Background: Facilities which manage high-risk babies should frequently assess the burden of hypothermia and strive to reduce the incidence.

BackgroundIn view of the fact that a significant proportion of neonates with malaria may be missed on our wards on the assumption that the disease condition is rare, this study aims at documenting the prevalence of malaria in neonates admitted into our neonatal ward. Specifically, we hope to describe its clinical features and outcome of this illness. Knowledge of these may ensure early diagnosis and institution of prompt management.MethodsMethods Hospital records of all patients (two hundred and thirty) admitted into the Neonatal ward of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu between 1st January 1998 and 31st December 1999 were reviewed. All neonates (fifty-seven) who had a positive blood smear for the malaria parasite were included in the study. Socio-demographic data as well as clinical correlates of each of the patients were reviewed. The Epi-Info 6 statistical software was used for data entry, validation and analysis. A frequency distribution was generated for categorical variables. To test for an association between categorical variables, the chi-square test was used. The level of significance was put at values less than 5%.ResultsPrevalence of neonatal malaria in this study was 24.8% and 17.4% for congenital malaria.While the mean duration of illness was 3.60 days, it varied from 5.14 days in those that died and and 3.55 in those that survived respectively. The duration of illness significantly affected the outcome (p value = 0.03). Fever alone was the clinical presentation in 44 (77.4%) of the patients. Maturity of the baby, sex and age did not significantly affect infestation. However, history of malaria/febrile illness within the 2 weeks preceding the delivery was present in 61.2% of the mothers. Maternal age, concurrent infection and duration of illness all significantly affected the outcome of illness. Forty-two (73.7%) of the babies were discharged home in satisfactory condition.ConclusionIt was concluded that taking a blood smear to check for the presence of the malaria parasite should be included as part of routine workup for all neonates with fever or those whose mothers have history of fever two weeks prior to delivery. In addition, health education of pregnant mothers in the antenatal clinic should include early care-seeking for newborns.

The proximate composition, amino acid profile of the protein, mineral and fatty acid constituents of melon seed were studied by chemical analysis, column chromatography for amino acids and gas chromatography for fatty acids. Two hundred and sixteen, male weanling albino rats of the Wistar strain, 28-30 days old and weighing on the average 5&55 g were used in three experiments to study the protein quality of melon seed meals with and without amino acid supplementation. The raw and fried undefatted melon seed meals (RUM and FUM), had crude protein and fat contents of between 31-37 % and 54-57 %, depending on the variety, while the raw and fried defatted meals (RDM and FDM) had 69-78 % and 1.1-2.7% respectively. Crude fibre levels were low in all samples. Melon seed contained high amounts of Ca, P, Mg, K, Zn and Fe. The fat comprised the following percentage acids: linoleic (52.3-57.9), oleic (13.6-21.7), palmitic (11.1-18.6), and stearic (13.0-16.8). The fairly high iodine value (113.1-118.7) and saponification number (192.8-194.6) confirmed the unsaturated nature of the melon seed oil. Lysine and methionine were the amino acids in shortest supply while threonine was marginal. The tryptophan content (2.21 g/16 g N) was higher than in most other plant protein sources.In studies with rats, the true digestibility of RUM, FUM, RDM and FDM were similar (range, 91-93 %) and were comparable to that for soyabean meal (SBM), (91.74 %), but lower than for whole hen's egg (WHE), (98.8 %). RDM and FDM had superior protein quality indices compared to RUM and FUM. RUM, RDM, FUM, and FDM had p.e.r., n.p.r., n.p.u. and b.v. of 0. 33, 1.53,41.30 and 46.84; 0.93, 2.58, 49.74 and 52.84; 0.75, 2.02, 44.64 and 48.79; and 1.01, 2.67, 50.12 and 54.18 respectively, which were significantly (P < 0.05) inferior to those for SBM and WHE (1.91, 3.89, 61.33 and 65.85; and 4.77, 6.14,94.86 and 96.94). Feeding FDM at increasing protein levels (10, 15, and 20%) resulted in increasing liveweight gains, improved p.e.r. up to 15%, but did not significantly alter the n.p.u. and b.v. Amino acid supplementation of 10 protein FDM diet, confirmed that lysine is the most limiting amino acid in melon seed meal for rat growth, followed by methionine and threonine. The levels of tryptophan and isoleucine were found to be adequate.

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