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Biomedical subjects

D Mahalanabis

Publications and source records attributed to D Mahalanabis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Compliance with diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis immunisation in Bangladesh: factors identifying high risk groups.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate factors associated with non-compliance with having second vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis in a treatment centre in Dhaka to determine which children were most at risk of not completing immunisation. DESIGN: Cohort study of infants given first dose of the vaccine and followed up six weeks later to ascertain compliance with having second dose. Factors associated with non-compliance were evaluated. SETTING: Dhaka treatment centre of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. SUBJECTS: 136 unimmunised children aged 6 weeks to 23 months who lived within reach of the treatment centre. At time of the six week follow up 16 of the children could not be traced and seven had died. INTERVENTIONS: All children received their first dose of the vaccine. In each case health education workers had informed the mother about the value of immunisation, and she was given clear instructions to bring the child back after four weeks for the second dose. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Rate of non-compliance with advice to return child for second vaccination. RESULTS: 46 of 113 children (41%) received the second dose of the vaccine. Factors most closely associated with mothers' failure to comply with the second dose were lack of education and low income. Children whose mothers knew most about immunisation at first interview were more likely to have their second dose. CONCLUSIONS: Preventive health care services such as immunisation are appropriately offered in treatment centres, but compliance among children varies with socioeconomic status and mother's education. Further research should be aimed at ways to make health education more effective among uneducated parents.

Bangladesh

Impact of zinc supplementation on intestinal permeability in Bangladeshi children with acute diarrhoea and persistent diarrhoea syndrome.

Zinc has been shown to enhance intestinal mucosal repair in patients suffering from acrodermatitis enteropathica; but the impact on mucosal integrity during acute (AD) or persistent (PD) diarrhoea is unknown. One hundred eleven children with AD and 190 with PD aged between 3 and 24 months received, randomly and blind to the investigators, either an elemental zinc supplement of 5 mg/kg body wt/day or placebo in multivitamin syrup for 2 weeks while intestinal permeability and, biochemical and anthropometric markers were serially monitored. The permeability test was administered as an oral dose of 5 g lactulose/l g mannitol in a 20-ml solution followed by a 5-h urine collection. The ratio of the urinary probe sugars was correlated to clinical, biochemical, and microbiological parameters. At presentation, lactulose excretion was increased and mannitol excretion decreased in both AD and PD as compared with age-matched asymptomatic children. The lactulose/mannitol ratio (L/M) was higher in subjects with mucosal invasive pathogens (rotavirus and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli) compared with children excreting Vibrio cholera and enterotoxigenic E. coli. Two-week zinc supplementation significantly reduced lactulose excretion in both AD and PD, whereas the change in mannitol excretion and L/M was similar between study groups in both studies. Changes in lactulose excretion were significantly influenced by zinc supplementation in children with E. coli, Shigella sp., and Campylobacter jejuni stool isolates. The greatest reduction in total lactulose excretion was seen in supplemented children who on presentation were lighter (wt/age less than 80%), thinner (wt/ht less than 85%), and undernourished [middle upper arm circumference (MUAC) less than 12.5 cm] or with hypozincaemia (less than 14 mumol/L).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acrodermatitis

Breast feeding and oral rehydration at home during diarrhoea to prevent dehydration.

In a case-control study we evaluated the role of maternal behaviour, as reflected in maintenance of breast feeding and the use of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) at home during acute diarrhoea, in preventing dehydration in infants and young children. A systematic 5% sample was taken of all children aged 1-35 months attending the treatment centre of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, with acute watery diarrhoea of six days or less between August 1988 and September 1989. There were 285 children with moderate or severe dehydration as cases and 728 with no dehydration as controls in the study. In a multivariate analysis using a logistic regression model we showed that withdrawal of breast feeding during diarrhoea was associated with a five times higher risk of dehydration compared with continuation of breast feeding during diarrhoea at home. Lack of ORT with either complete formula or a salt and sugar solution at home was associated with 57% higher risk of dehydration compared with receipt of a reasonable amount of ORT after controlling for several confounders. The confounding variables--that is, lack of maternal education, history of vomiting, high stool frequency, young age and infection with Vibrio cholerae 01--were also shown to be risk factors of dehydration. Health education programmes should promote continued breast feeding and adequate oral rehydration therapy for infants with acute diarrhoea at home.

Bangladesh

Evaluation of preventive health services for hospitalised children under a child health programme.

In the hospital of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, the Child Health Programme (CHP) has been offering preventive health care services to about 60,000 patients per year. The patient populations are mostly children who stay with their mothers or other relatives. In this programme, health education, immunisation and nutrition rehabilitation services are offered. Health education is offered as group discussion and face-to-face interaction between the educator and the mother. Immunisation is offered daily from 0700h to 1900h to all children and women attending the hospital. Nutrition rehabilitation services, both inpatient and outpatient, are offered to severely undernourished children. These preventive services are implemented by health workers and health assistants. All attendants and adult patients participate in health education sessions. More than 80% of unimmunized children and 50% of unimmunized women receive immunisation. The experience of the CHP shows that it is possible to offer different preventive health care services to all attendants and patients attending a busy hospital.

Bangladesh

Decreased food intake in children with severe dysentery due to Shigella dysenteriae 1 infection.

Factors that affect food intake in acute shigellosis were studied in 82 children aged 24-59 months. Children were offered an energy-dense milk-cereal-oil-based diet every 2 h. Food intake was compared between children with Shigella dysenteriae 1 infection and those infected with other Shigella spp (predominantly S. flexneri). Mean energy intake in the first 48 h was 435 kJ/kg.d in children infected with S. dysenteriae 1 and 536 kJ/kg.d in children infected with other Shigella spp (P < 0.001). Febrile children ate significantly (P < 0.05) less food than afebrile ones (469 vs 517 kJ/kg.d). Food intake remained significantly (P < 0.001) less in children infected with S. dysenteriae 1 after controlling for the effect of fever. The results show that food intake is significantly reduced in dysentery due to S. dysenteriae 1 infection compared to that of other Shigella species; however, adequate calorie intake can be maintained by providing frequent energy-dense meals despite anorexia, fever, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

Body Temperature

Breast feeding and vitamin A deficiency among children attending a diarrhoea treatment centre in Bangladesh: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of breast feeding on the risk of xerophthalmia in children aged 6 months to 3 years attending a diarrhoea treatment centre in Bangladesh. DESIGN: Case-control study based on stratified analysis (Mantel-Haenszel) and multivariate analysis (logistic regression) of data from a treatment centre based surveillance system. SETTING: A large diarrhoea treatment centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh. PATIENTS: 2687 children aged 6 months to 3 years representing a 4% systematic sample of all children in this age group treated yearly at the centre over three consecutive years. 66 of the children were cases of xerophthalmia (that is, they had Bitot's spots or corneal lesions or night blindness or night blindness plus conjunctival xerosis or any combination of these) and the remaining 2621 did not have signs or symptoms of vitamin A deficiency. This second group served as controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Xerophthalmia and breast fed at onset of diarrhoea or presentation. RESULTS: The odds ratio relating breast feeding to vitamin A deficiency after adjustment for a large number of confounding variables (0.26 (95% confidence interval 0.14 to 0.49); p less than 0.001) reflected a 74% reduction in the risk of vitamin A deficiency among breast fed children. The estimated reduction of risk did not decline with age, and some 49% of children aged 24-35 months were still being breast fed. The odds ratio relating breast feeding to xerophthalmia in the third year of life (0.35 (95% confidence interval 0.35 to 0.86) reflected a 65% reduced risk of vitamin A deficiency. Other important risk factors or prognostic indicators for xerophthalmia as identified by multivariate analysis were recent measles, prolonged diarrhoea, severe protein energy malnutrition, and poor socioeconomic state. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that breast feeding was associated with a substantial reduction of the risk of vitamin A deficiency extending to the third year of life and support the recommendation that mothers in developing countries should be advised to breast feed for as long as possible.

Bangladesh

Prognostic indicators and risk factors for increased duration of acute diarrhoea and for persistent diarrhoea in children.

To identify the prognostic indicators and risk factors for increased duration of acute diarrhoea and for occurrence of persistent diarrhoea (i.e. acute episodes lasting longer than 14 days) in children under three years, a systematic sample (3690) of patients attending a large treatment centre in Bangladesh was analysed using multiple regression, logistic regression and stratified (Mantel-Haenszel) analysis. Significant prognostic indicators or risk factors for increase in duration of acute diarrhoea, after adjusting for confounders, include bloody or mucoid diarrhoea, concomitant signs of chest infection, presence of vitamin A deficiency signs, decreased weight for age, routine use of contaminated surface water, lack of breastfeeding and increasing age; presence of rotavirus or enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli or Vibrio cholerae 01 in stool had negative association. In logistic regression and stratified analysis these factors, except for lack of breastfeeding and age, were also found to be risk factors or prognostic indicators of persistent diarrhoea. Policy implications of these findings for programmes to reduce morbidity and mortality from persistent diarrhoea include development of effective vaccines against dysentery-causing Shigella, programmes to prevent vitamin A deficiency, protein energy malnutrition and acute respiratory infections in children, and long-term programmes to provide clean water for all day-to-day needs.

Acute Disease

Bicarbonate enhances sodium absorption from glucose and glycine rehydration solutions. An in vivo perfusion study of rat small intestine.

Sodium, potassium and water absorption was studied over the whole length of rat jejunum and ileum by an in vivo marker perfusion technique. The composition of solutions were similar to the oral rehydration solution currently in use for the treatment of acute diarrhoeal diseases. The study shows that bicarbonate and chloride containing glucose or glycine electrolyte solutions induce a significantly greater absorption of sodium, potassium and water compared to those containing chloride only. The study also confirms that an amino acid such as glycine is as efficient as glucose in promoting the absorption of sodium, potassium and water from rat small intestine.

Animals

Malabsorption of water miscible vitamin A in children with giardiasis and ascariasis.

Vitamin A absorption was studied using a water-miscible oral preparation of vitamin A in 19 children ages 1 1/2 to 9 years old with giardiasis and/or ascariasis, both before and after their eradication with appropriate therapy, and in three children without parasites. Marked impairment of vitamin A absorption was noted when administered in a water miscible form in children with 1) combined infection with Giardia lamblia and Ascaris lumbricoides, 2) giardiasis alone, and 3) in a proportion of children with ascariasis alone. In children with both giardiasis and ascarasis eradication of the infections promptly lead to a significant improvement in vitamin A absorption and restored it to normal. Children with giardiasis alone also showed improved vitamin A absorption after therapy. In children with ascariasis alone successful therpay did not lead to a statistically significant improvement.

Ascariasis

Gastric acid secretion rate and buffer content of the stomach after a rice- and a wheat-based meal in normal subjects and patients with duodenal ulcer.

The study describes gastric acid secretory response to a rice-based and a wheat-based meal over a prolonged period of five hours and buffer content of the stomach in five normal and seven duodenal ulcer subjects from the rice-eating eastern Indian population. The results suggest that (1) the meal-mediated gastric acid secretory response in duodenal ulcer subjects is much higher than in the controls, even though the histamine stimulated response is similar, (2) the type of meal, whether rice and fish based or wheat and meat based, does not influence the acid secretory response, and (3) the duodenal ulcer subjects in this area, two hours after a meal, have a buffer capacity similar to the controls.

Adult

Oral rehydration in infantile diarrhoea. Controlled trial of a low sodium glucose electrolyte solution.

The paper describes the first controlled trial of an oral glucose electrolyte solution designed on the basis of the optimum pathophysiological needs for rehydration in infantile diarrahoea. The solution, having a sodium concentration of 50 mmol/l, was tried in a group of 20 infants with moderate to severe dehydration due to acute diarrhoea and was compared with a matched group of 19 infants predominantly under 2 years of age taking a 'standard' oral solution with a sodium concentration of 90 mmol/l. They could be hydrated as well with a low sodium oral solution alone as with the standard solution. Intravenous fluid was not required in either group. The group treated with the high soldium 'standard' solution appeared to develop hypernatraemia and/or periorbital oedema more frequently than the other group. Also, the low sodium solution eliminated the need for additional free water orally.

Child, Preschool

Histamine and insulin dose-response studies of gastric secretion in Indian control subjects and patients with duodenal ulcer in the Ganges delta.

The gastric secretory responses to various doses of histamine and insulin have been studied in 11 control and 12 duodenal ulcer subjects belonging to the Ganges delta of India where the incidence of duodenal ulcer disease is known to be high. A dose of 0.04 mg/kg body weight of histamine acid phosphate was sufficient to produce peak gastric acid output both in the control and duodenal ulcer subjects. However, a dose as low as 0.025 U insulin/kg body weight was enough to produce peak rates of gastric acid output in duodenal ulcer subjects, whereas in the controls a minimum dose of 0.05 U insulin/kg body weight was sufficient. A greater proportion of the duodenal ulcer patients also showed a peak acid secretory response in the first hour after administration of insulin. Furthermore, increasing doses of insulin in this population did not produce lower levels of blood glucose but did produce increasingly high acid output as subjects do in the West. K values derived from the intravenous glucose tolerance test showed that 75% of duodenal ulcer patients and 54% of the controls had variable degrees of intolerance to glucose. Gastric acid secretion in response to a bolus of 50 ml 50% intravenous glucose was also studied in a separate group of 16 duodenal ulcer and 13 control subjects. A sharp rise in the volume, titratable acidity, and total acid output was observed in the early part of the fourth hour in the control and duodenal ulcer subjects. In a separate group of controls a bolus of intravenous hypertonic saline produced no such increase in gastric acid secretion.

Adolescent