Background: Androgens enhance the sebum production and follicular keratosis that plays the key role in the aetiology of acne. Objective: To find out the association between serum testosterone and acne vulgaris. Methods: A case control study was carried out for a period of two years in the outpatient department of Dermatology and Venereology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Female patients having acne vulgaris were selected as case. Healthy control (age and sex matched) were enrolled from the community. Results: The study showed that the mean age of the cases was 22.43 with standard deviation 5.2 years and the mean age of the control was 23.23 with standard deviation 5.9 years. The mean duration of disease was 62.6 months ranging from 12 months to 300 months. All the patients had presented with comedones (blackheads and whiteheads) followed by 94.3% had papules and 58.6% had pustules. Considering the site of lesion, all the patients had acne in the face. Data analysis revealed that the percentage of serum testosterone above normal was found to be high among the cases with acne (10%) whereas below normal level of serum testosterone was found among the control and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion:The study found a significant association between serum testosterone and acne vulgaris. As serum testosterone is associated with acne vulgaris, testosterone levels should be measured in patients presenting with acne vulgaris especially in treatment resistant cases and anti-androgen treatment may be indicated in cases with elevated testosterone level.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bsmmuj.v5i1.10980 BSMMU J 2012; 5(1):1-5

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and beta-thalassemia trait (BTT) are the common causesof microcytic hypochromic anaemia. Several discrimination indices have beenintroduced to discriminate quickly these similar entities via parameters obtained fromautomated cell counter. The purpose of the study was to compare the value of twodiscrimination indices, red cell distribution width index (RDWI) and red cell distributionwidth (RDW) in differentiation of BTT and IDA. This study consists of 57 cases ofBTT and 72 cases of IDA. Severe anaemia (<7.0 gm/dl) had been excluded becausethese cases are not confused with BTT cases in practice. Sensitivity, specificity,positive and negative predictive values and Youden’s index of both indices indifferentiation of BTT and IDA had been calculated. RDWI appears to be reliable anduseful index for differentiation of iron deficiency anaemia and beta thalassaemia trait.Again RDWI is better than RDW in differentiating BTT from IDA.Key words: Microcytic hypochromic anemia; discrimination indices.DOI: 10.3329/bjch.v33i3.5690Bangladesh Journal of Child Health 2009; Vol.33(3): 100-103

No abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/cbmj.v1i2.13860 Community Based Medical Journal Vol.1(2) 2012 26-31

Background: Seborrheic dermatitis is a common papulosquamous  dermatosis and occurring in 2% to 5% of the  population. The prevalence of seborrheic dermatitis among  HIV-positive and AIDS patients between 34% and 83%. The  anti-inflammatory activity of oral itraconazole and efficacy  on Malessezia suggests that itraconazole capsule will be the  first oral treatment option in future in seborrheic dermatitis.  Unfortunately there is no data base study with the efficacy  of oral itraconazole for the treatment of seborrheic  dermatitis over Bangladeshi people.Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of itraconazole in the  treatment of Seborrheic dermatitis.Methods: This was an interventional type of study and total  thirty seven patients of seborrheic dermatitis from department  of Dermatology and Venereology, Bangabandhu Sheikh  Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) was enrolled. The study  was carried out for a period of two years from January 2008  to December 2009 and purposive type non-probability  sampling technique was followed in this study.Results: The scoring of seborrhea was 6.33±1.15 before  treatment and 4.33 ±3.21 after treatment, scoring of itching  was 6.66 ±1.49 before treatment and 3.61 ±2.70 after  treatment and scoring of greasy crust was 7.12 ±2.70 before  treatment and 4.00 ±3.16 after treatment. It was observed  that before treatment, erythema was severe in 43.2% cases,  moderate in 51.4% cases and mild type erythema was present  in 5.4% cases. And after treatment, 29.7% had severe type  erythema, no patient had moderate type erythema, only  43.2% had mild type and 27% cases had no erythema at all.  Before treatment, papular eruption was severe in 27% cases,  moderate in 54.1% cases and only 18.9% had mild type  papular eruption. But after treatment, 10.8% had severe  type, 18.9% had moderate, 51.4% had mild and 18.9% had  no papular eruption at all. It was observed that before  treatment, squamation was severe in 37.8% cases and  moderate in 62.2% cases. But after treatment, 18.9% had severe type squamation, 10.8% had moderate, 45.9% had  mild and 24.3% had no squamation. Improvement was  shown in 26(70.27%) cases and 11(29.73%) cases shown  no improvement at all.Conclusion: The study suggests that oral itraconazole has significant efficacy profile for treatment option of seborrheic dermatitis. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbcps.v29i4.11326 J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2011; 29: 201-206