Toxicity of Nerium oleander leaf extract in mice.

Non-lethal dose of 70% ethanol extract of the Nerium oleander dry leaves (1000 mg/kg body weight) was subcutaneously injected into male and female mice once a week for 9 weeks (total 10 doses). One day after the last injection, final body weight gain (relative percentage to the initial body weight) had a tendency, in both males and females, towards depression suggesting a metabolic insult at other sites than those involved in myocardial function. Multiple exposure of the mice to the specified dose failed to express a significant influence on blood parameters (WBC, RBC, Hb, HCT, PLT) as well as myocardium. On the other hand, a lethal dose (4000 mg/kg body weight) was capable of inducing progressive changes in myocardial electrical activity ending up in cardiac arrest. The electrocardiogram abnormalities could be brought about by the expected Na+, K(+)-ATPase inhibition by the cardiac glycosides (cardenolides) content of the lethal dose.

Prevalence of urinary tract infections in febrile infants and children

Urinary tract infection [UTI] is relatively a common cause of fever in infants and young children. False negative diagnosis will leave UTI patients at risk for serious complications, while false positive one may lead to unnecessary invasive testing and expensive treatment. In order to find UTI prevalence in febrile Egyptian infants and children and to evaluate the role of urine analysis and culture and renal sonography in UTI diagnosis, we studied 200 cases with fever for <48hs after excluding those with clinically detectable cause, other than UTI, for the fever. The overall UTI prevalence in febrile infants and children was 7.5%. It was higher in females than in males and in uncircumcised than in circumcised males. UTI symptoms in neonates and infants were not specific and older children had urinary symptoms highly associated with UTI. E.coli was the commonest causative organism for UTI. Our work showed that UTI is an important cause in febrile Egyptian infants and children so that we strongly recommend further studies on best cost - effective management of these patients