Energy intakes of children with Crohn's disease treated with enteral nutrition as primary therapy.

Background: Enteral nutrition (EN) is widely used and is effective in the treatment of children with Crohn's disease given as an exclusive feed for 6-8 weeks. Current dietetic practice during EN is to recommend an energy intake based on estimated average requirement (EAR) for energy for age.

Aims: To examine factors affecting energy intake and weight gain during EN in relation to disease site and nutritional status.

Identification of an HLA-B*07 allele variant (B*0740) in the Chinese Han population.

A novel HLA-B*07 allele, B*0740, has been identified by sequence-based typing (SBT) in the Chinese Han population. This new allele is identical to B*0705 and B*0706 for exons 2, 3, and 4, except for a single nucleotide at position 605 of codon 202 in exon 3 (AAG-->ATG) leading to an amino acid change from lysine to methionine. SBT was performed following allele separation using the Haploprep method.

Enteral nutrition as primary therapy in childhood Crohn's disease: control of intestinal inflammation and anabolic response.

Crohn's disease in childhood is a chronic relapsing and remitting condition that can significantly impact normal growth and development. This influences choice of both initial and ongoing management. The goal of therapy is to induce and maintain remission with minimal side effects.

Clandestine drug laboratories in Australia and the potential for harm.

The emphasis in the literature regarding illicit drugs has been overwhelmingly on the subject of harm caused by their ingestion. Little has been reported on the potential and real harm associated with the illicit manufacture of drugs. This paper describes the increasing prevalence of clandestine drug laboratories in Australia, overwhelmingly devoted to the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Multivariate prediction of clarified butter composition using Raman spectroscopy.

Raman spectroscopy has been used to predict the abundance of the FA in clarified butterfat that was obtained from dairy cows fed a range of levels of rapeseed oil in their diet. Partial least squares regression of the Raman spectra against FA compositions obtained by GC showed good prediction for the five major (abundance >5%) FA with R2 = 0.74-0.

Stable expression and characterisation of a human alpha 7 nicotinic subunit chimera: a tool for functional high-throughput screening.

A chimera comprising the N-terminal region of the human alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, fused to the transmembrane/C-terminal domains of the mouse serotonin 5-HT3 receptor, was constructed. Injection of the chimera cDNA into Xenopus oocytes, or transient transfection in human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cells, resulted in the expression of functional channels that were sensitive to nicotinic acetylcholine, but not serotonin receptor ligands. In both systems, the responses obtained from chimeric receptors inactivated more slowly than those recorded following activation of wild-type alpha7 receptors.

Celiac disease and childhood stroke.

Celiac disease is associated with a diversity of central nervous system manifestations although an association with stroke has not been documented. This case report describes a child who presented with a recurrent transient hemiplegia. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain confirmed infarction; transcranial Doppler studies and magnetic resonance angiography were abnormal.

Ultrasound scanning may reduce the need for barium radiology in the assessment of small-bowel Crohn's disease.

Aim: Bowel wall thickening on transabdominal ultrasound scanning (USS) correlates well with Crohn's disease (CD) activity. However, the role of USS in the assessment of CD has not been fully defined. This study compared USS and barium follow-through (BaFT) in the assessment of CD.

Crohn's disease post-cardiac transplantation presenting with severe growth failure and delayed onset of puberty.

We report a 15 yr-old girl who 10 yr post-cardiac transplantation presented with severe growth failure and delayed onset of puberty. She was found to have pan-enteric Crohn's disease and has done remarkably well on principally nutritional therapy with a significant growth spurt and the onset of menarche. The development of bowel disease whilst on immunosuppression is rare and the literature is reviewed.

Preliminary investigation of the application of Raman spectroscopy to the prediction of the sensory quality of beef silverside.

The potential of Raman spectroscopy for the determination of meat quality attributes has been investigated using data from a set of 52 cooked beef samples, which were rated by trained taste panels. The Raman spectra, shear force and cooking loss were measured and PLS used to correlate the attributes with the Raman data. Good correlations and standard errors of prediction were found when the Raman data were used to predict the panels' rating of acceptability of texture (R(2)=0.

Distortion product otoacoustic emissions: comparison of sequential versus simultaneous presentation of primary-tone pairs.

This Grason-Stadler GSI-60 system for measuring distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) allows the examiner to present one set of primary-tone pairs at a time (i.e., sequential presentation), or to present as many as four sets of primary-tone pairs at a time (i.

Current therapy of ulcerative colitis in children.

Ulcerative colitis presents in childhood in 10% of those affected, usually with pancolitis. Important features in management include growth, development and avoidance of treatment toxicity. This review addresses the current treatment options including both the paediatric evidence-based experience and areas where paediatric practice is informed by adult studies.

Immediate and short-term reliability of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions.

This study assessed the test-retest reliability of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) at four frequencies (550, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz) over three time intervals. The time intervals were: (1) immediate test-retest reliability, in which the retest followed the test without any delay or repositioning of the probe tip; (2) very short-term test-retest reliability, in which the retest followed a 10-20-min break and involved removal and re-insertion of the probe tip; and (3) short-term test-retest reliability, in which the retest was conducted 5-10 days after the test. Fifty normal-hearing women were tested with a commercially available system for measuring DPOAEs (Grason-Stadler, GSI-60), which generated primary tones at 65 dB SPL (L1=L2).

Managing gastro-oesophageal reflux in infants and children.

Dr Beattie describes the different types of gastrooesophageal reflux and the investigations that may be needed. Management in infants and children is discussed, from simple measures through to more complex medications and, in a minority of cases, surgery. Mild reflux occurs in 50% of all babies and most cases are managed by health visitors and general practitioners.

Essential fatty acid status in paediatric Crohn's disease: relationship with disease activity and nutritional status.

Background: Active paediatric Crohn's disease is associated with nutritional deficiencies and altered nutrient intake. The availability of essential fatty acids (linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids) or their derivatives (arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acids) may alter in plasma and cell membrane phospholipid in protein-energy malnutrition in children and in Crohn's disease in adults.

Aim: To investigate the relationship of fatty acid phospholipid profiles with disease activity and nutritional status in paediatric Crohn's disease.

The AGE inhibitor pyridoxamine inhibits lipemia and development of renal and vascular disease in Zucker obese rats.

Background: In previous studies, pyridoxamine (PM) limited the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and development of nephropathy in streptozotocin-diabetic rats without affecting glycemic control. However, the lipid-lowering effects of PM and the correlation of plasma cholesterol and triglycerides with AGEs in skin collagen suggested that lipids might be an important source of AGEs in the diabetic rat. This study addresses the effects of hyperlipidemia on formation of advanced glycation and lipoxidation end products (AGE/ALEs) and the effects of PM on hyperlipidemia, hypertension, AGE/ALE formation, and development of nephropathy in the nondiabetic, Zucker obese rat.

Renal calculus at presentation in a child with Crohn's disease.

Genitourinary complications are relatively common in inflammatory bowel disease, with a reported incidence of 4-23%, although they more frequently occur in established disease. We present the case of a 12-year-old boy, already under investigation for short stature, who only developed florid symptoms of colitis after removal of a large staghorn calculus. In all cases of childhood nephrolithiasis, the possibility of underlying inflammatory bowel disease needs to be considered.

Therapy of Crohn's disease in childhood.

Crohn's disease in childhood is a chronic relapsing and remitting condition that can significantly impact on normal growth and development. This influences the choice of both initial and ongoing management. The goal of therapy is to induce and maintain remission with minimal side effects.

Pyridoxamine inhibits early renal disease and dyslipidemia in the streptozotocin-diabetic rat.

Background: Nonenzymatic reactions between sugars or lipids and protein and formation of advanced glycation and lipoxidation end products (AGE/ALEs) contribute to the chemical modification and cross-linking of tissue proteins with age. Accelerated formation of AGE/ALEs during hyperglycemia is implicated in the development of diabetic complications. In this study, we examined the effect of the AGE/ALE inhibitor pyridoxamine on chemical modification and cross-linking of collagen and development of renal disease in the streptozotocin-diabetic rat.

Normative behavioral thresholds for short tone-bursts.

Although tone-bursts have been commonly used in auditory brainstem response (ABR) evaluations for many years, national standards describing normal calibration values have not been established. This study was designed to gather normative threshold data to establish a physical reference for tone-burst stimuli that can be reproduced across clinics and laboratories. More specifically, we obtained norms for 3-msec tone-bursts presented at two repetition rates (9.