Adolescent Facial Acne Vulgaris and Body Mass Index: Any Relationship?

BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease of adolescents. One risk factor for the development of acne is a high body mass indices. Children with high body mass index are said to be more likely to have increased Insulin-like growth factor-1, which has been implicated in acne pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to correlate body mass index with the presence and severity of facial acne vulgaris in adolescent school children. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in four co-educational secondary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. One thousand and seventy nine students aged 9-20 years were physically assessed for facial acne vulgaris and their heights (m2) and weights (kg) were measured for body mass index (kg/m2) estimation. The severity of acne was assessed using the comprehensive acne severity scale. Data was analyzed using the SPSS 16. RESULTS: The prevalence of facial acne vulgaris was 53.2%. The age of the students ranged from 9-20 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) for the students with acne was 19.9±3.3kg/m2 and 18.3 ± 3.11 kg/m2 for students without acne, P<0.0001. The prevalence of acne was 81.7% among adolescents with a BMI >25Kg/m2, 61.1% in those with a BMI of 18.5-24.99 kg/m2 and 42.0% among adolescents with a BMI of <18.5 Kg/m2, P<0.001 but BMI was not significantly associated with severity of acne (p=0.830). CONCLUSION: Adolescents with a high body mass index are more likely to have facial acne vulgaris but severity of acne is independent of body mass index.

Kaposi's sarcoma in HIV-infected women and men in Nigeria.

Abstract Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in women with HIV infection is observed to have increased from recent studies. To understand the gender-related differences of AIDS-KS in Nigeria, we conducted a prospective study of the clinical, virologic, and immunologic features of newly diagnosed AIDS-KS patients. Prevalence was similar in both genders. There were differences in the distribution of the lesions and the CD4 count in women was significantly lower.

Use of a solid-phase extraction with radioimmunoassay to identify the proportional bias of clinical B-type natriuretic peptide immunoassay: the impact of plasma matrix and antibody multispecificity.

BACKGROUND: Circulating immunoreactive B-type natriuretic peptide-32 (ir-BNP-32) has diagnostic and prognostic values in heart failure. We compared, in parallel, a point-of-care (POC) test (Triage((R)) BNP Test) of whole plasma and radioimmunoassay (RIA) of solid-phase extracted (SPE) plasma (SPE/RIA) utilizing a novel copolymer column, in the measurement of patient ir-BNP-32 concentrations. METHODS: Approximately 0.25 mL thawed plasma was transferred to a BNP test device and inserted in a Triage Meter Plus, which gave ir-BNP-32 concentration in pg/mL. Concurrently, for the SPE/RIA measurement, 1.0 mL plasma was acidified and extracted with an OASIS column; eluate dried, reconstituted and quantified by RIA. RESULTS: Inter-day coefficient of variation for both methods were <15%. Plasma SPE recovery was 75.2%. POC correlated with recovery corrected SPE/RIA for ir-BNP-32, r=0.843 (p<0.0001) and the Passing-Bablok model was POC ir-BNP-32=1.43x (recovery corrected SPE/RIA ir-BNP-32)+9.75 ng/L (n=81). A proportional bias was also evident from the Bland-Altman plot, r=0.716 (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A proportional bias is responsible for plasma ir-BNP-32 concentration differences between whole plasma POC test and recovery corrected SPE/RIA measurements. Ir-BNP-32 assays are influenced by plasma matrix and antibody multispecificity. Consequently, consistent analytical accuracy between immunoassays is necessary to attain a single ir-BNP-32 concentration threshold for diagnosis. Clin Chem Lab Med 2007;45:1353-9.