Prevalence of anemia among school-children from Rio-Acima (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil): use of the standardized prevalence method and evaluation of iron deficiency

The prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency was investigated in 332 children aged 7 to 15 years, 156 (47 per cent) boys and 176 (53 per cent) girls enrolled in the schools of the municipality of Rio Acima, MG. Seventy-four children were white (22.3 per cent), 218 were mulatto (65.7 per cent), and 40 were black (12 per cent). Mean hemoglobin level was 12.75 ñ 0.75 g/ dl. Lower values were determined for black children (12.32 + 0.87 g/dl) compared to white (l2.76 ñ 0.99 g/dl) and mulatto (12.81 ñ 0.94 g/dl) children. The prevalence of anemia was 16.6 per cent when determined on the basis of the percentage of children with hemoglobin values lower than the 3rd percentile for age and sex (standard method), and 36.2 per cent when determined by the standardized prevalence method for the evaluation of the prevalence of malnutrition in populations. Depletion of iron reserves was 8.13 per cent for the population in general and 20 per cent for the anemic children. This low prevalence of iron deficiency may have been the result of the value adopted as the lower normal limit (10 ng/ml) for serum ferritin values. The small percentage of anemic children with iron depletion may also be justified by the standard of normality adopted for hemoglobin values which was originally elaborated for the white population of North America and Finland and therefore may be inadequate for the population studied here, of diverse racial composition.

Chronic calcifying pancreatitis in children: a report of six cases

1. Study of six patients with chronic calcifying pancreatitis (CCP) occurring over a 10 year period, representing an incidence rate of approximately 1:1,000 of the impatients in the children's ward of a general hospital in central Brazil, is reported. 2. Major clinical manifestations as well as therapeutic management are described. 3. The possible relationship between CCP and primary protein-calorie malnutrition is discussed and the importance of a CCP diagnosis when dealing malnourished children who do not respond satisfactorily to common therapy is emphasized

Doenca celiaca:aspectos atuais e nossa experiencia. / Celic disease: current aspects and our experience

Neste trabalho sao feitas consideracoes sobre a doenca celiaca. Uma casuistica e apresentada, e a necessidade de se estabelecer criterios bem definidos da doenca e discutida. Enfatiza-se o risco de complicacoes que correm os celiacos em uso de gluten. Manifestacoes clinicas pouco comuns e outras menos evidentes sao abordadas no trabalho o efeito protetor do leite humano e enfatizado

Uso da dieta de frango no tratamento da diarreia protraida do lactante. / Use of chicken diet in the treatment of protracted infantile diarrhea

Os autores apresentam a sua experiencia com o uso de carne de peito de frango como fonte proteica no tratamento dietetico da diarreia protraida do lactente. Os bons resultados obtidos sao motivo de sugestao para o uso desta formula