The Hepcidin and 25-OH-Vitamin D Levels in Obese Children as a Potential Mediator of the Iron Status.

Background: Obesity is associated with the risk factors such as iron and vitamin D deficiencies. Increased risk of iron deficiency generally correlates with the high levels of serum hepcidin in obese children. Vitamin D deficiency was also linked to an increase in serum hepcidin levels.

Evaluation of thyroid hormones in children receiving carbamazepine or valproate: a prospective study.

The aim of this study was to determine the alterations in thyroid function during carbamazepine or valproate monotherapy in a prospective study. Forty patients treated with valproate, 33 patients treated with carbamazepine, and 36 control patients, all aged between 2 and 18 years, were enrolled in our study. Serum levels of thyroid hormones were measured before the beginning of the antiepileptic therapy and at 6 and 12 months of treatment.

Use of urinalysis as a screening tool for asymptomatic infants.

Aim: The utility of screening urinalysis in asymptomatic children has been questioned based on studies done in school-age children or adolescents. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended to abandon this screening in 2007 but many paediatricians perform it at some point during childhood. Thus, we aimed to investigate usefulness of screening urinalysis during infancy.

Clinical variability of Waardenburg-Shah syndrome in patients with proximal 13q deletion syndrome including the endothelin-B receptor locus.

Waardenburg-Shah syndrome (Waardenburg syndrome type IV-WS4) is an auditory-pigmentary disorder that combines clinical features of pigmentary abnormalities of the skin, hair and irides, sensorineural hearing loss, and Hirschsprung disease (HSCR). Mutations in the endothelin-B receptor (EDNRB) gene on 13q22 have been found to cause this syndrome. Mutations in both alleles cause the full phenotype, while heterozygous mutations cause isolated HSCR or HSCR with minor pigmentary anomalies and/or sensorineural deafness.

Incidental raised transaminases: a clue to muscle disease.

Twenty-one patients with incidental hypertransaminasaemia who were eventually diagnosed as muscular dystrophy are described. There were two females and 19 males aged between 2 and 11 years [mean (SD) 6.7 (3.

The effect of ribavirin on bone density in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon-ribavirin therapy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of ribavirin on bone mineral metabolism in patients with chronic hepatitis C who had been treated with interferon and ribavirin.

Methods: Twenty patients (3 female, 17 male) with chronic hepatitis C were enrolled. Age range was 6 to 15 years (mean+/-SD, 11.

Brunner's gland adenoma: a rare cause of vomiting.

Unlabelled: Upper gastrointestinal system adenoma is generally seen amongst elderly patients and quite rarely seen during the childhood. A 14-y-old female patient was referred to our hospital with complaints of vomiting and abdominal pain. She had been followed up for 6 y with the diagnosis of familial intermittent fever and chronic renal failure due to amyloidosis.

Spondyloenchondrodysplasia: clinical variability in three cases.

Spondyloenchondrodysplasia is a very rare skeletal dysplasia in which multiple enchondromata exist in the metaphyses of the long bones with platyspondyly. We present three patients (two of them are sibs) with spondyloenchondrodysplasia. The first patient was a 10-year-old boy, who had short stature and enchondromatous-like lesions in the metaphyses of the long bones and platyspondyly on radiography.

Congenital cutis laxa syndrome: type II autosomal recessive inheritance.

Cutis laxa is a term that refers to markedly loose skin that is not hyperelastic. It is regarded as a genetically heterogeneous group of diseases and is presently divided into five types. We report a male patient with type II autosomal recessive disease.