Respiratory tract infections are common illnesses in children, causing significant morbidity and negatively affecting their health. Vitamin A protects against infections and maintains epithelial integrity. The goal of this study was to determine the correlation between vitamin A deficiency and recurrent respiratory tract infections (RRTIs). Participants in this cross-sectional study were divided into 3 groups: RRTIs (including patients with history of RRTIs presenting with respiratory tract infection symptoms), RTI (including patients without history of RRTIs presenting with respiratory tract infection symptoms), and control (including children who came for a routine health checkup without a history of RRTIs or respiratory tract infection symptoms). The vitamin A assay was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography. The study included 550 children aged 6.64 ± 2.61 years. The RRTIs group included 150 children (27.3%), the RTI group included 300 children (54.5%), and the control group included 100 children (18.2%). Subclinical vitamin A deficiency and vitamin A deficiency affected 3.1% and 1.3% of subjects, respectively. Subclinical vitamin A deficiency and vitamin A deficiency were higher in children with RRTIs than in those with RTI (8% vs 1.3%, P = .001 and 4% vs 0.3%, P = .006). Additionally, children with RRTIs had significantly higher rates of subclinical vitamin A deficiency and vitamin A deficiency than those in the control group, which had 1% subclinical vitamin A deficiency (P = .017) and no cases of vitamin A deficiency (P = .043). The RRTIs group had higher rates of otitis media (27.3%), sinusitis (20%), and pneumonia (4.7%) than the RTI group (P = .002). Vitamin A insufficiency was associated with RRTIs in children.

The objective of this study was to define the frequency of the bovine aortic arch in patients with coarctation using the tomographic studies. This is a descriptive retrospective study involving analysis of reports of computed tomographic angiography done at the Prince Sultan Cardiac center for 700 children with congenital heart diseases over a span of about 10 years from April 1, 2008, to August 1, 2018. Cases with coarctation of aorta were chosen to determine the frequency of the bovine aortic arch using the tomographic studies. From a total of 700 cases which underwent computed tomographic angiography, 117 (16.71%) were diagnosed with coarctation and 19 (2.71%) had bovine arch. Among the 117 patients with coarctation, the total number of patients with bovine arch was 7 patients representing 5.98%, while in patients without coarctation we found a total number of bovine arches of 12 out of 583 patients representing 2.06%. Patients having coarctation with normal branching pattern were at a slight increased incidence of atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect and anomalous pulmonary venous return than patients having coarctation with bovine arch. In the face of increased incidence of bovine aortic arch in patients with coarctation, we recommend multislice computed tomographic angiography as a noninvasive and potentially safe and accurate method to precisely delineate the branching pattern of the arch of aorta in patients with coarctation before the interventional procedures and surgeries.

Aim: primary goal of this research was to demonstrate the link between severity of periodontal disease and type 1 diabetes in children. Subjects and Methods: this prospective study included total of 40 children aged 5 to 12 years were included in this study, and the evaluation of periodontal disease was done using “Gingival Index (GI), Plaque Index (PI), and Clinical Attachment Loss (CAL)”; the blood glucose level was assessed using “Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c percent)”; and the patients were reevaluated after 3 months, 6 month and 9 month intervals. Results: The study comprised 40 children, 23 females and 17 males, with a mean age of 8.52 4.16. The two groups did not differ much. Both groups’ mean gingival index, plaque index, and clinical attachment level decreased over time. Group 1 had significantly lower mean gingival index, plaque index, and clinical attachment level scores than group 2 at baseline and three months post-intervention. Both groups’ mean HbA1c percent dropped with time. This decrease was only seen in group 2, and only between baseline and 9 months post-intervention in group 1. Conclusion: Determining the risk of periodontitis and associated consequences in poorly treated diabetic children should be a priority in this study. Children with severe periodontitis should also have their blood glucose levels checked.