Assessment of Refractive Status of 5-15 Years Old Children Attending Government Schools of Rural Agra

Introduction: In children uncorrected refractive errors have a profound effect on educational and psychosocial development hence it is necessary to estimate the prevalence both at the community and at the school level to aid planning and implementation of refractive error services in children. Objective: To determine the refractive status of 5 to 15 years old children attending government schools of rural areas of district Agra, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. Method: Study conducted on 902 students of age group 5-15 years of randomly selected government schools of Bichpuri Block of district Agra. Children underwent visual acuity assessment and torch light examination, height and weight measurement. Children with VA ?6/9 were further examined and cycloplegic retinoscopy, fundus examination, slit lamp examination and post mydriatic refraction was done. On the basis of values of cycloplegic refraction and post mydriatic refraction, refractive error was classified as myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism. Statistical Analysis was done by applying Chi square test. Results : Out of 902 children, 125 children (13.86 %) were having refractive error of which 76 were myopic (8.43%), 39 were astigmatic (4.32%) and 10 were hypermetropic (1.11%). There was an increase in the overall prevalence of refractive error with advancing age. There was no significant association of refractive error with gender and nutritional status. Conclusion: Vision screening of school children is very useful for early detection and correction of refractive errors. Screening of the refractive errors in school should be carried out periodically and regularly

Role of oxidative stress after routine Iron supplementation in normal and anemic women during pregnancy: Central Indian scenario

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the most common nutritional disorders worldwide, affecting people of all ages in developed and developing countries. causes dimunition of various antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase. The objective of the study was to detect impact of iron supplementation in anaemic & non- anaemic pregnant subjects on oxidative stress. Patients are divided into two groups, Control groups (60 non-anemic pregnant women) & Study groups (60 anemic pregnant women). The blood sample (5 ml) was collected from different groups of subjects. In controls groups, a fall in catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were seen while lipid peroxidase was found to have increased significantly after iron therapy. In study group, and increment in all markers except lipid peroxidase was seen and the level of lipid peroxidase was decreased following iron supplementation which was statistically significant (p<0.001). it may be concluded that iron deficiency anaemia is associated with free radical generation and peroxidation of vital body molecules which implies increased risk for pregnant women.

Assessment Of Ionized Calcium Status In Febrile Seizures

Introduction: Epilepsy is one of the most common disorders of the brain. One of every ten people will have at least one epileptic seizure during a normal lifespan, and a third of these will develop epilepsy. In children the most com-mon forms of convulsion are febrile seizures. Water electrolyte imbalance occurs during acute febrile illness and hy-pocalcaemia is one of them. Hypocalcaemia is also present in cases of seizures. To find out significance of calcium levels in cases of seizures this study was conducted. Aims: To assess the level of ionized calcium in cases of febrile seizure. Methods:This Case –Control study was conducted on fifty cases of febrile seizures and fifty age, weight matched controls and calcium deficiency determined in both groups. The serum ionized calcium levels were estimat-ed by ion selective electrode method using Na, K, Ca analyzer. Results: Mean ionized calcium level was 4.62±0.26mg/dl and 4.88±0.27 mg/dl in study and control groups respectively and this difference was found statistically extremely significant (p<0.001). Conclusion:The findings suggest that a considerable percentage of children having febrile sei-zures are suffering from low level of calcium.

Genetic studies in a family with distal renal tubular acidosis and sensorineural deafness.

Distal renal tubular acidosis (RTA) with sensorineural deafness is a rare entity, inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. It is caused by mutations in the ATP6V1B1 gene, leading to defective function of H+-ATPase pump in the distal nephron, cochlea and endolymphatic sac. We report two siblings with distal RTA and sensorineural deafness having mutation C>T in the first coding exon of the gene, resulting in a non functional protein. The parents were found to be carriers for the mutation.