HPLC determination of polyethylene glycol 400 in urine: oligomeric profile in healthy and celiac disease subjects

The absorption of orally administered polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used to assess intestinal permeability. We describe a simple HPLC technique to determine the oligomeric profile of PEG excreted in urine. We measured the total (%) PEG excreted in 6 h and the ratio of the four smallest oligomers to the three largest oligomers (expressed as mean percentages). The proposed method differentiates distinct groups of subjects with varying degrees of intestinal permeability detected by intestinal biopsy. The percent of PEG excreted and the oligomer ratio values for healthy subjects were, respectively, 30.1 +/- 3.87 and 0.35 +/- 0.03; for celiac patients on a gluten-free diet, 24.5 +/- 6.65 and 0.45 +/- 0.16; and for celiac patients, 15.0 +/- 5.93 and 1.12 +/- 0.55.

Fetal and neonatal habituation in infants of diabetic mothers

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether maternal diabetes alters the habituation ability of fetuses and newborns.

STUDY DESIGN

Two nonrandomized clinical trials were performed. First, we studied prenatal fetuses of women with pregestational diabetes, and control subjects matched for gestational age, and then we studied infants of diabetic mothers (IDM) and control subjects matched for gestational age and mode of delivery. Fetus and newborns were stimulated with vibroacoustic stimulus.

RESULTS

In fetuses of diabetic mothers, the ability to habituate was lower, and the habituation rate was higher than in control subjects to all habituation tests. In the neonatal period, ability to habituate was lower (59% vs 100%; P< .001), and the habituation rate was higher (18 [14-21] vs 4 [1.2-6.8]; P< .001) in the IDM than in the control infants. We found a significant negative correlation between maternal glycosylated hemoglobin in each trimester of pregnancy and habituation ability in IDM.

CONCLUSIONS

Fetuses and infants of diabetic mothers have impaired habituation ability, which is related to the degree of maternal metabolic control.

Persistence of fetal memory into neonatal life

OBJECTIVES

To test the hypothesis that fetal memory persists into the neonatal period.

STUDY DESIGN

Forty-one newborns that had been repeatedly stimulated by using fetal vibroacoustic stimulation were compared with 31 controls. The same vibroacoustic stimulator was used for both fetal and neonatal stimulation tests. For the neonatal test the stimulus was applied against the mastoid of the newborn with the interposition of a specifically designed solid-liquid interface to simulate intrauterine conditions. Student's t-test was used.

RESULTS

Neonatal habituation rate (the number of consecutive stimuli applied before a baby stopped responding) was significantly higher in those newborns who had not participate in the fetal habituation study (7.0+/-5.4 stimuli) than in those who had (4.1+/-4.1 stimuli), p=0.01.

CONCLUSIONS

Newborns who were stimulated in utero habituated earlier than those who had not previously experienced the stimulation. These results suggest that fetal memory persists into neonatal life.

[Brucellosis in children]

It has been studied in a series of 30 children affected of brucellosis, the most important epidemiologic, clinical and biologic characteristics. It has been emphasized the good response to the combined treatment of tetracycline and streptomycin.

HPLC determination of polyethylene glycol 400 in urine: oligomeric profile in healthy and celiac disease subjects

The absorption of orally administered polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used to assess intestinal permeability. We describe a simple HPLC technique to determine the oligomeric profile of PEG excreted in urine. We measured the total (%) PEG excreted in 6 h and the ratio of the four smallest oligomers to the three largest oligomers (expressed as mean percentages). The proposed method differentiates distinct groups of subjects with varying degrees of intestinal permeability detected by intestinal biopsy. The percent of PEG excreted and the oligomer ratio values for healthy subjects were, respectively, 30.1 +/- 3.87 and 0.35 +/- 0.03; for celiac patients on a gluten-free diet, 24.5 +/- 6.65 and 0.45 +/- 0.16; and for celiac patients, 15.0 +/- 5.93 and 1.12 +/- 0.55.

[Intestinal parasitoses: contribution to their clinical diagnosis]

A fairly high number of symptoms are usually ascribed to intestinal parasites, a fact leading many times to various treatments in the absence of diagnostic evidence. Aiming to correlate presence of parasite with that of signs and symptoms authors have reviewed 1,131 patients submitted, for several reasons, to a search of parasites which was positive in only 384 cases. Authors conclude that only eosinophilia is a quite constant finding in E. vermicularis infestation and abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea are often present during giardia infestations.

[Exanthematous viral diseases and measles: serology]

A study of antibodies against measles virus and other viral agents is made to investigate possible existence of a false measles or "measles-like" in 48 children with this disease during an epidemic. Hemagglutination-inhibiting technique was used to determine rubella antibodies, and complement fixation technique to measure those produced against other diseases studied. Results were grouped according to the seroconversions found. The following serologic diagnoses were found: twenty eight cases of measles, one of rubella, four of Coxsackie-Echo, three of Epstein-Barr infection, two of Parainfluenza, and one of respiratory syncytial virus infection. Some of the patients with an infection due to Coxsackie-Echo or Epstein-Barr viruses were simultaneously affected by measles. Results are commented and discussed, concluding that there in not any fixed pattern in the development of viral antibodies response in the child. Four of the cases studied were "measles-like".

[Growth and development during the 1st year of life in children exposed to phototherapy during the neonatal period]

Authors have studied the effects to a short and medium term of phototherapy on the growth and development and hormonal production on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis on two series of newborns: a) problems (28 term newborns and 5 preterms) treated with phototherapy during the neonatal period and, b) controls (25 term newborns and 5 preterms). In both series growth and development have been analyzed during the first year of life, including: 1) Anthropometric data: weight, length, cephalic perimeter, at neonatal period, and 3, 6 and 12 months of age; bone maturation (TW2 method) at 12 months of age. 2) Hormonal data: during the neonatal period basal estimations) and at 12 months of age. Last hormonal studies on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis have been done according to Mortimer-Savage method. Statistic analysis of results obtained on the different areas that have been studied do not shown statistic differences between the problem and the control series (p greater than 0.05). According with the results conclude that phototherapy does not have secondary effects to a short and medium term on the growth and development neither on the function of the hypothalamus-pituitary axis.

[Epidemiologic aspects of accidental poisoning in children in Aragón (author's transl)]

Authors have studied epidemiologic aspects of 1,363 cases of accidental poisonings in children on a total of 25,136 cases of accidents that have been observed in Aragon hospitals. The following parameters were included in the protocol: sex (males: 57.6%), age (between 1-3 years: 57.9%), day time (12.00-16.00 hours: 30.8%), year season (spring-summer: 56.5%), week day (monday: 18.0%), poisoning (drugs and domestic products: 65.9%), house place (kitchen: 38.1%) and treatment (ambulatory: 81.7%).