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The most common cutaneous manifestations of alcoholism include urticarial reaction, flushing, porphyria cutanea tarda, psoriasis, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, and pruritus. Here, we present a case of a young male with a history of alcohol abuse who presented with non-blanching, petechial, and perifollicular macular rash secondary to vitamin C deficiency in view of poor oral intake. The rash improved significantly with vitamin C supplementation. Although rare in developed countries, clinicians should keep vitamin C deficiency as a differential diagnosis for skin rash in alcohol consumers.
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Purpose Abnormalities in serum magnesium levels have been seen in obesity and its related diseases. Our aim is to determine the mean magnesium levels in overweight and obese children as compared to the levels in normal weight controls to study its relationship with obesity and overweight. The study was done at a tertiary care hospital. Methods A case-control study was conducted at the Department of Pediatrics, Combined Military Hospital, Peshawar, over a 12-month period from August 7, 2015 to August 6, 2016. A total of 140 children between 2-14 years of age were included in the study. They were divided into two equal groups of 70 children each. Both of the groups were matched according to their age and sex. Children with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 85th centile and 95th centile were placed in the overweight and obese category, respectively, and termed as cases while the other 70 children with a BMI greater than or equal to 5th centile but less than 85th centile were categorized as the normal weight group and termed controls. The serum magnesium levels of both case and control groups were calculated. Results The serum magnesium levels were significantly lower in the overweight and obese group (2.08 ± 0.211 mg/dl) as compared to the normal weight group (2.55 ± 0.155 mg/dl, p<0.001). A significantly strong inverse relationship was seen between serum magnesium levels and body mass index. Conclusion Mean serum magnesium levels in overweight and obese children are lower than those in normal weight children. Further studies are required to see the effect of supplementation of diet with this essential micronutrient on the weight of children.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of sociocultural perception on the nutritional status of children under five years of age. METHODS: This cross-sectional study using a self-constructed questionnaire was conducted at the Shifa Rotary Clinic, Nurpur Shahan, Pakistan, from February to October 2016, and comprised mothers and children. Mothers age 18-45years having a child less than 5 years old were included. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. . RESULTS: Of the 564 participants, 526(93.3%) were housewives and 38(6.5%) were working mothers. The overall mean age was 27.49±5.197 years. Mother was the decision-maker for child nutrition in 344(61.0%) cases while the father was the decision-maker for child nutrition in 106(18.8%) cases. About 64(11.3%) wasted colostrums, of which 18(28.1%) acted on their own accord 46(71.9%) on others' advice. Mother as the decision-maker for child nutrition was found to be significantly associated with normal child nutritional status (p<0.05).In our study male child was 2.29 times likely to have a normal nutritional status as compared to a female child (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Sociocultural perceptions were found to have a significant impact on nutritional status of children under the age of 5 years.