Effect of Synbiotic on the Treatment of Jaundice in Full Term Neonates: A Randomized Clinical Trial / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

PURPOSE: Jaundice accounts for most hospital admissions in the neonatal period. Nowadays, in addition to phototherapy, other auxiliary methods are used to reduce jaundice and the length of hospitalization. This study aimed to investigate the effect of probiotics on the treatment of hyper-bilirubinemia in full-term neonates. METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial, 83 full-term neonates, who were admitted to the hospital to receive phototherapy in the first 6 months of 2015, were randomly divided into two groups: synbiotic (SG, n=40) and control (CG, n=43). Both groups received phototherapy but the SG also received 5 drops/day of synbiotics. Serum bilirubin, urine, stool, feeding frequency, and weight were measured daily until hospital discharge. A p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean total serum bilirubin in the SG was lower than that in the CG (9.38±2.37 and 11.17±2.60 mg/dL, respectively). The urine and stool frequency in the SG was significantly higher than that in the CG (p<0.05). The duration of hospitalization in the SG was shorter than that in the CG. CONCLUSION: Use of synbiotics as an adjuvant therapy had a significant treatment effect on jaundice in full-term neonates. Further studies including larger samples with long follow-up periods are essential to confirm the benefits of routine use of synbiotics in neonatal patients with jaundice.

Dental problems in hypophosphatemic rickets, a cross sectional study

Hypophosphatemic rickets is an uncommon metabolic bone disorder which affects all ages and both sexes. It is characterized by low concentration of serum phosphate levels, impairment of mineralization of bone matrix and teeth with variable etiology. Dental problems in this disorder have not been described well in previous studies. All hypophosphatemic rickets patients who came to a referral clinic during 2008-2010 enrolled in this study. All patients had low phosphorous and high ALP, normal PTH and 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and normal or low level of serum calcium. After diagnosis all patients were examined by a dentist for enamel hypoplasia, taurodontism, dental abscess, gingivitis, dental caries, and dentition delay. Nineteen patients were enrolled in this study. The average age of the patients was 10 [ +/- 4.23] years [range 3-17]. Seventy-nine percent of patients had regular follow-up after diagnosis of background disease. Dental caries and delay in the dentition were most prevalent [each one 47.7%] followed by enamel hypoplasia in 42.1% of the patients. Other problems were taurodontism in 15.8% patients, dental abscess and gingivitis in 10.9%. Hypophosphatemic rickets is a disease with different clinical features; one of them is dental problem, dental caries is the most common problem

[Dental problems in children with calcium metabolism disorders]

Calcium metabolism disorders can be acute or chronic and chronic disorders can cause different disease states such as dental problems. In this descriptive cross-sectional study done in Children's Medical Center affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences during 2005-2009, all [93] patients with hypoparathyroidism, nutritional rickets, hypophosphatemic rickets and renal osteodysthrophy from the endocrinology and nephrology departments of the Center were referred to a dentist there for orodental examination. Subsequently, the frequency of dental problems including taurodontism, enamel hypoplasia, dental abscess, dental caries and gingivitis were recorded and analyzed. Nutritional rickets was the most common disorder in this study and delay in dentition was the most frequent dental problem in the patients [61.9%]. Most cases of taurdontism and enamel hypoplasia were seen in patients with hypoparathyroidism [33% and 50%, respectively]. Dental abscess, dental caries and gingivitis were more common in patients with renal osteodysthrophia [50%, 90% and 20%, respectively]. In addition, dental caries and delay in dentition were the most prevalent disorders in this study [69.8% and 49.5%, respectively]. According to the above findings, it seems that effective screening, regular periodic examinations, proper diagnosis and timely treatment of dental diseases are the main principles of prevention of orodental problems. Moreover, dentists as well as pediatricians should be aware of the features of the aforesaid disorders which lead to dental problems so that early intervention could prevent subsequent serious and more invasive dental problems