Improvement in plasma protein concentrations with fibronectin treatment in severe malnutrition

Article Abstract:

Fibronectin is a protein involved in the clearance of particle-like matter, such as cell debris, clumps of fibrin (a whitish, filamentous protein), and degraded proteins. Severely ill patients have a decreased ability to produce fibronectin. Decreased levels fibronectin in malnourished children improved with nutritional treatment. Low levels of fibronectin are associated with poor survival. The effectiveness of fibronectin in treating kwashiorkor (a type of protein deficiency) and marasmus (emaciation and wasting of an infant due to malnutrition) was assessed in 72 severely malnourished young children. The children received fibronectin, standard nutrition, and supportive therapy. The levels of fibronectin and other blood proteins, including albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, and alpha2-macroglobulin, were lower in severely ill patients, compared with healthy children. The levels of fibronectin were 98 milligrams per liter (mg/L) in sick children and 303 mg/L in healthy children. Blood protein levels recovered more rapidly in children treated with fibronectin, compared with those of children receiving a placebo. The survival rate was 87 percent for children treated with fibronectin and 56 percent for children given a placebo. These findings demonstrate that fibronectin is an effective supplement in the treatment of severe malnutrition. The recommended dose of fibronectin is 7.5 milligrams per kilogram per day over a four-day period. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Measurement, Fibronectins, Diet therapy, Blood proteins, Kwashiorkor, Protein-energy malnutrition

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Prevalence of malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency in the Diourbel, Fatick, and Kaolack regions of Senegal: epidemiological study

Article Abstract:

Vitamin A deficiency causes vision impairment and is often accompanied by protein malnutrition. More specifically, vitamin A deficiency has been associated with blindness, conjunctival xerosis (drying of the eyes), Bitot's spots (small deposits near the cornea), conjunctivitis (inflammation of the conjunctiva), and trachoma (a contagious form of conjunctivitis). In Southeast Asia, vitamin A deficiency occurs in 500,000 children each year and causes blindness in 250,000 of them. The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency, ocular diseases, and protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM) was determined in preschool children living in the rural area known as the groundnut belt of Senegal. Vitamin A deficiency was diagnosed in 11.4 percent of the children, and 19.4 percent were categorized as potentially at risk for developing vitamin A deficiency. The most common forms of ocular diseases were night blindness and trachoma, occurring in 14.1 and 17.1 percent of the children, respectively. Conjunctival xerosis, Bitot's spots and conjunctivitis were diagnosed in 2.7, 0.2 and 5.7 percent of the children, respectively. PCM, as measured by stunted growth and muscle wasting, was diagnosed in 37.1 percent of the children. Based on international standards, the nutritional status of children living in the groundnut belt of Senegal was poor. It is concluded that the children of this region have problems with PCM and vitamin A deficiency. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Causes of, Complications and side effects, Demographic aspects, Blindness, Eye diseases, Senegal, Vitamin A deficiency, Vitamin A deficiency in children

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Interrelationship between protein-energy malnutrition and essential fatty acid deficiency in nursing infants

Article Abstract:

Fatty acids are used to make a fat molecule, and essential fatty acids (EFAs) are those which must be obtained through diet, as human tissues cannot synthesize them. Other fatty acids, including polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), can be synthesized from EFAs, with some serving critical functions in the membranes that cover all cells and as precursors to hormones. Adequate dietary protein is needed for EFA metabolism, because enzymes, molecules that catalyze all significant body reactions, are made from proteins. Protein malnutrition in infants can thus affect both protein structure and PUFA-containing membranes of rapidly growing tissues such as brain. To better characterize this relationship, the levels of fatty acids in blood and red blood cells from 24 healthy infants and 26 infants with different degrees of protein-calorie malnutrition were evaluated. The content of EFAs in the blood decreased as the severity of malnutrition increased. One EFA, linoleic acid, did not decline significantly until malnutrition was moderate, but fatty acids produced from linoleic acid were significantly less even in children with mild malnutrition. A compensatory increase in another type of unsaturated fatty acid was found in moderately and severely malnourished infants. The results suggest that protein malnutrition affects metabolism and use of essential fatty acids. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Physiological aspects, Essential fatty acids

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