Background: Febrile seizures (FS) are the most common seizure in children. Excess serum copper (Cu) can cause convulsions. Aim: to study serum Cu levels in children with simple febrile seizures (SFS) and whether elevated serum Cu could be a risk factor for SFS. Subjects and Methods: Sixty children were divided into 2 groups. Group I: 30 patients with SFS. Group II: 30 patients with febrile illness without seizures. All were subjected to history taking, weight, temperature, complete blood picture, C-reactive protein, and electrolytes measurement. Results: A significant difference was found between the two studied groups regarding past history of FS, family history of FS, hemoglobin level, and WBCs count. Serum Cu level was significantly higher in group I than in group II. A significant positive correlation was found between serum Cu level in group I patients and: their age at the first attack of seizure and their weight. Comparison within group I between patients having normal and high serum Cu levels regarding gender, family history of FS and past history of FS showed no significant difference. Conclusions: Children with SFS had a significantly high serum Cu level than children with febrile illness without seizures. Increased serum Cu level is positively correlated with age at first attack of seizure and weight of patients with SFS. Increased serum Cu levels could be a risk factor for SFSs.
Background: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal abnormality. Children with DS have elevated serum uric acid (UA) levels.
Objective(s):The aim of the present study was to estimate the serum UA levels in children with DS and compare it with the levels in normal children. Methods: A case control study was conducted on 200 children at Alexandria University hospital, divided into two groups. Group I: included 100 children with DS (cases). Group II: included 100 healthy children as a control group. Children of both groups were subjected to history taking, clinical examination, renal function tests and serum UA estimation. Results: 5% of patients had upper normal, 16% had high serum UA levels. None of the children in the control group had upper normal or high serum UA levels. This was statistically significant. Mean serum UA in patients was significantly higher than in the control children. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between serum UA and patients' age. No statistically significant correlation between serum UA and gender was detected in both groups. Conclusion: Serum UA was significantly higher in children with DS than in controls. There was a significant positive correlation between serum UA and patients' age.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.