Chronic inflammation and reduced blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids (n−3) are known characteristics of sickle cell disease (SCD).The anti-inflammatory properties of n−3 fatty acids are well recognized. Omega-3 treated (n = 24), hydroxyurea (HU) treated (n = 18), and n−3 untreated (n = 21) homozygous SCD patients (HbSS) and healthy (HbAA) controls (n = 25) matched for age (5-16 years), gender and socioeconomic status were studied. According to age (5-10) or (11-16) years, two or three capsules containing 277.8 mg docosahexaenoic (DHA) and 39.0 mg eicosapentaenoic (EPA) or high oleic acid placebo (41%) were assigned to n − 3 treated and n − 3 untreated groups, respectively. Hydroxyurea treated group was on dosage more than 20 mg/kg/day. The effect of supplementation on systemic and blood cell markers of inflammation was investigated. The n− 3 treated group had higher levels of DHA and EPA (p b 0.001) and lower white blood cell count and monocyte integrin (p b 0.05) compared with the n−3 untreated. No difference was detected between the two groups regarding C-reactive protein, granulocytes integrin and selectin, plasma tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin-10. The n−3 treated group had lowered nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) gene expression compared to n−3 untreated and HU treated groups (p b 0.05). This study provides evidence that supplementation with n− 3 fatty acids may ameliorate inflammation and blood cell adhesion in patients with SCD.

BackgroundIron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a major health problem during pregnancy and it has adverse effects on the mother and the newborn. Red cell distribution width (RDW), which is a quantitative measure for red cell size variation (anisocytosis), is a predictor of IDA. Little is known regarding RDW and IDA during pregnancy.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted at the antenatal clinic of Khartoum Hospital, Sudan, to determine the performance of RDW in the diagnosis of IDA using serum ferritin as a gold standard.ResultsAmong 194 pregnant women with a gestational period of 21.4 ± 6.5 weeks, 57 (29.4%) had IDA according to serum ferritin levels (<15 μg/l) and 61 (31.4%) had IDA according to RDW (>14.5). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of RDW where serum ferritin was the gold standard were 43.8% (95% CI: 31.4–57.0%), 73.7% (95% CI: 65.8–80.5%), 41.0% (95% CI: 29.2–53.6%), and 76.0% (95% CI: 68.1–82.6%), respectively.ConclusionsIn this study, we found that RDW has a poor performance in diagnosing IDA among pregnant women compared with serum ferritin as the gold standard.Virtual slidesThe virtual slides for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1721072967826303

Gestational diabetes is a common medical disorder in pregnancy. There is a growing body of evidence of the association between zinc, selenium status and diabetes mellitus during pregnancy. A case-control study was conducted at Medani Hospital, Sudan, to compare zinc and selenium levels in pregnant women with gestational diabetes and normal pregnant women (controls). The two groups (31 in each arm) were well-matched in age, parity, gestational age, haemoglobin and body mass index. Zinc and selenium levels were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. There were no significant differences in the median (interquartile) zinc (498.9 [395-703] vs 486.4 [404-667] μg/l, p = 0.905) and selenium (164.4 [61-415] vs 204 [68-541] μg/l, p = 0.838) values between the two groups. There were no significant correlations between zinc and selenium, or between these trace elements and body mass index, gestational age and blood glucose levels.

BackgroundMicroscopic examination using Giemsa-stained thick blood films remains the reference standard for detection of malaria parasites and it is the only method that is widely and practically available for quantifying malaria parasite density. There are few published data (there was no study during pregnancy) investigating the parasite density (ratio of counted parasites within a given number of microscopic fields against counted white blood cells (WBCs) using actual number of WBCs.MethodsParasitaemia was estimated using assumed WBCs (8,000), which was compared to parasitaemia calculated based on each woman’s WBCs in 98 pregnant women with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria at Medani Maternity Hospital, Central Sudan.ResultsThe geometric mean (SD) of the parasite count was 12,014.6 (9,766.5) and 7,870.8 (19,168.8) ring trophozoites /μl, P <0.001 using the actual and assumed (8,000) WBC count, respectively. The median (range) of the ratio between the two parasitaemias (using assumed/actual WBCs) was 1.5 (0.6-5), i e, parasitaemia calculated assuming WBCs equal to median (range) 1.5 (0.6-5) times higher than parasitaemia calculated using actual WBCs. There were 52 out of 98 patients (53%) with ratio between 0.5 and 1.5. For 21 patients (21%) this ratio was higher than 2, and for five patients (5%) it was higher than 3.ConclusionThe estimated parasite density using actual WBC counts was significantly lower than the parasite density estimated using assumed WBC counts. Therefore, it is recommended to use the patient`s actual WBC count in the estimation of the parasite density.