Variation of Asthma Symptoms Perception

Background: Asthmatic patients may perceive their symptoms inadequately putting them at a risk of a fatal attack because the severity of an exacerbation may be underestimated. The present study is intended to detect if disease duration affects the perception of asthma symptoms. The relation between asthma activity and evaluation methods commonly used in clinical practice; like presence of symptoms and asthma control test (ACT); was evaluated. Methods: The study involved 100 asthma patients with ages less than 40 years. Presence of symptoms; ACT score and spirometry were recorded to assess asthma activity at the time of examination. Cross tabulation of patients groups was used to screen for significant differences in the means using analysis of variance. Results: ACT score was higher while National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) class was lower in symptoms free compared with symptomatic asthmatic patients (P = 0.000 and 0.005 respectively). ACT score correlated negatively; while NAEPP correlated positively with age implying that asthma severity increases with age (CC = 0.41; P = 0.000 and CC = 0.28; P = 0.007). Asthma duration was significantly higher in well controlled compared with both poorly controlled and uncontrolled asthmatic patients (P = 0.000 for both). 5.7of asymptomatic patients were suffering from severe persistent asthma and 24.5from moderate persistent asthma according to NAEPP classification. Conclusion: Presence or absences of symptoms sometimes does not indicate asthma severity. Clinicians must therefore pay attention when comparing groups of asthma patients for whom severity categorization is largely based on symptomatology

Reliability of Agglutination Test to Detect Alloantibodies in Patients with Repeated Blood Transfusion

Background: Blood transfusion is an integral part in the management of sickle cell disease patients. Allogeneic blood transfusion is a form of temporary transplantation. A recipient often mounts an immune response to the donor antigens resulting in various clinical consequences including delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions. Delayed reaction is often seen in individuals who have received repeated transfusion of ABO compatible blood that incompatible for other blood group antigens because of minor allelic difference stimulate the production of IgG antibodies. In the Patients who have sickle cell disease the majority of tests may have low sensitivity and in turn may fail to show the autoantibodies. Objectives: This study has been conducted for detection of allo-antibodies in patient with sickle cell anaemia and hemophilia who received repeated blood transfusions using newly introduced test system; the DiaMed-Immuno-Diffusion microtyping system. Methods: Samples were collected randomly from 60 patients with repeated blood transfusions. Micro column gel test as well as agglutination method were performed for all samples. All the results were analyzed using Statistical Packages of Social Sciences (SPSS). Results and Discussion: This test provides clear and stable reactions that improve result interpretation. It proved to be more sensitive than the conventional tube agglutination technique as it captures agglutinate in a semi solid medium and on the other hand it has the capacity to detect unexpected antibodies. This in turn enhances visibility of agglutination compared to the traditional Tube techniques

Lipid aspiration pneumonia due to fat ingestion in Yemeni infants

A study of the occurrence of lipid aspiration pneumonia in young infants was conducted in a rural population of Northern Yemen, complicating the practice of feeding young infants with ghee, in the hope of making them grow fatter. A review of cases encountered during 15-month period was performed and the clinical findings [age and sex incidence], as well as the outcome, were analyzed. The radiological appearances and their evolution with time were discussed. A total of 71 cases were encountered during the period of the study with an average of 4-5 new cases a month. Male and female incidences were 45% and 55%, respectively. 40% of the infants were less than 15 days of age and 60% were between 15 days and 3 months. All presented with respiratory distress, usually very severe. 80% were also refusing to suck and 50% were febrile. A group which was previously healthy but with low birth weight was recognized. Another group which had a background of neonatal sepsis was also recognized. Duration of hospital stay ranged from 2 to 45 days. Addition of corticosteroids had a beneficial effect on the speed of improvement. 75% recovered, with a case fatality rate of 25%. Deaths occurred due to respiratory failure. Some related socioeconomic issues were also addressed