Universal Subsidized Continuous Glucose Monitoring Funding for Young People With Type 1 Diabetes: Uptake and Outcomes Over 2 Years, a Population-Based Study.

Objective: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is increasingly used in type 1 diabetes management; however, funding models vary. This study determined the uptake rate and glycemic outcomes following a change in national health policy to introduce universal subsidized CGM funding for people with type 1 diabetes aged <21 years.

Research Design And Methods: Longitudinal data from 12 months before the subsidy until 24 months after were analyzed.

Randomized placebo-controlled trial on azithromycin to reduce the morbidity of bronchiolitis in Indigenous Australian infants: rationale and protocol.

Background: Acute lower respiratory infections are the commonest cause of morbidity and potentially preventable mortality in Indigenous infants. Infancy is also a critical time for post-natal lung growth and development. Severe or repeated lower airway injury in very young children likely increases the likelihood of chronic pulmonary disorders later in life.

Clinical presentation of rheumatic fever in an endemic area.

This study documented whether patients diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever (ARF) in North Queensland, Australia, conformed to the 1992 Revised Jones Criteria (RJC). The authors aimed to determine whether inclusion of subclinical carditis (SCC) and monarthritis as major manifestations and a low-grade temperature as a minor manifestation in the RJC are justified in this population. A retrospective review of patients in whom the diagnosis of ARF relied on the experience of clinicians and who were admitted to the Townsville and Cairns Base Hospitals between 1997 and 2007 was undertaken.

Enteral resuscitation and early enteral feeding in children with major burns--effect on McFarlane response to stress.

Aim: Early enteral feeding has become standard practice for burned patients. The aim of this study was to determine whether early enteral feeding could be used as an avenue for resuscitation and feeding and the effect it would have on the induction/amelioration of the hormonal stress response.

Method: Eighteen children with <20% TBSA were randomly assigned to either early enteral feeding and resuscitation, or intravenous resuscitation with the induction of enteral feeding delayed.

Mother-infant interactions and infant development are altered by maternal iron deficiency anemia.

The aim of this study was to determine whether iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in young South African mothers alters mother-infant interactions and the infant's development. The study was a prospective, randomized, controlled intervention trial with 3 groups of mothers: nonanemic controls and anemic mothers administered either placebo (25 mg ascorbic acid and 10 microg folate) or daily iron treatment (125 mg FeSO(4) plus ascorbate and folate). Mothers of full-term, normal birth weight infants (n = 81) were followed from 10 wk to 9 mo postpartum.

Maternal iron deficiency anemia affects postpartum emotions and cognition.

The aim of this study was to determine whether iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in mothers alters their maternal cognitive and behavioral performance, the mother-infant interaction, and the infant's development. This article focuses on the relation between IDA and cognition as well as behavioral affect in the young mothers. This prospective, randomized, controlled, intervention trial was conducted in South Africa among 3 groups of mothers: nonanemic controls and anemic mothers receiving either placebo (10 microg folate and 25 mg vitamin C) or daily iron (125 mg FeS0(4), 10 microg folate, 25 mg vitamin C).

Growth and micronutrient disturbances in stable, HIV-infected children in Cape Town.

This prospective study of 60 stable, HIV-infected children in an economically deprived setting was designed to document anthropometric and micronutrient disturbances. Investigations included CD4+ counts, anthropometry and plasma levels of albumin, transthyretin, retinol-binding protein (RBP), vitamins A, B6, E and B12, and folate, zinc and copper. The median age was 25 months.

A prospective, cross-sectional study of anaemia and peripheral iron status in antiretroviral naïve, HIV-1 infected children in Cape Town, South Africa.

Background: Anaemia is a common manifestation of paediatric HIV infection. Although there are many causes, anaemia of chronic diseases is the most frequent type. In poor countries iron deficiency is widespread.

Plasma free iron: a possible cause of oedema in kwashiorkor.

Background: Oedema is a sine qua non for the diagnosis of kwashiorkor yet the mechanisms leading to oedema remain ill defined.

Aims: To relate the plasma concentration of radical promoting 'free' iron to the degree of oedema in patients with kwashiorkor.

Setting: University teaching hospital.

Bone marrow and chelatable iron in patients with protein energy malnutrition.

Objectives: To examine the iron status of malnourished children by comparing bone marrow iron deposits in children with protein energy malnutrition with those in well-nourished controls, and measuring chelatable urinary iron excretion in children with kwashiorkor.

Design: Bone marrow iron was assessed histologically in postmortem specimens from children with kwashiorkor or marasmus, and from controls. Twenty-four-hour urinary iron was measured in children with severe kwashiorkor, half of whom received 10 mg/kg of intramuscular desferrioxamine (DFO) on admission.

Misplaced iron in kwashiorkor.

Objectives: To determine the presence of radical promoting iron (non-protein-bound or loosely bound or free iron) in the plasma of children with kwashiorkor.

Design: The bleomycin assay was employed for the quantitation of free or loosely bound iron.

Setting: The Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, Tertiary Care.

Recombinant human erythropoietin in the treatment of the anemia of prematurity: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) in the treatment of the anemia of prematurity.

Methodology: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 80 preterm infants (< or = 32 weeks; postnatal age, 2 to 8 weeks; central hematocrit < or = 35%). Patients were randomly assigned to receive subcutaneous rHuEpo (Eprex, 600 U/kg per week) or an equivalent volume of placebo, for up to 6 weeks.

The social, family and medical backgrounds of children with kwashiorkor presenting at a teaching hospital.

The social, family and medical backgrounds of 53 children hospitalised with kwashiorkor were compared with those of 106 children hospitalised for non-nutritional diseases to determine risk factors for severe nutritional disease in children presenting to a teaching hospital. The control children were matched for age, sex, race and the non-nutritional illness complicating the course of the children with kwashiorkor; in 80% of cases the reason for admission was either gastro-enteritis or pneumonia. A major difference between the groups was the educational status of the mothers.

Empiric red cell transfusion in asymptomatic preterm infants.

In a prospective randomized trial, asymptomatic very low-birth-weight infants in a neonatal intensive care unit were either electively transfused with red cells to maintain capillary haematocrit greater than 0.35 l/1 (group 1; n = 9), or were not transfused (group 2; n = 10). Individuals from both groups were excluded if they subsequently received non-elective transfusions, necessitated by their clinical condition.

Red blood cell antioxidant enzyme concentrations in kwashiorkor and marasmus.

Kwashiorkor may occur when an imbalance between pro- and antioxidants in malnourished children results in an excess of free radicals. The concentrations of the antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) were measured in erythrocytes of 22 children with kwashiorkor on admission to hospital and repeated on days 5, 10 and 30 of recovery. The concentrations were compared with those in 22 children with marasmus and in 20 children who were normally nourished but had infective illness necessitating their hospitalization.

Comparison of enteral and intramuscular vitamin A supplementation in preterm infants.

Vitamin A deficiency associated with preterm delivery is not readily reversible using the recommended supplement of 1500 IU per day. It has been reported that 2000 IU of intramuscular vitamin A administered on alternate days for 28 days will correct the deficiency. The objective of this study was to compare this regime with the practice in our nursery of giving 5000 IU of vitamin A per day with the early introduction of feeds.

Reversible cerebral shrinkage in kwashiorkor: an MRI study.

Protein energy malnutrition is associated with cerebral atrophy which may be detrimental to intellectual development. The aim of this study was to document the anatomical abnormalities which lead to the appearance of cerebral atrophy using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the acute stage of kwashiorkor and to monitor changes during nutritional rehabilitation. Twelve children aged 6 to 37 months requiring admission to hospital for the treatment of kwashiorkor were studied.

Serum erythropoietin concentrations in symptomatic infants during the anaemia of prematurity.

A comparison was carried out between a series of neonates who weighed less than 1500 g at birth and received red cell transfusions for symptomatic anaemia of prematurity (group 1, n = 14) and controls of similar gestational age and weight, who remained well and were not transfused during their nursery stay (group 2, n = 10). Mean (SD) haemoglobin concentrations at birth were 163 (12) g/l and 183 (17) g/l (p = 0.004), respectively.

Plasma zinc, copper, selenium, ferritin and whole blood manganese concentrations in children with kwashiorkor in the acute stage and during refeeding.

Plasma zinc, copper, selenium, ferritin and whole blood manganese concentrations were measured in 22 children with kwashiorkor on admission to hospital and on days 5, 10 and 30 of refeeding. Twenty similarly aged, healthy, well nourished children served as controls. The mean (SEM) zinc, copper and selenium concentrations of 7.

Post-exercise ketosis in post-prandial exercise: effect of glucose and alanine ingestion in humans.

This study examined ketosis in response to 90 min of running before and after the ingestion of 50 g glucose or 50 g L-alanine in thirty-three athletes. Everyone ran 20 km at 07.30 h and then rested, while fasting, till 16.

Adrenergic modulation of human pancreatic polypeptide (hPP) release.

Serum human pancreatic polypeptide (hPP) responses to adrenergic modulation were measured in 24 normal subjects. Epinephrine (6 microgram/min) was infused to stimulate adrenergic alpha- and beta-receptors. Beta-receptor stimulation was achieved by infusing epinephrine and selectively blocking alpha- receptors with phentolamine, and alpha-receptor stimulation was achieved by infusing epinephrine and blocking beta-receptors with propranolol.

Pancreas transplantation in the pig. A trial of various immunosuppressive regimens.

Five immunosuppressive regimens which included prednisone, azathioprine and niridazole were compared in pancreatectomized pigs after orthotopic whole-pancreas transplantation. The survival time was longer than in non-immunosuppressed pigs, but only in those given niridazole 500 mg twice daily was this marked. The weekly plasma insulin and glucagon values and responses to the oral glucose load 7 days after transplantation showed that prednisone 1,0 g/d and azathioprine 100 mg/d, or niridazole 500 mg twice daily, were successful immunosuppressive agents.

The effect of dietary fiber on glucose and hormone responses to a mixed meal in normal subjects and in diabetic subjects with and without autonomic neuropathy.

We investigated the effects of fiber on responses of blood glucose, serum insulin, gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), and immunoreactive pancreatic glucagon (IRG) to ingestion of mixed meal with and without added fiber (5 g guar and 5 g pectin) in 12 normal, healthy subjects and in 12 age-, sex-, and weight-matched non-insulin-dependent, maturity-onset diabetic subjects (NIDDM). Fiber markedly enhanced glucose tolerance in the normal subjects without a change in insulin or GIP but with a significant reduction in glucagon responses. Fiber also markedly improved glucose tolerance in the NIDDMs without changing insulin or GIP but with a significant reduction in the glucagon responses.

Plasma pancreatic polypeptide concentrations in acute pancreatitis.

Plasma human pancreatic polypeptide (hPP) concentrations were measured in 17 patients with acute pancreatitis. On admission the mean plasma hPP concentration was 33 +/ 6,9 pmol/l (range 11-92 pmol/l), which was similar to the mean hPP concentration of 43 +/- 4 pmol/l (range 11-92 pmol/l) in age-matched healthy subjects. The plasma immunoreactive glucagon (IRG) concentration was elevated 5-fold.