Thyroid volume in Turkish school-age children living in an iodine-sufficient region.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to obtain local normative data on thyroid volume evaluated by ultrasonography and iodine status by measuring urine iodine levels in school-age children living in Aydin province. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a sample comprising 1,553 cases was meticulously selected from a total cohort of 170,461 children aged 6-17, drawn from 21 distinct educational institutions located within the Aydin region, as participants in the investigation. Those with a known chronic disease or thyroid disease were excluded from the study. The children underwent physical examinations and ultrasonography imaging of the thyroid gland, and urine samples were collected to measure urinary iodine concentration (UIC). RESULTS: The median UIC was 189.5 (IQR=134.4) µg/L, which was optimal according to WHO criteria. Thyroid volume was found to be 4.6 (IQR=3.5) mL in girls and 4.2 (IQR=4.0) mL in boys (p=0.883). The thyroid volumes in our study were found to be smaller when compared to the WHO. According to WHO age and body surface area criteria, thyroid volume was over 97 % in 0.9 % (n=15) of cases. Thyroid volume was found to have a positive correlation with age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and body surface area (BSA) in both genders (p<0.001). However, there was no significant correlation between thyroid volume and UIC. CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional study provides normative data on thyroid volume and iodine status in school-age children in iodine-sufficient population, revealing a low prevalence of goiter and correlations between thyroid volume and anthropometric measures.

Association Between Umbilical Cord Levels of Glypican-1, Glypican-3, Syndecan-1, WISP1, Leptin and Birth Weight of Small, Appropriate, and Large for Gestational Age Infants.

BACKGROUND: Many factors are affecting intrauterine growth. The role of Wingless-type (Wnt) inducible signaling pathway protein-1 (WISP1), a novel adipokine and placental proteoglycans in intrauterine growth, is not known. We aimed to measure umbilical cord blood levels of glucose, insulin, leptin, WISP1, and placental proteoglycans [glypican-1 (GPC1), glypican-3 (GPC3), and syndecan-1 (SDC1)] which are thought to have an important role in fetal growth and investigate their relation with birth weight. METHODS: Full-term neonates were included in this prospective, cross-sectional study and classified as appropriate for gestational age (AGA), small for gestational age (SGA), and large for gestational age (LGA) according to their birth weight. Umbilical cord blood levels of glucose, insulin, leptin, WISP1, GPC1, GPC3, and SDC1 were measured. RESULTS: Leptin levels were higher in LGA newborns compared to AGA and SGA newborns, while WISP1, GPC1, GPC3, and SDC1 levels were not different between the three groups. Leptin and GPC1 levels were higher in infants of mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus compared to infants of non-diabetic mothers, while WISP1, GPC3, and SDC1 were not different between the groups. Leptin was positively correlated with insulin, birth weight, and maternal weight. While there was a strong correlation between the WISP1, GPC1, GPC3, and SDC1 levels; there was no correlation between the birth weight, maternal weight, glucose, insulin, and WISP1, GPC1, GPC3, and SDC1 levels. CONCLUSION: Umbilical cord blood levels of GPC1, GPC3, SDC1, and WISP1 were not different between SGA, AGA, and LGA infants. The significance of serum levels of these adipokines and proteoglycans remains to be elucidated.

Tidal breath in healthy term newborns: An analysis from the 2nd to the 30th days of life.

BACKGROUND: Few data are available concerning normative lung function parameters measured in unsedated neonates. AIM: To evaluate lung function changes in neonates. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, tidal breath parameters were measured using the MasterScreen PAED system and standardized protocols. Measurements were performed on 60 (30 male) term, healthy, unsedated neonates on the postnatal 2nd and 30th days. RESULTS: Expiratory time (TE; p < .001; Cohen's d = 0.561), exhaled volume to peak tidal expiratory flow (VPTEF; p < .001; Cohen's d = 0.789), minute ventilation (p < .001; Cohen's d = 0.926), tidal volume (VT; p < .001; Cohen's d = 1.835), expiratory flow when 75%, 50%, and 25% of tidal volume remaining in the lungs (TEF75 [p < .001; Cohen's d = 1.070], TEF50 [p < .001; Cohen's d = 0.824], TEF25 [p < .001; Cohen's d = 0.568]), and inspiratory time (Ti; p < .001; Cohen's d = 0.654) were higher on Day 30 compared to Day 2, while time to reach peak tidal expiratory flow to total expiratory time (TPTEF/TE; p = .006; Cohen's d = 0.371), the volume until peak tidal expiratory flow to total expiratory volume (VPTEF/VE; p = .001; Cohen's d = 0.447), and respiration rate (RR; p = .001; Cohen's d = 0.432) were lower, and Ti/TE was unchanged. Positive correlation was observed between length and VT (r = .347; p = .008) on Day 2 and (r = .338; p = .008) on Day 30. CONCLUSIONS: The present study reveals the physiological changes occurring in lung functions in healthy term neonates during the neonatal period.

Experience with Real-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Newborns with Congenital Hyperinsulinemic Hypoglycemia.

BACKGROUND: Effective treatment and close monitoring of hypoglycemia in children with congenital hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (CHH) is vital to prevent brain damage. The current use of capillary sampling schedules does not provide a comprehensive assessment of glycemic status and fails to detect asymptomatic hypoglycemia episodes. AIM: To investigate the efficacy and accuracy of a real-time continuous glucose monitoring system (RT-CGMS) in neonates with CHH. METHODS: A sensor connected to RT-CGMS was inserted into the newborn patients and maintained for at least 6 days during their stay in the hospital. We compared the readings of CGMS with capillary blood glucose values using Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS: A total of 110 blood glucose values were compared to readings from the CGMS. All results were calculated and plotted for CGMS values at 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, and 25-29 min after capillary blood glucose sampling. CGMS readings were highly correlated with blood glucose values, especially during normoglycemia. In case of hypoglycemia, the mean difference between the CGMS and capillary glucose values was higher. Although the false positive rate for hypoglycemia was relatively high in CGMS, RT-CGMS may show some episodes of hypoglycemia earlier than blood measurement. CONCLUSION: RT-CGMS is accurate during normoglycemia, and it can reduce the number of capillary blood samples in children with CHH.

Identification of gene expression profiles in Leishmania major infection by integrated bioinformatics analyses.

Gene expression profiling in mouse models of leishmaniasis has given useful information to understand the molecular pathways active in lesions and to discover new diagnostic/therapeutic targets. Although the host response plays a critical role in protection from leishmaniasis and promoting disease severity, there are still unexplained aspects in the mechanism of non-healing cutaneous lesions, which need biomarkers for both targeted- therapy and diagnosis. To address this, transcriptional profiling of the skin lesions obtained from BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major and healthy skin from naïve mice were evaluated by bioinformatics analysis, and then the results were validated by Revers Transcriptase-PCR. Five genes among the up-regulated differentially expressed genes named FCGR4, CCL4, CXCL9, Arg1 and IL-1ß were found to have relatively high diagnostic value for CL due to L. major. Pathway analysis revealed that Triggering Receptor Expressed On Myeloid Cells 1 (TREM1) signaling pathways are active in cutaneous lesions, providing new insights for the understanding and treatment of leishmaniasis.