Role of serum interleukin-6 and osteocalcin in prediction of bone loss in postmenopausal women

Osteoporosis is defined as a reduction of bone mass density or the presence of fragility fracture. This reduction in bone tissue is accompanied by deterioration in the architecture of the skeleton, leading to a markedly increased risk of fracture. Interleukin-6 [IL-6] and osteocalcin have been associated with the risk of chronic disease such as osteoporosis. In this study, we assessed the relationships between interleukin-6 and osteocalcin in the prediction of postmenopausal osteoporosis. The study included 80 women whose age ranged from 18 to 80 years and were classified into the following four groups according to the duration of menopause: Control group, this group comprised 20 premenopausal healthy females, they had regular menstrual cycles. Group I [Post Menopausal Patients], this group comprised 20 patients of osteoporosis, with menopause less than 5 years. Group II [Post Menopausal Patients], this group comprised 20 patients of osteoporosis, with menopause from 5-10 years. Group III [Post Menopausal Patients], this group comprised 20 patients of osteoporosis, with menopause more than 10 years. Patients of group I showed a significant increase of both IL6 [p<0.05] and osteocalcin [p<0.001] compared to control group. On the other hand, patients of both group II and III showed non significant change of interleukin-6 while a highly significant increase of osteocalcin [p<0.001], as compared to control group. We concluded that interleukin-6 appears to be a potent osteotropic factors that may play an important role in prediction of bone loss in early menopause as it is easy to measure and can be measured routinely. We recommend for the investigation on role of interleukin-6 in pathophysiology of bone loss

Microbiological aspects of diaper dermatitis and breast milk zinc

This study was conducted on 185 infants divided into two groups: Group I 75 breast fed full term infants [42 males and 33 females] and group II 60 breast fed preterm infants [33 males and 27 females] suffering from resistant diaper dermatitis, aged one month to 12 months, in addition 50 clinically free infants were selected as a control group. Bacterial growth was obtained in 117 [86.7%]. Aerobic facultative bacteria or candida were present in 56 cases [47.9%] and anaerobic bacteria only in 23 cases [19.7%] and mixed anaerobic with aerobic, facultative or yeast was present in 38 cases [32.4%]. So, colonization of candida in this study was 94 cases [80.3%]. The results recorded that the most common candida species isolated were C. albicans 67%, followed by C. tropicals, C. parapsilosis, C. macedoniensis and C. deformans 20.2%, 5.3%, 4.3% and 3.2%, respectively. The commonest strict anaerobic isolates were bacteroid fragilis [39.1%] then peptostreptococcus [30.4%], propionibacterium acnes [17.4%] and peptococcus [13.1%]. The most common aerobic facultative isolates in this study were staphylococcus aureus [41.1%], streptococcus [33.9%] especially non-hemolytic streptococcus, beta-hemolytic streptococcus, alpha-hemolytic streptococcus [14.3%, 10.7% and 8.9%], respectively, staphylococcus epidermidis [14.3%] and E. coli [10.7%]. Diagnosis of zinc deficiency must be considered in any infant with a napkin dermatitis which fails to respond to appropriate treatment