The journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
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J R Soc Promot Health · Mar 2002
ReviewOxidative stress, micronutrients, diabetes mellitus and its complications.
Oxidative stress is defined as excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of diminished antioxidant substances. It has been shown that oxidative stress has an adverse effect on glucose metabolism. Development of the disabling chronic complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) has also been attributed to oxidative stress. ⋯ It has, therefore, been recommended that high doses of micronutrient antioxidant vitamins should be administered in combination rather than as single supplements. There are a growing number of preparations containing mixtures of antioxidant vitamins and/or trace elements. A particularly impressive supplement is a new formula called Akesis, which is a mixture of antioxidant vitamins and antidiabetic trace elements, adequately balanced with other vitamins and minerals that enhance metabolic processes.
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J R Soc Promot Health · Dec 2000
The use of anthropometric and clinical parameters for early identification and categorisation of nutritional risk in pre-school children in Benin City, Nigeria.
This study was conducted in Benin City, Nigeria between June and August 1996 to assess nutritional status and health risks of three to five-year-old children, with the view to suggesting practical approaches to their early detection and intervention. A total of 165 children comprising 90 males and 75 females was studied. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), weight-for-age (WFA), weight-for-height (WFH) and height-for-age (HFA) z-scores were determined and used to calculate percentage prevalence of malnutrition. ⋯ We conclude that whereas MUAC z-scores were most sensitive in detecting the extent of malnutrition in this population, merely using anthropometric variables alone may lead to significant under-reporting of the prevalence of malnutrition in a community. A combination of various anthropometric z-scores with clinical features will however help in the early identification and categorisation of subjects in terms of degree of nutritional risk. The training of field health and nutrition workers should therefore emphasise the routine use and combination of anthropometric and clinical variables in the determination of prevalence of malnutrition and in the formulation of intervention strategies for nutrition rehabilitation.
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J R Soc Promot Health · Sep 2000
Case ReportsCarcinoid tumourlets associated with diffuse bronchiectasis and intralobar sequestration.
Innumerable carcinoid tumourlets may develop within pulmonary lobes should there be scarring from intralobar sequestration; these tumourlets may, in turn, be the cause of chronic lung disease. This report documents the incidental detection of multifocal carcinoid tumourlets in the lung of a 65-year-old man who had repeated episodes of lung infection, progressive dyspnea and haemoptysis; he lived at high altitude. The left lower lobe of the lung was resected surgically, during which procedure an aberrant systemic arterial supply was noticed. ⋯ There was loss of demarcation between the sequestered lung and the surrounding lower lobe lung parenchyma. The proliferation of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells in the form of tumourlets, had probably occurred as an adaptive response to the chronic hypoxia experienced. The combination of intralobar sequestration, bronchiectasis and carcinoid tumourlets, although uncommon, may arise when intralobar sequestration of the lung has not been resected at an incipient stage.