[Nutritional intakes in a group of infants aged six to fourteen months]. / Apports nutritionnels chez un groupe de nourrissons ages de 6 a 14 mois.

PIP: Infant feeding poses many challenges, such as the rapid growth of the child and the immature nature of his or her body¿s systems. Foods that are poorly suited to such immaturity can lead to functional problems and even sometimes-serious allergies. Infant nutritional intake is also influenced by environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural factors. Of these factors, the eating habits of Tunisians, with a tendency to overconsume cereal- and sugar-based products, is of particular concern. The authors examined the nutritional intakes of 342 healthy infants aged 6-14 months from the Tunis region. The 180 boys and 162 girls were recruited in 5 primary health centers in Tunis, as well as from several suburbs. These centers were chosen at random from among the region¿s 144 centers. Energy intakes are close to those recommended for infants aged 8-14 months, yet low for those aged 6-8 months. Protein supply is about 2.5 g/kg weight/day. Lipids consumed cover more than 35% of the energy supply for infants aged 6-8 and 12-14 months. Glucidic consumption is slightly higher for babies aged 8-12 months who have an energy supply covered sometimes by more than 60% of glucid. With regard to key vitamin and mineral supplies, there are deficits in vitamins C and D, as well as in calcium. There is a good supply of iron. The observed disequilibria in nutritional intake are not alarming, but parents need to be aware of them in order to reduce the risks of deficiencies in vitamins and minerals.^ieng

[The effect of nutritional education on the food intake regulation of the young diabetic]. / Incidence de l'education nutritionnelle sur la regulation de la prise alimentaire par le jeune diabetique.

The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of nutritional education (applied during young diabetic camps) on the nutrition knowledge acquisition and the effective application of this knowledge by young diabetics in their dietary intake composition. This study included ten volunteers pupils, aged from 12 to 15 years. Each meal provided was quantified before and after consumption to determine during three consecutive days the exact amount of food consumed. Our results showed that the young diabetic could regulate his energetic intake in accordance with his needs. He didn't modify the proposed food when it was normocaloric (2615 +/- 390 Kcal), but he increased his food intake near the recommended needs when the proposed food was hypocaloric (1766 +/- 283 Kcal) and decreased his consumption when the proposed food was hypercaloric (4271 +/- 511 Kcal). Moreover, this study showed a significant negative correlation between the total energy intake and the amount of carbohydrates (r = -0.46, p < 0.01) and proteins (r = -0.70, p < 0.01), while it was positive between the first and lipid intake (r = 0.63, p < 0.01).

[Minerals in Tunisia's drinking water]. / Les minéraux dans l'eau de consommation en Tunisie.

We have made the physico-chemical analysis of drinking waters sampled from different Tunisian areas. The results obtained show that those waters are rich in mineral elements particularly those of the south of the country. Calcium and magnesium level in south drinking water is about three times higher than the maximum admitted concentration by WHO an EEC. The sodium, chloride and sulfate level is twice higher. The nitrate contents slightly exceeds the EEC guide level. The high mineralization observed needs a chemical quality improvement of those waters.

[Analysis of glycosylated A1c hemoglobin by liquid phase chromatography and immunoagglutination]. / Dosage de l'hémoglobine glycosylée A1c par chromatographie en phase liquide et par immunoagglutination.

Glycated hemoglobin A1c assay is performed using HPLC on cation exchange TSK SP 5 PW column. Separation is obtained in 10 minutes using graduated elution with sodium chloride and Bis-Tris buffer. Hb A1c is resolved from the other hemoglobins (F, A0 and S). Reproductibility of method is quite good and correlated with an immunologic method (DCA 2000).

[Association between type 1 diabetes and polymorphism of the CTLA-4 gene in a Tunisian population]. / Etude de l'association entre diabète type 1 et polymorphisme du gène CTLA-4 dans une population tunisienne.

Susceptibility to type 1 diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with particular HLA class II alleles. However, non HLA genetic factors are likely to be required for the development of disease. The candidate genes include the cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated 4 (CTLA-4) located on chromosome 2q33 and designated (IDDM12), which encodes a cell surface negative signal T molecule providing for activation. We investigated CTLA-4 exon 1 dimorphism in 74 type 1 patients and a control group of 48 healthy subjects from Tunisia using two methods PCR (polymerase chain reaction) allele specific and polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR RFLP). The CTLA-4/G allele was found on 68.9% in type 1 patients as compared to 51.02% in controls (p = 0.002), mostly in homozygous from 43.24% versus 22.45% (p = 0.0058). This results indicate that CTLA-4/G allele was significantly associated with predisposition to type 1 diabetes in our group from Tunisian population.

HLA polymorphism in type 1 diabetes Tunisians.

Several studies of the association between HLA and type 1 diabetes have been carried out revealing differences between ethnic groups. Our study, as part of the studies that should be performed about this association in the rest of the word, aims at elucidating the HLA DRB1, DQB1 polymorphism in Tunisian type 1 diabetes. This study includes 43 unrelated type 1 diabetes patients, and their mean age at onset is less than 15 years. Analysis of the frequency of alleles and haplotypes in these subjects, compared to a reference group (n = 101) led to the following results. 1) The Tunisian insulin-dependent diabetics present similarities as well as differences with other ethnic groups (Caucasians, North Africans). 2) The haplotype DRB1*04 DQ*0302 and DRB1*03 DQB1*0201 is positively associated to type 1 diabetes. 3) The heterozygotic genotype DRB1*04 DQB1*0302 / DRB1*03 DQB1*0201 is strongly associated to type 1 diabetes. 4) The haplotypes DRB1*01501 DQB1*0602 and DRB1*11 DQB1*0301 proved to be protective. In addition, the study of the subtypes DRB1*04 showed that alleles DRB1*0405 predispose to type 1 diabetes, whereas the allele DRB1*0403, which is in linkage disequilibrium with the DQB1*0402 in the Tunisian population, has a protective effect.