Neonatal encephalopathy and sepsis were the most common emergencies seen in the free health-care program. Furthermore, they accounted for a majority of the neonatal deaths. This should be taken into cognizance while designing local interventions for neonatal emergencies.
It is known that phenylbutazone suppresses the thyroidal uptake of radioactive iodine and the serum level of protein-bound iodine (PBI) during the first week of treatment, with a return to normal values after 2 weeks of continuous treatment. Up till now the initial suppression of thyroid function has been presumed due to inhibition of TSH secretion.
In the present study, total serum thyroxine and percentage dialysable thyroxine have been measured and the serum absolute free thyroxine concentration calculated in 12 patients before starting treatment with phenylbutazone orally, after 4 days of treatment and again after 14 days. Serum TSH was assayed in 10 of these patients before, and on the 4th day of treatment. Sera were assayed for TSH after 14 days on the drug in 6 patients.
On the 4th day of treatment, the levels of total thyroxine had fallen but the levels of free thyroxine remained unchanged. TSH levels were also unaltered.
By the 14th day of treatment, free thyroxine levels had fallen significantly below pre-treatment values but no significant rise in TSH could be demonstrated in the 6 patients studied.
At no time was there a fall in TSH levels and we conclude that suppression of some thyroid function tests during the first week of treatment with phenylbutazone is due to direct inhibition of the gland by the drug.
Background: Malnutrition, though rarely listed as the direct cause, is estimated to contribute to more than half of all childhood deaths in the developing countries. The vicious cycle of poverty, recurrent infections and ignorance remain the major predisposing factors to this disease.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of malnutrition among children aged one to five years attending the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of a Nigerian Specialist Hospital, to describe the major associated co-morbidities and associated socio-cultural factors.
Methods: All the children aged 1 to 5 years attending the OPD of Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, Nigeria were recruited into the study from September 2018 to November 2018. In addition to basic bio-data, sociodemographic data, and clinical diagnoses, the Z-scores of the anthropometric parameters were calculated using the WHO AnthroPlus software.
Results: A total of 577 children were studied with a male preponderance of 58.1%. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting were 18.5%, 15.9% and 20.8% respectively. Malaria was the leading co-morbidity both in its complicated and uncomplicated forms. The identified associated socio-cultural factors included low socioeconomic status, large family size and some paternal social habits.
Conclusion: The prevalence rate of malnutrition among the children was high despite the high literacy and socioeconomic status of the parents.
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