Molybdenum, xanthine oxidase and riboflavin levels in tamoxifen treated postmenopausal women with breast cancer.

40 cases postmenopausal women with breast cancer constituted the study group and 20 sex and age matched formed the control group. The study group of untreated patients showed nonsignificant decrease in molybdenum but significant decrease in blood xanthine oxidase and riboflavin levels. Tamoxifen treated patients showed nonsignificant increase in molybdenum, after 3 months, significant increase after 6 months and significant increase in xanthine oxidase and riboflavin levels. Thus tamoxifen when given in breast cancer helps in amelioration of the diseased condition.

Riboflavin and pyridoxine status in a group of pregnant Mexican women

In order to assess the nutritional status of riboflavin and pyridoxine during pregnancy, 24 Mexican women were studied during the second trimester and 17 during the third trimester of gestation. The biochemical evaluation of the riboflavin and pyridoxine status was performed by measuring the activation coefficients (AC) of the erythrocyte glutathione reductase (eGR) and aspartate aminotranferase (eAAT), respectively. Dietary protein, riboflavin, thiamin, and calcium intake decreased significantly in the last trimester of gestation. The women presented biochemical deficiency of pyridoxine in the second and third trimester of pregnancy, but they developed biochemical deficiency of riboflavin and pyridoxine deficiency. None showed clincial signg of vitamin deficiency. No significant correlation was found between individual serum concentrations of estradiol or progesterone and eGR-AC or eAAT-AC in both trimesters of pregnancy. Six newborns studied showed normal eGR-AC and eAAT-AC

Nutritional status of low socioeconomic school children at Srakaew Temple, Ang Thong.

Nutritional deficiency in school children is one of the major health problems in Thailand. This study was undertaken to investigate the nutritional status in 240 poor adopted school children who were classified as low socioeconomic. Biochemical parameters were measured for detecting early signs of nutritional deficiency before the clinical signs developed. Serum protein and albumin levels did not show statistically significant different between the protein energy deficiency group and the normal group (p greater than 0.05, p greater than 0.05). Fifty-four point five per cent of these children showed sign of vitamin B2 deficiency, 13.6 per cent of them with activity coefficient greater than 1.8, indicating the low protein intake of this group of children. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the vitamin B2 level between the normal and protein calorie malnutrition groups (p greater than 0.05). According to our study, the prevalence of anemia among these children was 53.1 per cent. Moreover, the difference in hemoglobin level between these two groups was found with statistical significance (p less than 0.05).

The vitamin B1, B2 and B6 status of school children in two resettlement areas in Northeast Thailand.

The vitamin B1, B2 and B6 status of school children were studied in the Khon Kaen resettlement and irrigation area and in the Lam-takong settlement in northease Thailand using the in vitro tests based on the erythrocyte transketolase, glutathione reductase and glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase activities. Healthy school children from the Khon Kaen University School were selected as a reference group. The results demonstrate that the vitamin B1 status in the resettlement area is sufficient, but about 20% to 35% of all the children show evidence of vitamin B2 and B6 deficiencies. It is noticed that besides a high prevalence of parasitic infections and poor hygienic conditions the protein and vitamin intake is low and improvement of the situation is necessary.