Risk Factors for Relapse in Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome.

Minimal change nephrotic syndrome is the most common cause of the glomerular disease in children. Despite its high initial response to corticosteroids, relapses are common leading to increased morbidity. Therefore, appraisal of common triggers of relapse becomes an imperative for successful management of childhood nephrotic syndrome. The objective of the study was to identify the risk factors for frequent relapse in childhood nephrotic syndrome. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the department of Paediatrics, Rangpur Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh from January 2013 to December 2014. A total of 60 patients with relapsed idiopathic childhood nephrotic syndrome fulfilling the selection criteria were enrolled into the study. Serum total protein, serum albumin and urine culture were done. The following potential risk factors for relapse were analyzed using Chi-square test: age at onset of NS, sex, socioeconomic status, atopy, short duration of initial therapy with steriod, serum total protein, serum albumin level and infection. Among 60 patients, short duration of therapy with steriod (<8 weeks) for first attack was significantly higher among frequent relapse (FRNS) cases compared with infrequent relapse (IFRNS) group (63% vs. 27.27%). FRNS group had initial brief period of remission of <6 months, (p=0.04). Difference in mean serum albumin and that of serum total protein between FRNS and IFRNS cases was (1.0±0.66 vs. 2.66±1.6gm/dl) (p<0.0001) and (3.5±1.2 vs. 6.5±2.12gm/dl) (p<0 .0001) respectively. This study concluded that short initial therapy with corticosteroid, brief duration of initial remission; low serum total protein and decreased serum albumin were the risk factors for frequent relapses.

Comparison of WHO Clinical Criteria and Radiological Findings of Pneumonia in Children Aged 02-59 Months.

Despite recent advances, pneumonia contributes substantially to childhood mortality in low and middle-income countries. To reduce case fatality, World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a working formula to identify pneumonia clinically in resource constrained setting. Chest X-ray is the gold standard test to diagnose pneumonia but this tool is not readily available or affordable in primary health facility in developing countries even when it is indicated. Objective of the study was to compare WHO clinical criteria and radiological findings of pneumonia in children aged 02-59 months. This cross-sectional observational study was conducted at inpatient department of Paediatrics of Rangpur Medical College Hospital from July 2015 to June 2017. Total 112 patients aged 2 to 59 months fulfilling selection criteria were enrolled into this study. Data were collected and chest X-ray was done for each patient. Data were analyzed through SPSS software (version 16.0). Minimum level of significance was predetermined as p<0.05. Among 112 patients, mean age of chest radiograph positive cases of pneumonia was 7.64±7.08 months and that of negative cases 10.75±10.95 months. There was no statistically significant difference of age (p=0.083) between chest radiography positive and negative cases. Radiological findings were positive in 52(46.43%) cases and negative in 60(53.57%). Fever, cough and fast breathing were present in all patients with sensitivity 100%. Chest indrawing was significantly more (p=0.003) among 52(46.43%) cases who demonstrated positive radiological findings with sensitivity 63.46% (95% CI = 48.96% to 76.37%). There was no statistically significant difference of fever, cough and fast breathing between radiograph positive and negative cases. Chest indrawing was significantly more in radiograph positive cases. The results highlighted the importance of adoption of positive radiograph of WHO guideline to identify pneumonia.

Measuring and improving adaptive capacity in resilient systems by means of an integrated DEA-Machine learning approach.

Resilient systems strive to enhance the safety of complex systems through building and developing adaptive technological and organizational capacities. This study aims at analyzing and improving the level of adaptive capacity in a petrochemical plant by means of an integrated quantitative approach. The data were gathered by a questionnaire whose reliability is examined by statistical methods. To compute and analyze the influence of resilience engineering (RE) indicators, teamwork, and redundancy on adaptive capacity, data envelopment analysis (DEA) method was used. The results indicate that teamwork and redundancy have a positive effect on enhancing the level of adaptive capacity. Multilayer perceptron (MLP), a machine learning approach, was used to estimate the level of adaptive capacity on the basis of a dataset. The results of DEA and MLP approaches are confirmed by statistical methods. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that measures quantitatively and improves adaptive capacity by an integrated DEA-MLP approach based on the stress-strain model. The outcomes of this study could assist managers and other decision-makers of complex systems to compute and improve the level of adaptive capacity for coping with upcoming events in abnormal conditions.

Performance of Haematological Parameters in Early Diagnosis of Clinically Suspected Neonatal Sepsis.

Neonatal sepsis is one of the major health problems throughout the world and major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Positive blood culture considers the gold standard for confirmation of neonatal sepsis, but it does not provide rapid diagnosis. So this study was designed to find out the performance of haematological parameters in early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of haematological parameters individually and in combination in early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. It was a cross-sectional study conducted at neonatal ward, SCANU and obstetric ward of Rangpur Medical College Hospital from January 2014 to December 2015. A total of 70 neonates clinically suspected to have features of sepsis were included in this study. Another 70 healthy term neonates were included in the study as reference group. Blood sample were obtained to estimate TLC, ANC, immature neutrophil count, degenerative changes in PMNs, platelet count, I/T and I/M ratio. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the individual test and tests combination were calculated. Among the haematological parameters, performance of combined tests had high sensitivity, specificity, with PPV and NPV. Among the individual tests I/T and I/M ratio had high sensitivity (95%), specificity (85%, 90%), PPV (90%, 75%) and NPV (90%). There were 22 out of 70 neonates (31.42%) who had culture proven sepsis. Among 22 culture proven sepsis most commonly found organism were Escherichia Coli 12(54.5%) followed by Klebsiella 3(13.63%), Proteus 3(13.63%), Staphylococcus aureus 2(9.9%) and Salmonella 2(9.9%). There is no ideal test for diagnosis of early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis haematological parameters is useful adjunct test in identifying clinically suspected neonatal sepsis.