In this issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology Jamrozik and colleagues ask whether the 'Mediterranean paradox' confers protection against abdominal aortic aneurisms (AAA) in addition to its traditionally cited protection against ischaemic heart disease. 1 They seek answers to this question not in populations still living in the Mediterranean but in those who have migrated to Austral...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents of affluent schools of Karachi. METHOD This descriptive study is part of an ongoing nationwide project funded by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, to develop growth centile charts of our children. This survey of three affluent schools of Karachi was done over a period of three months (from ...

BACKGROUND There is limited evidence to support the use of customised centile charts to identify those at risk of stillbirth and infant death at term. We sought to determine birth weight thresholds at which mortality and morbidity increased and the predictive ability of noncustomised (accounting for gestational age and sex) and partially customised centiles (additionally accounting for maternal...

AIMS The Nocturnal Bladder Capacity Index (NBCi) has been reported to be useful in distinguishing between nocturia caused by low bladder capacity and nocturnal polyuria. This paper aims to calculate reference values for NBCi from an asymptomatic population by comparing these with NBCi values from patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) to obtain an indication of the sensitivity with w...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE As newer MR imaging techniques are used to assist with tumor grading, biopsy planning, and therapeutic response assessment, there is a need to relate the imaging characteristics to underlying pathologic processes. The aim of this study was to see how rCBV, a known marker of tumor vascularity, relates to cellular packing attenuation and cellular proliferation. MATERIALS ...

BACKGROUND Particulate air pollution has been consistently linked to increased risk of arterial cardiovascular disease. Few data on air pollution exposure and risk of venous thrombosis are available. We investigated whether living near major traffic roads increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), using distance from roads as a proxy for traffic exposure. METHODS AND RESULTS From 1995 ...

OBJECTIVES To compare the distribution of body mass index (BMI) in a national representative study in The Netherlands in 1996-7 with that from a study in 1980. METHODS Cross sectional data on height, weight, and demographics of 14 500 boys and girls of Dutch origin, aged 0-21 years, were collected from 1996 to 1997. BMI references were derived using the LMS method. The 90th, 50th, and 10th BM...

Cushing's disease (CD) is the most common cause of endogenous Cushing's syndrome in children and adolescents and represents a rare cause of short stature. A 14-year-old boy came to our attention for progressive weight gain and short stature. At examination, height was 140 cm (3rd centile) and weight was 37.7 kg (10th centile). Tanner stage was G2, PH 3, testis 3 mL. Hypothyroidism and growth ho...

Low birth-weight is a leading health problem in developing countries. In a randomized controlled trial, the effect of antimicrobials in pregnant women on improving birth-weight and duration of gestation was evaluated. Two hundred twenty-four pregnant women in their second trimester were randomized to receive metronidazole (200 mg 3 times daily for 7 days) and cephalexin (500 mg twice daily for ...

BACKGROUND Conventional cut-offs for hypertension are arbitrary, and vascular complications can occur below these values, particularly in diabetes. AIM To evaluate systolic blood pressure (SBP) distribution in diabetes and control populations, comparing hypertension prevalence using either conventional cut-offs (140 and 160 mmHg) or age-adjusted centile (75(th) and 90(th)) cut-offs derived fr...