either C. parapsilosis or C. glabrata. In conclusion, the nPCR developed in this study is specific and more sensitive than culture for the detection of Candida species in clinical specimens