Optic nerve glioma in infancy: a case report of the youngest patient in Thailand.

A 4-month-old infant came to the department of Ophthalmology, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital with right eye proptosis, strabismus, and no vision. She was diagnosed as optic nerve and chiasm glioma. The subtotal removal of the tumor was performed and followed by chemotherapy, with a satisfactory result. Because of the large size of the tumor and the presenting symptoms and signs since the patient was only 2 month old, we believe that this tumor originated in the intrauterine period. To our knowledge, this reported case is the youngest patient with optic nerve and chiasm astrocytoma in Thailand.

Ice test for ocular myasthenia gravis.

A prospective, non randomized comparative study was conducted to examine the efficacy of the ice test in differentiating myasthenia gravis (MG) ptosis from non MG. Twenty patients with MG ptosis and 20 with non MG ptosis were evaluated by measuring the palpebral fissures pre and post ice test applied on the eyelids for 2 minutes. The difference in widening of palpebral fissure 2 mm or more was considered as a positive ice test. The results showed that 19 from 20 MG patients had positive ice test, whereas, all non MG patients had negative results. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were 95.0 per cent and 100 per cent, respectively while the accuracy or efficacy of the test was 97.5 per cent. In conclusion, the ice test is a useful, simple, safe, fast, cheap, and easy to perform for the screening and diagnosis MG patients with ocular ptosis.

Leptin concentration in relation to body mass index (BMI) and hematological measurements in Thai obese and overweight subjects.

The weight, height and body mass index (BMI), including waist/hip ratio, serum leptin and hematological parameters of 48 male and 166 female overweight (BMI > or = 25.00) Thai volunteers who came for a physical check-up at the Out-patient Department, General Practice Section, Rajvithi Hospital, Bangkok during the period March-October 1998, were investigated. There were statistically significantly higher levels of serum leptin, mean corpuscular mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in the overweight than in the control subjects. The median serum leptin concentration in overweight subjects was 19.6 (2.0-60.0 ng/ml) compared with 9.0 (range 1.0-30.0 ng/ml) in the control subjects (p < 0.001). The medians of leptin in overweight and obese males were significantly higher than those of overweight and obese females. 66.7% (32 out of 48) of overweight and obese males were found to have elevated leptin levels, while 87.3% (145 out of 166) were found in overweight and obese females. Anemia was found in 18.7% of female overweight and obese subjects, using hemoglobin as an indicator. Significant associations were found between weight, height, BMI, waist, hip, waist/hip ratio, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and serum leptin in both male and female overweight subjects. A negative correlation was found between serum leptin and hemoglobin, and hematocrit in both overweight and obese subjects.

Socio-demographic characteristics and health status of urban Thai elderly.

Socio-demographic and health status of 205 elderly aged 60-90 years who attended a special clinic for the elderly at Rajvithi Hospital were investigated. All of the subjects had no major complaints and seemed to be apparently healthy. Socio-economic situation, life-style pattern and other health related information was assessed. Nearly all of the elderly lived with their relatives. Quite a high number of the females had never attended school. Almost 60% of the elderly had no regular income. The health situation of the individuals under investigation seemed to be satisfactory. The majority did not smoke and did not drink alcohol. There are indications that in the future more of the elderly population will stay alone and will face economical problems because of the absence of general social security scheme for Thailand.

Vitamin B12, folic acid and haematological status in elderly Thais.

Serum vitamin B12, folic acid and haematological data from 147 elderly people (55 males and 92 females) who visited the special clinic for the elderly at Rajvithi Hospital, Bangkok between July and November 1989 were investigated. The individuals studied came from a health-conscious group of the middle socio-economic class in Bangkok. All of them were fairly well except for minor ailments and typical diseases of elderly people such as hypertension, mild to moderate degree coronary heart diseases and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. There was a statistically significant difference in haemoglobin concentrations between males and females. According to the standard haemoglobin cut-off point values of 13 g/dl for males and 12 g/dl for females, anaemia was detected in 22 (15%) of the 147 subjects. The percentage of folic acid deficiency was found to be 20.6 per cent (30 of the 147 cases). Vitamin B12 insufficiency was found in only 6.9 per cent (10 of the 147 cases). No statistically significant correlation between haemoglobin, folic acid and vitamin B12 was found. However, when the data were grouped according to different intervals of increasing haemoglobin concentrations, for females there was a tendency for serum vitamin B12 to decrease, and serum folic acid to increase in both males and females. The results of this study suggest that folate deficiency may play a role in the occurrence of anaemia in elderly people, and therefore, dietary counselling and supplementation of folic acid are recommended.