Monitoring the prevalence of severe intellectual disability in children across Europe: feasibility of a common database.

AIM: Our aim was to study the feasibility of creating a framework for monitoring and undertaking collaborative research on intellectual disability at the European level, based on existing databases of children with such disability. METHOD: The characteristics of five existing European intellectual disability databases from four countries (Iceland, Latvia, Ireland, and two in France), were discussed on the basis of ideal criteria set by a working group on childhood intellectual disability as part of the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe Network (SCPE-NET). Mean prevalence values for severe intellectual disability for the birth years 1990 till 2002 were compared across databases. RESULTS: Methods of case recruitment and diagnosis differed across databases, but classification of intellectual disability and completeness were similar. Severe intellectual disability (IQ<50) prevalence estimates were significantly (p<0.001) different across databases (south-east France: 3.3 out of 1000; south-west France: 3.0 out of 1000; Latvia: 3.9 out of 1000; Ireland: 5.0 out of 1000; and Iceland 5.1 out of 1000). INTERPRETATION: In spite of differences in diagnosis and case inclusion across databases, the construction of a common database for severe intellectual disability was deemed feasible through harmonization of certain criteria, such as age, and through restriction to those with severe intellectual disability.

The effect of dietary fish oil on survival after infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae or Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Dietary fish oil is believed to have a beneficial effect in various infections and in autoimmune disorders. This effect may correspond to an altered immune response. In order to discover whether the effect of dietary fish oil is different in various infections, we studied the survival of mice fed fish oil or corn oil supplemented diets and infected in the lungs with either Klebsiella pneumoniae or Streptococcus pneumoniae. 120 NMRI mice were divided into 4 groups, of which 2 groups were fed a fish oil supplemented diet and 2 a corn oil supplemented diet. After 6 weeks the mice were infected in the lungs with Klebsiella pneumoniae (fish oil groups and corn oil groups) or with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 (both groups). The survival rate was monitored. The experiment was performed twice. The survival of the mice fed fish oil enriched diet and infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae was significantly better compared with the mice fed corn oil enriched diet (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0013). No difference was found between the mice fed corn oil enriched diet or fish oil enriched diet and infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 (p = 0.74 and p = 0.15). Our results indicate that dietary fish oil has a beneficial effect on survival of mice after experimental pneumoniae when infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae, but not after infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3.

[Effect of dietary fish-oil on survival of experimental animals after infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae or Klebsiella pneumoniae.].

OBJECTIVE: Dietary fish-oil has beneficial effect in infections and in autoimmune disorders. This effect is thought to be associated with alterations in the immune system. The Gram negative organism Klebsiella pneumoniae has been used as an infective agent in most studies investigating the effect of dietary fish-oil on infection. The immune response against Gram positive bacteria is somewhat different to the response to Gram negative oeganisms. Moreover, the Gram positive bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae is a very common pathogen, particularly in children. To investigate whether dietary fish-oil has different effect in infections by Gram positive or Gram negative bacteria, we studied the survival of mice fed with fish-oil or corn-oil supplemented diets and infected in the lungs with either Klebsiella pneumoniae or Streptococcus pneumoniae. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 120 NMRI mice were divided into four groups and fed diets supplemented with fish-oil (two groups, 30 mice in each group) or corn-oil (two groups, 30 mice in each group). After six weeks, the mice were infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae (fish-oil group and corn-oil group) or with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 (fish-oil group and corn-oil group). The survival was monitored. The experiment was performed twice. RESULTS: The survival of the mice infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae was significantly better in the groups receiving the fish-oil enriched diet as compared to the groups fed the corn-oil enriched diet (p=0.0001 and 0.0013). There was no difference in the survival of mice infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3, receiving the fish-oil or corn-oil enriched diets (p=0.74 and p=0.15). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that dietary fish-oil has beneficial effect on survival of mice after experimental infection with the Gram negative bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae but not on experimental infections with the Gram positive bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3.

[Beneficial effect of dietary fish-oil is independent of the infection site.].

OBJECTIVE: Fish-oil enriched diet has a protective effect on experimental animals infected intramuscularly with Klebsiella pneumoniae. It also has beneficial effect in several other diseases, including autoimmune disorders. The pathophysiological effects of dietary fish-oil have still not been revealed although it is expected to influence the immune response. We have previously shown that dietary fish-oil has beneficial effect in mice infected intramuscularly with Klebsiella pneumoniae. If the beneficial effect of dietary fish-oil is due to influence on the immune response it should be independent of the infection site. We therefore investigated whether dietary fish-oil has beneficial effect in intrapulmonary infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae as it has on intramuscular infection with the same bacteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty NMRI mice were fed diets enriched with fish-oil (30 mice) or corn-oil (30 mice) for six weeks. The mice were then infected in the lungs with Klebsiella pneumoniae and the survival was monitored. The experiment was performed twice. The results were compared to our earlier results with intramuscular infections. RESULTS: The survival of the mice fed the fish-oil enriched diet and infected in the lungs with Klebsiella pneumoniae was significantly better compared to the survival of mice fed the corn-oil enriched diet in both experiments (p=0.0001 and p=0.0013). These results are similar to our earlier findings when the mice were infected intramuscularly. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the beneficial effect of dietary fish-oil on infection is independent of the site of infection. These results are in accordance with the hypothesis that dietary fish-oil influences the immune response.