ziba molaei

 Growth is an important marker of child health. It has been shown recently that a chronic inflammatory condition, known as Environmental Enteric Dysfunction might play a more significant role on growth velocity than clinical infections. The present study aims to investigate the fecal myeloperoxidase concentration (a marker of gut inflammation) and its relationship with growth velocity.

 In this prospective cohort study, 74 children from rural population of Iran (2 to 5 years of age) were randomly included. The heights and weights of the children were measured at a quarterly interval. The stool samples were obtained from all children in order to measure myeloperoxidase (MPO) concentration. The growth velocity was assessed on the basis of height for age Z-score and weight for age Z-score changes. A questionnaire on socioeconomic status was also completed by children’s parents.

 82 children aged 2 to 5 years (37 females and 45 males) with mean age of 40.63 ± 12.7 months participated in this study. The mean fecal MPO level was 71.26 ng/ml (Min – Max: 2 – 232.33 ng/ml). There was no significant relationship between fecal myeloperoxidase level and changes in height and weight Z scores. Moreover, there was no significant relationship between socioeconomic status of households and fecal myeloperoxidase level.

 The mean level of fecal MPO in the present study was lower than similar studies. This significant difference might be mainly due to the better social status of families and environmental conditions of villages in our study.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is common in children. UTIs are important in view of the morbidity and risk of scarring. Several factors have been reported to be responsible for progression to scarring. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of scar and its related factors. In this study, 26 males and 77 females (3 months - 12 years) with first pyelonephritis were evaluated. All patients underwent ultrasound, cystourethrography, and Dimercaptosuccinic acid scan. A follow-up scan was performed 6 months later. Age, gender, organism, presence, and grade of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), delay in treatment, total white blood cell counts (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on admission were recorded. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between the variables and scar. Of 103 patients, 47.6% had VUR. Scar was detected in 38.8%. There were significant associations between delay in treatment (p=0.0001), grade of VUR (p=0.03) and elevated ESR (p= 0.006), CRP (p=0.002) and WBC (p=o.oo5) with scar. No association was established with age, sex, VUR, and organism. On multivariate analysis, delay in treatment was independently associated with scar. We found that the grade of VUR, delay in treatment, and increased ESR, CRP and WBC were important factors related to scar.