Current Health Status of School Children in a Rural Area of Northeast Thailand

Background : To assess whether nutritional  deficiencies and parasitic infection, which can be used to indicated poor health status, are still important and common problems  in Northeast  Thailand.Objective : To assess the current health status of school children in a rural area of Northeast  Thailand.Design: Descriptive studySetting : Primary School in the village of nakamnoi, Nampong district, Khon Kaen province.Subjects : School children from pratom 3 to 6 aged  8 – 12 yearsIntervention : Antihelmintic drugsResults : The prevalence of anaemia at the end of the rainy season was 30.5 percent, however, during the hot dry season was 30.5 percent, however, during the hot dry season prevalence was only 5.3 percent. 70 out of 158 children (45.2 percent) were found to be infected  with one or more parasites. Hgb and Hct values were found to increase significantly from the pre – antihelmintic treatment visit to the post-treatment visit in both infected and uninfected groups. The improvement was more significant in the uninfected group than the infected group.Conclusion : The health status of the school children is generally good. The main health problems found were  anaemia and parasitic infections.

Determination of Growth Inhibitory Effect of Gemcitabine on Human Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Cell lines and Comparison of its Inhibition Between the Generic and Reference Formulation

Background and Objective: Gemcitabine is one of the most popular drug-of-choices that is currently used for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).\  However, the study revealing the inhibitory effect of this agent in the series of CCA cell lines established from Thai patients has not been reported. We aim to determine and compare the growth inhibitory effect of generic gemcitabine formulation with the reference formulation on CCA cell lines.Methods: Seven CCA cell lines established in Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University were used. A cell growth inhibition by gemcitabine was determined by sulforhodamine B.\  The IC50 value was expressed as the concentration of drug that caused a 50% growth inhibition comparing with untreated control.\  The IC50 values of those two formulations were compared using independent t-test.Results: Growths of KKU-M055, KKU-OCA17 and KKU-M139 CCA cell lines were highly inhibited by gemcitabine (IC50 = 13.35-16.0 M) whereas KKU-M214 was moderately inhibited by this drug (IC50 = 36.7 M). These least inhibited growths were found on KKU-100, KKU-M156 and KKU-M213 (IC50 = 406-4629 M).\  The generic (Gramagen) and the reference product (Gemza) formulations were not significantly different in their inhibitory effects on the all seven CCA cell lines.\ Conclusions: Although the inhibitory effect of gemcitabine was varied towards seven CCA cell lines, there was no difference in the IC50 values of the generic and reference formulations. Our findings indicate that the in vitro efficacy of these two formulations is similar.\ Keywords: growth inhibitory effect, gemcitabine, cholangiocarcinoma, generic formulation

Thiamine Deficiency in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients

Background: Thiamine requirement is increased in sick children while their food intake are decreases. Studies from western countries had reported that thiamine deficiency is common in pediatric patients with potentially fatal consequences. There have been no previous studies on thiamine status in pediatric patients in Thailand.Objective: To determine the incidence and factors related to thiamine deficiency in sick children admitted to hospital for mote than two weeks.Design: Srinagarind Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen UniversitySubjects: Twenty four cases of sick children who first admitted to pediatric wards for more than two weeks between December 1994 and November 1995.Measurements: Thiamine status was determined by assessing the erythrocyte transketolase enzyme activity and the thiamine pyrophosphate effect in red blood cells.Results: Seven (29.2%) patients had thiamine deficiency, 2 (8.3%) patients had low level, and 15 (62.5%) patients had normal level. Most of the thiamine deficiency patients had malignancies but a normal nutritional status, by anthropometric assessment.Conclusions: Thiamine deficiency may occur even in patients with a normal nutritional status without presenting any signs of deficiency. A definite diagnosis requires biochemical assessment. Because thiamine deficiency is potentially fatal, thiamine supplementation should be considered.

Expression and Function of Candidate Genes Involved in Cholangiocarcinama

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Mechanism of Opisthorchis viverini associated cholangiocarcinogenesis is mediated by free radicals.

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Etiology and Pathogenesis of Cholangiocarcinoma : Introduction to the Association with Liver Fluke Infection

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