Vitamin A and sudden infant death syndrome in Scandinavia 1992-1995.

AIM: To assess the effect of vitamin supplementation on the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). METHODS: The analyses are based on data from the Nordic Epidemiological SIDS Study, a case-control study in which parents of SIDS victims in the Scandinavian countries were invited to participate together with parents of four matched controls between 1 September 1992 and 31 August 1995. The odds ratios presented are computed by conditional logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The crude odds ratio in Scandinavia for not giving vitamin substitution was 2.8 (95% CI (1.9, 4.3)). This effect was statistically significant in Norway and Sweden, which use A and D vitamin supplementation, but not in Denmark, where only vitamin D supplementation is given. The odds ratios remained significant in Sweden when an adjustment was made for confounding factors (OR 28.4, 95% CI (4.7, 171.3)). CONCLUSION: We found an association between increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome and infants not being given vitamin supplementation during their first year of life. This was highly significant in Sweden, and the effect is possibly connected with vitamin A deficiency. This effect persisted when an adjustment was made for potential confounders, includingsocioeconomic factors.

A new sample preparation technique for organochlorines in cod liver oil combining SPE and NP-HPLC with HRGC-ECD.

The analysis of semivolatile organochlorines (polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated pesticides) in less polluted biomaterials requires specific strategies in controlling the blank in sample preparation. The procedure described here allows to decrease significantly the level of contamination during the clean-up step of fish oil. Solid-phase-extraction (SPE) on LiChrolut EN and normal phase HPLC in the normal- and the backflush-mode were used to reduce the amount of solvents needed and the analysis time compared to established clean-up procedures. With a certified reference material (BCR-CRM 349; Cod Liver Oil) the precision and effectiveness of the new method were validated. Recovery rates of the Internal Standards (PCB 103 and TCN) lay between 75% and 90% at the microg/kg lipid level. The quantitative analyses were carried out by high resolution gas chromatography with electron capture detector (HRGC-ECD).

Estimation of essential fatty acid requirements of common carp larvae using semi-purified artificial diets.

Two trials were conducted with duplicate groups of (first feeding) carp larvae fed artificial dry diets based on casein and dextrin over 21 or 25 days. One control diet based on yeast was also tested. Survival, growth and fatty acid profiles of larvae were studied. In trial 1, (n-3) fatty acid requirement was estimated using diets supplemented or not with methyl linolenate or cod liver oil. After 21 days, the best survival and growth were observed in larvae fed the unsupplemented diet [(n-3) fatty acid level: 0.05%]. Survival and growth were not improved by higher levels of (n-3) fatty acids. In trial 2, (n-6) fatty acid requirement was estimated using diets with graded levels of methyl linolenate or peanut oil. After 25 days, the best survival and growth were obtained with diets supplemented with 0.25% methyl linolenate (total (n-6) fatty acid level: 1%) or with 1.25% peanut oil (total (n-6) fatty acid level: 0.89%). Survival and growth were not improved by higher levels of (n-6) fatty acids. Fatty acid composition of carp reflected that of the diets and also showed that carp larvae are capable of elongating and desaturating linolenic acid and linoleic acid in longer chain fatty acids.

Polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations in cod-liver oil: evidence of a steady-state condition of these compounds in the Baltic area oils and levels noted in Atlantic oils.

A steady-state condition of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollution is evident in cod-liver oil samples of fish collected from the Baltic area between 1971 and 1989. Spatial differences in the concentration of congeners and isomers of these chemicals between the Baltic Sea and other areas in the north and northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean appeared to be rather small. A site relatively distant from the PCB sources of the European continent, an open ocean environment near Iceland, showed a fivefold lower concentration of many PCB congeners than the Baltic Sea. The open and deep waters of the North Sea and Norwegian Sea differed by a factor of 2 in the total concentrations of PCBs when compared with the southern Baltic proper. Continuous release of PCBs into the atmosphere over Europe, its drift from distant sources in North America, and further aerial transport and deposition due to dominating air masses movement from the west and southwest are postulated to be the main routes of PCBs pollution and a reason for the small differences in concentration between the marine areas assessed.

[An objective index of quality and prognostication of the storage time for cod liver oil]. / Ob'ektivnyi pokazatel' kachestva i prognozirovanie srokov khraneniia meditsinskogo treskovogo zhira

Through a series of tests an objective indicator of the degree of the cod oil oxidation-the content of aldehydes reacting with benzidine-has been established. Mathematic processing of experimental data helped determine the limits of the aldehydes content in the oil of different quality, while the maximum permissible standards were fixed following biological tests carried out by the Institute of Nutrition of the AMS of the USSR. These data and investigations into the quality of the oil during its preparation and subsequent storage under different conditions formed a background to be establishing maximum permissible content of aldehydes in the half-finished and final products. Through experiments there were found the increment of aldehydes and the fall of the A-vitamin activity over a storage period of one month in large bottles of 9 1 capacity at temperatures of 10+/-2 and 20+/-2 degrees. The available data enabled it to deduce a formula for fixing approximate storage periods for medicinal oil both on shipment from the production site and at the time of control checking of its quality. The maximum permissible content of aldehydes in the medicinal oil and the method of establishing storage time are recommended to be included into the corresponding intem of the state standards-GOST, or in the pharmacopeia.