OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of vitamin A supplementation on child morbidity and nutritional status. DESIGN A community based follow-up (interventional) in nature. SETTING Two randomly selected Weredas (districts) of Tigray, North Ethiopia were studied between 1996 and 1997. SUBJECTS Four thousand seven hundred and seventy children aged between six and 72 months, selected using a mul...

THE primary aim of this study was to see whether structural changes occurred in the retinae of monkeys suffering from night blindness as a result of a deficiency of vitamin A induced in such a way that xerophthalmia would not complicate matters. In India, as elsewhere, night blindness is common as an isolated phenomenon for which there may be several causes in addition to that of vitamin A defi...

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE The occurrence of a unilateral sensory loss in the second trigeminal distribution and the inability to tear following an ipsilateral temporal lobectomy has not been noted despite a number of reports of cranial nerve compromise under similar situations. CLINICAL PRESENTATION A 48-year-old woman experienced complex partial seizures over three years attributable to the p...

Phrynoderma (toad-skin) is the name given to a papulo-follicular dermatosis commonly seen in malnourished individuals (Nicholls, 1933). During recent years considerable attention has been paid by nutrition workers to the study of the condition. A brief review of the literature on the subject and an account of its clinical and anatomical features have been given in a previous communication (Radh...

Conjunctival xerosis (X1A) as an independent indicator of VAD: VAD is only one of the several causes of conjunctival xerosis; thus the reliability of this sign (X1A) for independent assessment of VAD in field conditions is questionable [3,4]. Conjunctival xerosis is clinically expressed as marked dryness or unwettability; the affected area appears roughened, with fine droplets or bubbles on the...

It would seem reasonable to direct most nutritional research towards those problems that most afflict mankind, but in the present state of knowledge it is difficult to ascertain which these are. The first part of this paper will outline some of the difficulties but subsequently a rank order will be given which no doubt will be controversial. Thus the subject matter of this paper has revealed pe...

T oday, more than ever, ophthalmologists are being asked to answer patients’ questions about vitamin supplements and nutrition. The importance of diet and eye health is not new. The need to obtain adequate vitamin A to prevent xerophthalmia and nightblindness, particularly where malnutrition is rampant, has been known for decades (reviewed by Underwood and Arthur). More recently, interest has b...

Vitamin A deficiency is present worldwide in the developing countries. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and the Philippines appear to be the most afflicted but many countries in Africa and some in Central and South America have the same problem. The most tragic manifestation of the deficiency is blindness in young children; xerophthalmia, leading to keratomalacia with melting or dense scarring of t...

A 65 year-old female with a history of xerostomia and xerophthalmia was presented with dyspnea on exertion (New York Heart Association class III). Echocardiography and cardiac catheterization demonstrated severe pulmonary hypertension (PH). Laboratory examinations showed positive anti-nuclear and anti-Ro/SS-A antibodies. Schirmer's test was positive and salivary gland scintigraphy revealed seve...