Evaluation of ozone therapy in thalassemia children attending Alexandria university children's hospital hematology clinic

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of ozone therapy on haemoglobin level and transfusion requirements in children with thalassemia in Alexandria University Children's Hospital

Methods:A total of 30 patients were included in this study. Each of the included patients were subjected to a thorough history taking, clinical examination and laboratory investigations. Each patient received 36 sessions during 3 months period via rectal route

Results: The mean age of studied children was 6.70 +/- 1.52 years and they were 50% males, and 50% female. There was no significant statistical difference between the patients regarding age, sex and other socio-demographic parameters such as family history of thalassemia and the age of diagnosis. There was significant increasing in the interval between PRBCs transfusion and improvement in Hb level during and after ozone therapy. There was significant reduction in reticulocytic count during and after the zone therapy which means significant improvement in it. There were no significant change in serum ferritin level and liver function tests [ALT and AST] before, during and after the ozone therapy

Conclusions: The current study shows that ozone therapy is, at all times, an additive [adjuvant or complementary] therapy, in combination with the other conventional methods of treatment. The treatment of ozone via rectal insufflation [RI] route is easy and cheap. Ozone therapy can improve the interval and frequency of blood transfusion in these patients and also can improve the reticulocytic count. Ozone therapy had no effect on serum ferritin level or on liver function tests

Nutritional outcome of appropriate feeding during and after acute diarrhoea in children

A sample of 120 children with acute diarrhoea was divided into two equal study groups. There was no difference between groups in pre-intervention and post-intervention findings during the acute phase of diarrhoea. Upon discharge, Group A patients were supplied weekly with sufficient milk formula and cereal together with adequate nutritional advice while Group B patients were supplied with food or nutritional advice only if requested by the mothers. Forty nine patients from each group were followed each week for four weeks. Group B infants showed a higher incidence of recurrent diarrhoeal attacks and a significantly longer duration of recurrent diarrhoea than Group A infants. Moreover, Group A infants scored a significantly higher weight increment than Group B ones after four weeks of follow up

Serum sodium level in children receiving home-mixed oral rehydration solution

This study aimed at studying the serum sodium level in infants receiving home-mixed oral rehydration solution [ORS] for the prevention and treatment of dehydration caused by acute infantile diarrhea. It included 100 infants aged from 2-18 months, having received ORS at home during the last 24 hours. All cases were subjected to full clinical examination and to a questionaire about the amount, the reconstittution of ORS as well as any other food or additional fluids adminestered with it. The questionaire included also an inquiry on the source of knowledge of the mothers about ORS and feeding practice during diarrhea. Measurement of serum sodium proved that it ranged from 120-170 with a mean of 142.2 +/- 10.36 m Eq/Litre a value which though still within normal range was significantly higher than that reported for normal controls of matching age. Only 6% of patients showed a serum sodium level above 150 m Eq/Litre and all were asymptomatic. A positive correlation could be found only between serum sodium level and the degree of dehydration. The results were discussed

Low sodium oral rehydration solution versus the W.H.O. Formula in the correction of dehydration in children

This work aimed at comparing the efficacy and safety of an ORS solution containing 60 mEq/ litre of sodium versus the standard WHO formula [ORS-90]. It included 50 wellnourished infants with mild to moderate dehydration classified into 2 groups of 25 each. Mothers were allowed to give either ORS solution to dehydrated infants ad-libitum and feeding was allowed only after correction of dehydration. The study proved that there was no significant differences between both groups as regards the speed of rehydration the amount of ORS needed for rehydration and the weight gain after rehydration as well as the mean serum sodium and potassium. After rehydration, all cases of hyponatremia were corrected in both groups. Asymptomatic hypernatremia was still present in 12% of cases in the ORS-90 group while the risk of hypernatremia was nil in the ORS-60 group. These results were discussed