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Biomedical subjects

A Elamin

Publications and source records attributed to A Elamin.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Hearing loss in children with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the auditory function in a group of children with type 1 diabetes, and to study the association between hearing impairment and duration of illness, metabolic control and diabetic complication. METHODS: Sixty-three diabetic patients below the age of 18 attending the university hospital in Khartoum, Sudan were investigated together with 63 age and sex matched non-diabetic controls. Pure-tone audiometric tests were performed using an Amplaid 300 clinical audiometer in a soundproof room. Both air and bone conduction were tested at frequencies between 250-8000 Hz and 250-4000 Hz respectively. Hearing impairment was noted at auditory threshold above 25 dB in any frequency and the magnitude of hearing loss was assessed according to auditory threshold in conversational frequencies only. RESULTS: The hearing acuity was lower in the diabetic patients than in the control subjects in all tested frequencies, but the differences achieve statistical significance only at middle and high frequencies. The hearing loss was symmetrical, generally mild, and affects both sexes equally. Duration of diabetes, HbA1c concentration, and angiopathic complications showed positive correlation with the increased hearing thresholds; while, age at onset, insulin dose per day, presence of neuropathy, and frequency of DKA and hypoglycaemic episodes were not associated. CONCLUSION: Hearing loss occurs early in diabetic children and is related to the duration of the disease and the degree of metabolic control. Strict glycemic control might prevent or delay this complication.

Adolescent↗

Diabetic ketoacidosis in children in Khartoum city, Sudan.

Ninety episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in 72 Sudanese children seen during a one year period were investigated. The age of the patients ranged from 3 to 16 years with a median of 12 years. Twenty-two episodes (24%) occurred in newly diagnosed patients and 68 (76%) in previously known diabetic children. The mean observation period defined as the number of days from each one of the episodes until next episode or end of survey divided by the total number of the episodes was 180 days. During this short period of observation 18 recurrent episodes were observed giving an annual recurrent rate of 40%. The classical triad of polyuria, polydipsia and weight loss was a presentation in 83 (92%) episodes; acute abdominal pain and/or vomiting were observed in 69 (77%) episodes and drowsiness or deep coma was seen in 31 (34%) episodes. The most common precipitating causes of DKA in the studied patients with known diabetes were acute infections accounting for 38% of episodes, insulin non-availability for 34% of episodes and errors of treatment for 25%. The outcome of treatment in the whole group was good in the 69 (96%) patients who recovered without complications, but 3 (4%) patients died.

Adolescent↗

Kawasaki disease in a Sudanese family.

Kawasaki disease (mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome) is an acute inflammatory multisystem disease of children. The acute phase of the disease is characterized by high grade fever, conjunctivitis, exanthematous skin rash and non-suppurative lymph node enlargement. The subacute phase follows with the manifestations of arthritis, myocarditis and thrombocytosis. The disease is self-limiting in most children but is associated with coronary artery aneurysms in 15-20% of cases. The aetiology is unknown, but results of epidemiological studies suggest that an unidentified infectious agent might be the causative factor. Since the first description of the disease by the Japanese doctor, Tomisaku Kawasaki, in 1967 and his report for the English literature in 1974, thousands of cases have been reported worldwide. The highest prevalence is found in Japan and among the Japanese in Hawaii, followed by the United States. Although the disease was first reported in Africa in 1979, to date only four cases have been reported there. The following account reviews the literature and describes the manifestations of Kawasaki disease as seen in two siblings in Khartoum, Sudan.

Child, Preschool↗

Clinical pattern of childhood type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus in the Sudan.

During a 10-year period, 101 children with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus were admitted to the Department of Paediatrics of the University Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan. The age distribution of the patients showed a steady increase from age one to ten years followed by a sharper increase around puberty. A higher number of cases were diagnosed during the cooler compared to the warmer months of the year (p less than 0.05). Family history of Type 1 diabetes was reported in 14.9% of patients. Diabetic ketoacidosis was a presenting symptom in 82 patients (81.2%) and 93 patients (92.1%) have had at least two documented episodes of ketoacidosis during the follow-up period. Almost all patients were treated with bovine insulin given as a single dose per day. An initial remission period was not observed in any of the patients. Four years after diagnosis, the average daily dose of insulin used by the patients was greater than 2.0 U/kg body weight and the mean HbA1C was 13.4% (reference value 5.3-6.7%). Seventeen patients (16.8%) were known to have died during 399 person-years of observation resulting in a mortality rate of 42.6 per 1000 person-years of follow-up. Another 29 patients (28.7%) for no apparent reason did not attend a follow-up examination after discharge from hospital. Some of these patients might have died in other hospitals or at home. The study emphasizes the need for urgent measures to increase public awareness of diabetes and to improve methods of case-finding and management of diabetic patients.

Age Factors↗

Islet-cell antibodies and endogenous insulin secretion in Sudanese diabetic children.

Cytoplasmic islet-cell antibodies (ICA) and endogenous insulin secretion were studied in 46 Sudanese children (mean age 11.6 years) with newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Islet-cell antibodies were detected both by the indirect immunofluorescence (IF) and complement fixation (CF) methods. Endogenous insulin levels were measured as C-peptide concentration using radio-immunoassays. The degree of metabolic control of diabetics was judged by the presence of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at onset, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level and insulin requirement, expressed as dose per kg body weight per day, at the time of presentation. Twenty-nine patients (63%) had either IF-ICA or CF-ICA or both in their sera. These figures are significantly higher than those reported for African populations. Islet-cell antibody positive patients had significantly lower C-peptide concentration, higher HbA1c level, higher insulin requirement and higher prevalence of ketoacidosis at presentation. Furthermore, the C-peptide levels were higher in CF-ICA positive patients than in subjects who showed only IF-ICA positivity. Our findings show a clear association between ICA and severity of diabetes at clinical onset and also suggest that the presence of CF-ICA at or shortly after diagnosis of IDDM is indicative of preservation of some functioning beta-cell mass.

Autoantibodies↗

Epidemiology of childhood type I diabetes in Sudan, 1987-1990.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of type I diabetes in children 0-14 yr of age in Khartoum, Sudan. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Prospective registration of newly diagnosed patients in a hospital-based registry with independent validation of completeness of case ascertainment. Eligible patients were Sudanese children < 15 yr of age, who developed type I diabetes during the period 1 January 1987 through 31 December 1990, and who were living in Khartoum city at the time of diagnosis. The denominator is the stable childhood population of Khartoum city, as estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics. RESULTS: In 4 yr, 239 cases were notified in the primary source and 268 in the secondary source. Some 196 patients were registered in both sources. Using the capture-recapture method to correct for underascertainment, the estimated total number of cases was 327, and the overall degree of ascertainment was 95%. The incidence of type I diabetes in children 0-14 yr of age increased from 5.9/10(5) in 1987 to 10.1/10(5) in 1990 (P < 0.001). Girls exhibited slightly higher incidence rates than boys in the 10-14-yr age-group throughout the 4 yr, but the differences were not statistically significant. The age distribution at onset was bimodal with a clear peak at age 12 yr in girls and age 14 yr in boys and another smaller peak at age 7 yr in both sexes. The number of new cases was markedly higher in the cooler months of the year, with a peak in January and a nadir in June (P < 0.01). This trend was consistent over the period of observation. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood diabetes is increasing in Sudan. Our incidence figures are higher than those reported from other Arab countries and is similar to reports from France and Italy.

Adolescent↗

Goitre and deaf-mutism.

The occurrence of congenital deafness, mutism and goitre unassociated with cretinism or mental retardation in euthyroid patients is known as Pendred's Syndrome. It has been estimated that 4-10 % of children with congenital deafness suffer from this condition. The perceptive hearing loss is considered to be present at birth although it is frequently not recognized for several years. The cause of the hearing defect is a congenital bilateral malformation of the cochlea of the Mondini type. The goitre is not recognized clinically at birth or in early childhood. It becomes apparent in the pre-pubertal years when it presents as a colloid enlargement progressing to a nodular goitre. The thyroid defect has been shown to be a partial defect in iodine organification leading to the underproduction of thyroxine and subsequent thyroid hyperplasia. The syndrome is caused by a single mutant recessive gene responsible for both the deafness and goitre. Its autosomal mechanism gives an equal incidence in both sexes, unusual in thyroid disease. This article reviews the current aspects of pathogenesis and treatment of this syndrome and reports its occurrence in two Sudanese siblings.

Adolescent↗

Prevalence of IDDM in schoolchildren in Khartoum, Sudan.

The prevalence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in 42,981 schoolchildren (aged 7-14 yr) in Khartoum, Sudan, was determined. With the 1985 World Health Organization revised criteria for diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus, the overall crude prevalence rate of IDDM was 0.95/1000 in the age groups studied. This figure is thought to reflect the minimum prevalence of IDDM in that population, because there is an inherent tendency in the method of screening used toward underestimating the true prevalence rate. The prevalence of IDDM was found to increase significantly with age and was slightly higher in girls than boys, but this was not statistically significant. Of 41 children with IDDM detected in the survey, 7 were not known to have IDDM before but were showing suggestive symptoms at the time of the study. This study showed that IDDM in childhood is not rare in Sudan and that probably a substantial number of undiagnosed cases exist.

Age Factors↗

Magnesium and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

There is accumulating evidence that the changes which occur in the metabolism of some micronutrients in diabetes mellitus might have a specific role in the pathogenesis and complications of this disease. Magnesium deficiency is the most evident disturbance of metal metabolism in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Hypomagnesemia has been linked both to the acute metabolic and late chronic complication of diabetes. Of particular concern, is the association between hypomagnesemia and ischemic heart disease and severe retinopathy in humans with diabetes mellitus. Appropriate magnesium supplementation might prove beneficial in normalizing the low plasma and tissue magnesium levels and prevent or retard the development of vascular complications in diabetic patients. However, well designed and documented experiments need to be performed before the rationales for such therapy are well established.

Coronary Disease↗