Xerophthalmia in a traditional Quran boarding School in Sudan

To determine the prevalence of xerophthalmia at a traditional boarding school where children do not receive a diet adequate in vitamin A. A cross-sectional survey of 406 males residing in a Quranic traditional school was conducted using the World Health Organization xerophthalmia checklist. The association between the prevalence of night blindness and proportion of students staying at the school for 6 consecutive months and those eating solely at the school was investigated. The difference in age between children with night blindness and those without was investigated. Statistical significance was indicated by P<0.05. The prevalence of night blindness, conjunctival xerosis and Bitot's spots was 24%, 12.5% and 1%, respectively. None of the boys had corneal ulceration, corneal scars and corneal xerosis. No significant association was observed between the differences in mean age and development of night blindness [P=0.657]. There was a significant association between the duration of stay [cut-off of 6 months continuously] at the institute and the development of night blindness [P=0.023]. There was no statistical significance between regularly eating at the "maseed" and outside the "maseed" and the development of night blindness [P=0.75]. Children residing at a traditional school are vulnerable to developing xerophthalmia where the diet is inadequate in vitamin A. Institutional caregivers should be made aware of the importance of providing a balanced diet rich in vitamin A. Institutional caregivers should also be educated on the signs and symptoms of vitamin A deficiency for early detection of xerophthalmia

Antischistosomal effects of praziquantel, its alkaline hydrolysis and sun decomposed products on experimentally S. mansoni infected albino mice. [A] efficacy assessment based on clinicopathological findings

The antischistosomal activity of praziquantel [PZQ], its alkaline hydrolysis product [HP] and its sun decomposed [SD] products was investigated in S. Mansoni experimentally infected mice. The evaluation depended on the degree of the clinicopathological changes. The obtained results revealed that, PZQ, HP and SD induced a partial suppression of worm fecundity as judged by the significant reduction in eggs per gram of feces in comparison with the infected untreated control. The effect on tissue egg deposition in the treated groups was comparable with the infection of the untreated control. Worm recovery showed a great reduction in the number of worms for SD [47.6%] and HP [28.6%] compared with PZQ [16.6%] treated groups. So, the former two compounds have the superior antischistosomal activities. Glutamate pyruvate transaminase [GPT] and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase [GOT] concentrations were measured. The GOT values for all treated groups were significantly higher than those for the healthy control group. The SD group enzyme concentration was even higher than the infected untreated control. The GPT values of all groups were greater than the uninfected control and the difference was significant for the infected untreated, PZQ and the SD treated groups