by S. Essaddouki, FZ. El fatoiki, F. Hali and S. Chiheb
Original Research
Alopecia areata with its different clinical forms creates an important psychosocial burden and strongly influence the quality of life of patients and their parents, but data reported in the literature on the quality of life of parents are scarce. Objectives: The aim of our study was to describe and evaluate the quality of life of pediatric patients with alopecia areata and their parents. Secondary objectives were to investigate the relationship between quality of life and disease severity, disease duration and patient age. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study including peladic cases in patients under 14 years of age and their parents, using the Childhood Chronic Disease Quality of Life Score (CCDQ), Family Dermatology Life Quality Index (FDLQI) and Children's Dermatologic Life Quality Index (CDLQI). SALT scores at the time of the study were recorded. Results: A statistically significant positive association was found between the SALT scores and the FDLQI scores. Duration of disease showed a significant negative correlation with the emotional domain scores of the QLCCDQ, but no significant correlation with the mean scores per QLCCDQ or the overall FDLQI scores. Child age was negatively correlated with the per-item QLCCDQ and emotional domain scores but the relationship between age and FDLQI score was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the negative impact of alopecia areata on the quality of life of the parents of affected children especially in the emotional domain. The impairment of the patients' quality of life was mainly influenced by the severity of the disease and the age of the affected child, but not by the duration of the disease.
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2023, 11(1), 22-24. DOI: 10.12691/ajcmr-11-1-4
Pub. Date: May 29, 2023
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by Salah Mohamed El Sayed
Review Article
Natural remedies of prophetic medicine include ajwa dates of Aliah (from Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia), nigella sativa, costus (saussurea lappa), oral honey, sana (senna, cassia angustifolia), sanut (fennel, phoeniculum jugulare) and others. All are rich in dozens of natural antioxidant ingredients that counteract oxidative stress-induced cellular and tissue damage commonly encountered in viral hepatitis patients. Ajwa dates surprisingly reverted the malignant phenotype of hepatocellular carcinoma cells into a near normal phenotype of the normal hepatocytes. This is in an exact agreement with prophetic medicine where the prophetic hadith recommended Ajwa date fruit as a treatment and cure for toxins. Antioxidant-oxidants antagonism is the strongly suggested therapeutic mechanism. Thymoquinone, carvacrol and α-pinene are among the major antioxidants in nigella sativa. Costunolide, santamarin and dehydrocostus lactone are major antioxidants present in costus. The preventive and therapeutic benefits of such remedies to the liver include: combating hepatitis viruses, suppressing hepatitis inflammatory responses, exerting potent antioxidant effects, exerting potent antitoxic effects, exerting potent anti-fibrotic effects, exerting hepatic tissue repair, suppressing carcinogenesis, reverting hepatocellular carcinoma cells to normal or near normal phenotype and enhancing the natural immunity. All that is discussed with some detail in this review article.
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2023, 11(1), 14-21. DOI: 10.12691/ajcmr-11-1-3
Pub. Date: April 12, 2023
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by Yarhere Iroro Enameguolo and Agi Chukuemeka
Original Research
Background: Accurate bone age reading for endocrine evaluation of children is important for accurate diagnosis and eventual treatment with hormones or other medications. Requests made to radiology have often overestimated the bone ages in our setting. Objective: To test inter rater reliability of bone age readings by paediatric endocrinologists and radiologists, and the validity between these readings and the BoneXpert software. Methods: Twenty-seven raters (12 paediatric endocrinologists and 15 radiologists) were requested to score 4 images, using whatever methods were convenient for them. An interrater correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the level of agreement between the two disciplines and paired sample t test was used to validate the scores between the raters and BoneXpert software. Results: The interrater reliability for the raters were 0.984 (paediatric endocrinologists) and 0.986 (radiologists). When validated with BoneXpert reading, 46.6% of radiologists had significantly higher bone age scores vs 16.6% of paediatric endocrinologists. Radiologists were less consulted and performed fewer bone age reading than paediatric endocrinologists. Conclusion: Interrater reliability of bone age reading between paediatric endocrinologists and radiologists in Nigeria were similar, however, more radiologists exaggerated the bone ages of the X radiographs presented to them. The frequency of bone age reading by the specialists positively influenced their proficiency when rated with the BoneXpert software.
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2023, 11(1), 10-13. DOI: 10.12691/ajcmr-11-1-2
Pub. Date: April 05, 2023
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by Azubuike Uma Inya, Amaechi Peter Achara, Aloysius Obinna Ikwuka, Francis Chigozie Udeh, Ukoma Chi-kadibia and Ochima Onazi
Original Research
Background: Anemia in pregnancy is a global public health burden. It is the commonest medical disorder of pregnancy and a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in most developing countries including Nigeria. Aim: To determine the prevalence of anemia and red cell morphological patterns amongst pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of Federal Medical Center, Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, analytical study involving 415 women at the antenatal booking clinic for a period of 16 weeks. The Packed Cell Volume (PCV) also known as hematocrit, red cell morphology, HIV status and genotype of each pregnant woman were determined. Their biodata, obstetric and medical histories, and results of the routine investigations were documented with structured questionnaires and analyzed with statistical package for social science (SPSS) software (version 20, Chicago 11, USA). Continuous variables were presented as mean and standard deviation (mean±SD), while categorical variables were presented as numbers and percentages. Comparative analysis was done with chi-square test and the level of significance was set at p<0.05. The association between anemia and some social factors was tested using t-test. Results: Mean age of respondents was 29.7±5.3 years, mean BMI was 28.0±7.2kg/m2, and mean parity was 1.9±1.7. Mean packed cell volume was 32.7±3.1% and 42.5% of the women were anemic. Specifically, 29.0% and 13.5% of the women had mild and moderate anemia respectively. The commonest blood picture was microcytic hypochromia and normocytic hypochromia suggesting iron-deficiency anemia. Anemia was significantly and independently related to educational level (p=0.00) and socio-economic class (p=0.00). Conclusion: Every pregnant woman should be encouraged to obtain antenatal care, where hematinic supplements can be given for prophylaxis of iron-deficiency anemia. Appropriate clinical investigations, treatment of fever and management of HIV should be instituted for pregnant women attending antenatal care whenever and wherever necessary.
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2023, 11(1), 1-9. DOI: 10.12691/ajcmr-11-1-1
Pub. Date: March 24, 2023
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