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Biomedical subjects

R Eeckels

Publications and source records attributed to R Eeckels.

108 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Haematological findings in type Ib glycogen storage disease before and after portacaval shunt.

Persistent neutropenia and repeated respiratory infections were documented in a girl with glycogen storage disease type Ib. A termino-lateral portacaval shunt resulted in normalisation of the granulocyte counts and disappearance of the recurrent infections. The platelet dysfunction that was apparent before surgery, was also corrected by the shunting procedure. A marked hypochromic anaemia, however, probably caused by a sequestration of iron in the spleen and resistant to therapy, remains a persistent feature in this patient.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗

Local versus universal growth standards: the effect of using NCHS as universal reference.

Lack of local references has brought many fieldworkers to use the NCHS reference or other Western standards to assess the nutritional status of children in different developing countries. Cross-sectional data from 6631 children between 0 and 6 years of age, without signs of protein-energy malnutrition, were collected by the same observer in four different geographical areas in Africa and Asia. For each of the four geographical areas, local growth curves were drawn and compared with the NCHS reference. The local curves shows clear heterogeneity, and the values at different ages are not a constant proportion of the NCHS. These observations are in favour of using local standards in the nutritional screening of children in order to develop efficient and effective nutritional programmes.

Arm↗

Growth of children in a iodine-deficient area in northern Zaïre.

In a case-control study all preschool children of 50 villages in an iodine-deficient area in northern Zaïre were examined for the absence or presence of a goitre. Children with goitre but without obvious signs of cretinism (cases) were maximally matched with a goitre-free child of the same ethnic group, village, sex and age (controls). Anthropometry of cases and controls was compared in order to investigate if endemic goitre is associated with any growth impairment. Surprisingly, between ages 2 and 4 years, children with goitre are taller and heavier, and have a smaller triceps skinfold thickness. Arm circumferences did not differ between cases and controls. Stunting is more prevalent in controls. If manifest cretinism is excluded, goitre is not associated with growth retardation. The higher anthropometric figures in goitrous children remain unexplained. In the absence of any data on the hormonal status of these two groups of children, it can only be surmised that, in iodine-deficient areas, some degree of hypothyroidism negatively influencing growth might be more frequent in non-goitrous children than in goitrous ones.

Age Factors↗