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

Nutritional status of Yemeni schoolchildren in Al-Mahweet Governorate

The nutritional status of 948 children selected randomly from Al-Mahweet Governorate schools was investigated. Age range was 5-18 years with a mean of 10.6 +/- 2.8 years. Among the children, 3.4% had depleted iron and 43.4% had below average skin-fold thickness. Approximately half of the children were either stunted or chronically underweight and 1 child in 20 was underfed. Depleted fat stores affected two-fifths of the children and approximately one-fifth were anaemic. Urban residents scored significantly higher on nutritional parameters than rural children. Serum ferritin levels were significantly greater among males than females whereas mean height-for-age, weight-for-age and skin-fold thickness were lower