ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) characterized by excessive accumulation of fat in the liver, which can progress to inflammation, and cirrhosis, has emerged as an important complication of obesity in adults as well as children. This study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of NAFLD and its correlation with clinical and biochemical parameters in overweight Indian adolescents. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 218 overweight adolescents aged 10 to 16 yr and their parents were included. Measurements included anthropometry, ultrasonography to diagnose NAFLD, fasting glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lipids for adolescents and parents, and additional parameters of blood pressure, body fat percentage (BF%), fasting insulin, apolipoprotein C3, tumour necrosis factor-? and adiponectin for adolescents. The variables were compared between adolescents with and without NAFLD, and logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: Mean age and body mass index (BMI)SD score (SDS) were 11.9±1.6 yr and 2.3±1.1, respectively. NAFLD was seen in 62.5 per cent of the adolescents. The prevalence of NAFLD in the parents was similar among the adolescents with and without NAFLD, while BMI and waist circumference SDS, BF per cent, blood pressure (BP), ALT, AST, insulin and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were significantly higher in the adolescents with NAFLD. On multiple logistic regression, abdominal obesity, HOMA-IR and BF per cent were independently associated with NAFLD with odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of 2.77 (1.40-5.47), 2.21 (1.16-4.21) and 2.17 (1.12-4.22), respectively. Interpretation & conclusions: NAFLD was noted among nearly two-thirds of the overweight adolescents. An independent association was observed between abdominal obesity, HOMA-IR and body fat percentage and NAFLD in overweight adolescents.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Viruses are the most common cause for diarrhoea in infants and small children. Rotavirus is the most frequent viral etiology, causing 125 million episodes of infantile diarrhoea and over 600,000 deaths per year. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study between January and March 2008 was conducted at Patan Hospital, Kathmandu to find out the prevalence of rotavirus among children < 3 years with watery diarrhoea and to identify common strains of rotavirus in the study population. Testing for rotavirus was undertaken by using Rota/Adeno screen Dipstick M583CE. Rotavirus strain identification was done at Nagasaki University Japan. Data was analyzed using SPSS® for Windows V 15.0 software. Results: 119 children with acute watery diarrhoea were enrolled. Rotavirus antigen was found in 63 cases (53%). The highest percentage of rotavirus infection was found in the second six months of life. Among the children with positive rotavirus antigen, the median age was 10 months (IRQ 8.00). The most predominant strain of rotavirus identified was G12 followed by G9 and G1. Most predominant G and P combination was G9 P[8] followed by G12P[6]. Conclusion: The study has shown the prevalence of unusual serotypes of rotavirus. Though rotavirus vaccine has been studied, used widely and found to be very effective, none of the vaccine efficacy studies have included common serotypes identified in Nepal. Level of protection conferred by infant immunization with the current rotavirus vaccines against the strains circulating in Nepal is unknown and careful surveillance through vaccine implementation is needed.