Effects of a few food diet in attention deficit disorder

Seventy-eight children, referred to a diet clinic because of hyperactive behaviour, were placed on a 'few foods' elimination diet. Fifty nine improved in behaviour during this open trial. For 19 of these children it was possible to disguise foods or additives, or both, that reliably provoked behavioural problems by mixing them with other tolerated foods and to test their effect in a placebo controlled double blind challenge protocol. The results of a crossover trial on these 19 children showed a significant effect for the provoking foods to worsen ratings of behaviour and to impair psychological test performance. This study shows that observations of change in behaviour associated with diet made by parents and other people with a role in the child's care can be reproduced using double blind methodology and objective assessments. Clinicians should give weight to the accounts of parents and consider this treatment in selected children with a suggestive medical history.     

Effect of deprivation on weight gain in infancy

Weights were retrieved from child health records for an annual cohort of 3418 children, aged 18–30 months, to explore the relationship between deprivation and weight gain. Their level of deprivation was classified, using census data for their area of residence, as affluent (11%), intermediate (69%) or deprived (20%). Children from deprived areas were smaller at all ages with a widening gap: by one year of age, they were three times as likely as affluent children to be below the third centile for weight. The thrive index, a measure of the degree of centile shift, showed a slight gain over the first year in affluent and intermediate children, while in deprived children it decreased ( p = 0.001). Deprived children were 2.2 times more likely than intermediate children to have failure to thrive, as manifest by subnormal thrive index values ( p = 0.00008). Unexpectedly, children from affluent areas also showed slightly increased rates. We suggest that this may be explained by higher rates of breast feeding in affluent areas.     

Effect of fumonisin B(1) on rat hepatic P450 system

The effects of the mycotoxin fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) on the hepatic cytochrome P450 system were investigated in male rats dosed daily by oral gavage with 3 mg FB(1) per kg body weight for 9 consecutive days. FB(1) treatment resulted in a reduced weight gain. At the same time, CYP2E activity was increased, which is considered to mark the metabolic changes inherent to growth retardation in young rats. Treatment with FB(1) also resulted in a selective inhibition of CYP2C11 and to a lesser extent, CYP1A2 in liver microsomes obtained from treated animals, whereas it did not affect significantly the activity of CYP2A1/2A2, CYP2B1/2B2, CYP3A1/3A2 and CYP4A. The significant inhibition of CYP2C11 is considered to reflect a suppressed activity of protein kinase activity resulting from the inhibition of sphingolipid biosynthesis caused by FB(1).     

Uterine leiomyomas in the infertile patient: preoperative localization with MR imaging versus US and hysterosalpingography

Eleven women with a history of infertility and uterine leiomyomas underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the pelvis prior to myomectomy. Nine also underwent preoperative pelvic ultrasonography (US), and ten underwent hysterosalpingography. All studies were interpreted prospectively by independent observers. With each imaging modality, the location (one of 11 anatomic segments), size, and appearance of detected uterine leiomyomas were determined and compared with surgical and histologic findings. Among the nine patients who underwent both MR and US, the sensitivity (85%) and accuracy (94%) of MR imaging for abnormal segments was significantly better than that of US (sensitivity = 69%, P = .015; accuracy = 87%, P = .043). For the ten patients who underwent both MR and hysterosalpingography, the sensitivity (91%) and accuracy (96%) of MR imaging was better than that of hysterosalpingography (sensitivity = 18%, P = .0005; accuracy = 72%, P = .0005). The specificities of the three modalities did not significantly differ (100%, 97%, and 98% for MR, US, and hysterosalpingography, respectively). These data suggest that MR imaging is superior to US or hysterosalpingography for preoperatively locating uterine leiomyomas.     

Cardiac MRI in Congenital Heart Disease – Our Experience

A significant recent advance that has occurred world over in the continuously evolving field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) practice is the introduction of Cardiac applications. Cardiac MRI has moved to the centre stage of clinical management strategy by non-invasively imaging the structure as well as function of the heart. It has a wide range of specific applications such as delineation of morphological anatomy, quantification of flow and pressure across cardiac valve dysfunction, evaluation of myocardial function, assessment of infarcts, mapping coronary arteries and so on. Evaluation of congenital heart disease (CHD) is an important application of Cardiac MRI since the morphological details of chambers, septum, defects and anomalous connections are depicted accurately. Besides, flow information across valves, chambers, outflow tracts and shunts are also provided. This article describes our experience in the use of cardiac MRI in congenital heart disease.Key Words: Cardiac MRI, Congenital heart disease, Cyanotic and Acyanotic heart disease     

Developing information literacy: a key to evidence-based nursing

This report describes the evaluation of a curriculum-integrated programme designed to help students develop an awareness of the nursing literature, the skills to locate and retrieve it, and skills required in its evaluation; in other words'information literacy'. Positive changes in student performance on objective measures of information-literacy skills were revealed as well as a significant increase in the levels of confidence of the student in performing those skills. Students who had undertaken the information-literacy programme ('programme' students) performed better on a range of objective measures of information literacy, as well as reporting higher levels of confidence in these skills, than students who had not participated in the programme ('non-programme' students). Evaluation of this programme provides evidence of the potential usefulness of a curriculum-integrated approach for the development of information-literacy skills within nursing education. With these underlying skills, students will be better equipped to consolidate and extend their key information-literacy skills to include research appreciation and application. These are vital for effective lifelong learning and a prerequisite to evidence-based practice.     

Women with fibromyalgia: Work and rehabilitation

Purpose.?To explore disability in women with fibromyalgia with a focus on their work situation.

Method.?Review of literature on work status of women with fibromyalgia.

Results.?Major differences exist between studies in reported disability and in the percentages of women working. Limitations caused by pain, fatigue, decreased muscle strength, and endurance influence work capacity. However, 34?–?77% of the women work. Individual adjustments in the work situation are reported. When the women find a level that matches their ability, they continue to work and find satisfaction in their work role. Many factors besides degree of impairment or disability influence whether clients with longstanding pain can remain in their work role or return to work after sickness leave.

Conclusion.?The total life situation, other commitments, type of work tasks, the ability to influence the work situation, and the physical and psychosocial work environment are important factors in determining whether a person can remain in a work role. More knowledge is needed about how to adjust work conditions for people with partial work ability to the benefit of society and the individual.