Management of infant diarrhea with high-lactose probiotic-containing formula

To study the influence of high-lactose probiotic-containing formula on the course of acute diarrhea, an experiment using a randomized controlled clinical trial with patients having acute diarrhea for 3 days was conducted. One hundred patients were allocated into two groups that were comparable for age, sex, and nutritional status. The test group was administered high-lactose Bifidobacterium bifidum-containing formula, while the control group had no high-lactose probiotic until the end of the experiment. The degree of subsequent diarrhea and recovery were monitored in both groups. The results for the test and control groups were analyzed and compared using the chi-square test and Fisher exact test with a significance level (alpha) of 0.05. The study results revealed that there was no significant difference between the test and control groups (p>0.05) as well as at positive clinical test (13%) and positive floating test (65%). However, the patients receiving probiotic-containing formula had significantly less frequency of stools, when compared with the control group (p<0.05).     

Endoscopic examinations in children with recurrent abdominal pain

Much difficulties are often encountered in finding the underlying cause of recurrent abdominal pain. Clinical features may vary from one patient to the other and occasionally from one episode to the next even in the same child. The recent development of fibre optic endoscopy may well prove to have a useful diagnostic technique, particularly in those children in whom other investigations are inconclusive. The result of endoscopic examinations in children with recurrent abdominal pain comprising of 62 children aged between 3-13 years were as follows: erosion in 7 children, oesophagitis in 4 children, duodenitis in 3 children, spasm of the pylorus in 2 children, and normal findings were found in 30 children. Of the 30 patients with "normal" endoscopic findings, 7 had psychosomatic problems, 4 had allergy, 4 had urinary tract infection, 2 showed giardiasis, one had epilepsy, 1 was treated as pulmonary tuberculosis, where as in 11 patients organic as well as nonorganic abnormalities could not be found. There seem to be of no significant correlation between the endoscopic and upper gastrointestinal series findings. Endoscopy seem to be of a safe and reliable tool in the diagnosis of a number of organic intestinal lesions otherwise not detected by ordinary investigations.     

Quantitative sputum analysis: neuraminidase and tuberculosis

ObjectivesClinically sensitive screening tests for pulmonary tuberculosis.MethodsQuantitation of sputum lysosomal enzymes derived from mycobacterium-infected macrophage. Neuraminidase in culture-positive sputa exemplifies such systems.ResultsCorrelation coefficient between sputum neuraminidase values (n = 18), obtained by fixed-volume samplers and variable volume micropipets, was 0.995. Mean sputum neuraminidase values among tuberculous (137) and non-tuberculous (117) patients were 15.08 and 0.90 mU per mL. Medians were 8.45 and 0.20 mU per mL. Non-parametric analysis concludes a significant difference between the groups at P < 0.001. Sputum neuraminidase levels above 1.0 mU per mL characterized 126 of 137 tuberculosis patients (92.0%).Conclusions(1) Calibrated sputum fluid samplers facilitate quantitation of sputum enzymes. (2) Sputum neuraminidase levels over 1.0 mU per mL associate with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 92% of cases. (3) Sputum neuraminidase measurements offer a screening procedure with which to identify samples for more specific, but less sensitive tests.     

Role of Chemical Examination of the Stool in Diagnosis of Sugar Malabsorption in Children

Three chemical methods of examination of the stool used in the diagnosis of sugar malabsorption in children, namely, testing for reducing substances with `Clinitest'' tablets, pH estimation, and paper chromatography for sugar, were studied and the role of each in making the diagnosis was assessed. The demonstration of an abnormal amount (> ½%) of reducing substances in the stools was confirmed to be a valuable screening test for sugar malabsorption. Stool chromatography was useful in diagnosing the type of sugar malabsorption present, but estimation of stool pH proved to be an unreliable screening test for the diagnosis of sugar malabsorption.     

Airlangga scoring system for prediction of dehydration in diarrheal patients

To investigate the predictive factors for dehydration in acute diarrheal patients, this case control study was conducted using the observational analytic method. Acute diarrheal patients who were admitted to the Hospital and Outpatient Pediatric Clinic, Dr Soetomo Hospital, were included in this study. By discriminant analysis, three significant variables were determined to differentiate dehydration risk in acute diarrheal patients: frequency of stool, amount of feces in the stool, and severity of vomiting (power test: 70.0%). Significant differences were found between the groups with and without dehydration for stool frequency each day (p<0.05), amount of stool per day (p<0.05), and severity of vomiting (p<0.05). Frequency of stool, amount of stool, and severity of vomiting are predictive factors for dehydration in acute diarrhea.