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Subclinical atherosclerosis in children with β-thalassemia major begins early in life, and these children are at risk for development of premature atherosclerosis.

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Background: Apelin is a recently defined peptide relevant to the mechanism of obesityrelated disorders. There has been no report so far about the levels of plasma apelin in obese children. Methods: In this study plasma apelin, adiponectin, and high sensitivity C reactive protein levels were investigated in obese (n=32) and nonobese (n=40) children. The effects of pubertal status on the apelin and adiponectin levels were evaluated as well. Results: When compared to nonobese controls, the obese children had significantly lower plasma apelin (p= 0.004), adiponectin and HDL cholesterol levels (p= 0.001 for both), and higher hs-CRP, triglycerides, insulin and Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA-IR) indexes (p< 0.001 for all). The difference between the apelin levels was present only in the pubertal period (p=0.002). Conclusions:The results of the present study indicate that plasma apelin levels are lower in child obesity and pubertal state is an important determinant of plasma apelin levels.

Functional enuresis is defined as repeated voiding of urine into bed or clothes in children after 5 years of age following the exclusion of major somatic diseases. Autonomic nervous system dysregulation has been proposed as a pathophysiologic mechanism in the etiopathogenesis. The objective of this study was to evaluate autonomic nervous system functions with pupil diameter measurement in enuretic children. The study group consisted of 17 children with functional enuresis (ten boys, seven girls), and the control group consisted of 34 healthy children (20 boys, 14 girls). Pupil diameter measurements were performed under photopic and mesopic lighting conditions by using a pupillometer. Mean photopic pupil diameter was found to be larger in the enuretic children than in the healthy controls (4.47 +/- 0.52 mm vs. 4.03 +/- 0.75 mm; P = 0.03). Autonomic nervous system imbalance of the ocular system is considered to be part of the autonomic nervous system dysregulation in functional enuretic children.

This study aimed to analyze the variations of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide, epicardial adipose tissue thickness, and carotid intima-media thickness in childhood obesity. The study participants consisted of 50 obese children in the study group and 20 nonobese children referred for evaluation of murmurs who proved to have an innocent murmur and were used as control subjects. All the subjects underwent transthoracic echocardiographic examination for determination of left ventricular systolic function and mass index, myocardial tissue rates, and myocardial performance index. Epicardial adipose tissue thickness and carotid intima-media thickness also were measured during echocardiography. Serum N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide levels were measured at the time of evaluation. The left ventricle mass index was 40.21 + or - 10.42 g/m(2) in the obese group and 34.44 + or - 4.51 g/m(2) in the control group (p > 0.05). The serum N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide level was 109.25 + or - 48.53 pg/ml in the study group and 51.96 + or - 22.36 pg/ml and in the control group (p = 0.001). The epicardial adipose tissue thickness was 5.57 + or - 1.45 mm in the study group and 2.98 + or - 0.41 mm in the control group (p = 0.001), and the respective carotid intima-media thicknesses were 0.079 + or - 0.019 cm and 0.049 + or - 0.012 cm (p = 0.001). The left ventricular systolic and diastolic functions showed no statistically significant correlations with N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide levels, carotid intima-media thickness, or epicardial adipose tissue thickness values. The results show that measurement of serum N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide level, carotid intima-media thickness, and epicardial adipose tissue thickness in asymptomatic obese children is not needed.

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