Iron Deficiency as a Risk Factor for First Febrile Seizure.

We conducted this study to determine the role of iron deficiency as a risk factor for first febrile seizure in children. Fifty children between 6 months to 6 years with first febrile seizure (Cases) and 50 children with febrile illness but without convulsions (Controls) were enrolled from the pediatric ward of a tertiary care hospital. Iron deficiency was determined by estimation of hemoglobin, red blood cell indices and serum ferritin. The mean serum ferritin level (μg/L) was significantly low in Cases (31.9 ± 31.0) as compared to Controls (53.9 ± 56.5) with P = 0.003. Iron deficiency could be a potential risk factor for febrile seizure in children.

Potential of commercial anti-D reagents in the identification of partial D variants in Indian population.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: As partial D variants are of clinical importance in transfusion medicine, the present study aims to determine the efficiency of commercial anti-D reagents to identify partial D variants. METHODS: Forty two samples of known partial D identified in the Indian population were tested with seven commercial monoclonal anti-D reagents. RESULTS: Most of the monoclonal anti-D reagents gave strong positive reactions (24 to 59%) to weak positive (28 to 47%) with partial D cells. Polyclonal anti-D detected all partial D variants as RhD positive, though reacting weakly with the majority (83%) of them. All the seven commercial monoclonal anti-D reagents detected some variants as D negative. Analysis of pairs of these reagents showed that the combinations of reagents 1 & 2 and 1 & 6 could detect all partial D variants as RhD positive and hence can be used for donor testing. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Findings of our study showed that none of the monoclonal reagents when used individually could detect all partial D variants. A combination of two suitable anti-D reagents are necessary to detect maximum number of partial D variants.

Triangular approach for the diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy in malignancies.

Monoclonal Gammopathy (MG) in multiple myeloma (MM) is an established association but its occurrence in nonmyelomatous malignancies and other inflammatory conditions is still a subject of research. We carried out this study to detect monoclonal gammopathy in myelomatous and nonmyelomatous malignancies by adopting the triangular approach of correlating radiologic findings, bone marrow studies and electrophoretic findings. 200 cases of malignancies (25 cases of multiple myeloma and 175 cases of nonmyelomatous malignancies) were studied. Serum and urine electrophoresis was carried out in every case and positive cases were subjected for typing by immunoelectrophoresis (IEP). The incidence of monoclonal gammopathy in nonmyelomatous malignancies was 2.29% (4/175 cases), in epithelial malignancies was 0.8% (1/125 cases) and 6% (3/50 cases) in haematological malignancies. Though the study sample was small, these interesting findings warrant more exhaustive research in this field.