Late weaning: the most significant risk factor in the development of iron deficiency anaemia at 1-2 years of age

The global prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in young children is quite high and children between the ages of 1'2 years are at maximum risk. The complications of anaemia are well known, and side effects may go unnoticed and may have an adverse effect on child's life. Therefore, prevention of anaemia becomes enormously important, and the need to look for parameters and predisposing factors that may lead to iron deficiency anaemia in small children is imperative. This study was designed to determine the association of iron deficiency anaemia with late weaning in 1'2 years of children. Method: A case control study was conducted from July 1993'July 1995, at the Community Health Centre [CHC], of the Aga Khan University Hospital, at Karachi, Pakistan. The study included 50 cases and 100 controls. A questionnaire was filled by mothers after taking consent. Data was analyzed by chi-square, t-tests, bivariate analysis and multiple logistic regression. Through bivariate analyses, late weaning, family income, mother's education, the numbers of pregnancies, live births and living children, were found to be statistically significant. These variables were run through a multiple logistic regression model and late weaning was found to be the most significant. 60% of cases and 9% of controls were weaned late [p<0.001]. The mean age of weaning was 7.04 months among cases and 4.46 months among controls [p<0.001]. Among all the variables studied, late weaning was the most important predictor of iron deficiency anaemia in 1'2 years of age

Serum gastrin and its correlation with hyperacidity in patients of duodenal ulcer

Fasting serum gastrin levels were studied in 70 patients of duodenal ulcer. The mean level was 122,92 pg/ml +/- 74.38. In 30 of these patients the post-prandial serum gastrin was also performed, and found to be 131.97 pg/ml which was not significantly high to be of diagnostic value. In 20 of these patients, both serum gastrin and the acid output studies were carried and, but no correlation was found between them except that, the higher acid outputs were accompanied with higher serum gastrin levels

Phenytoin dosage prediction

259 serum samples of 58 Saudi epileptic patients treated by Phenytoin as single therapy have been used to determine Vmax and Km of phenytoin and to study its dosage prediction. Bayesian feedback and Wagner methods have been compared with Michaelis - Menten linear transformation methods for prediction of phenytoin dosage. Hanes Woolf plot [s/v vs S] and Lineweaver - Burk [1/V vs 1/S] followed by Bayesian method are best for phenytoin dosage prediction. Wagner method and other Michaelis - Menten linear transformation methods resulted in higher errort