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Aim:Nowadays, insufficiency and deficiency of vitamin B12 and folate are seen as an important health problem. The purpose of the present study was to determine the frequency of vitamin B12 and folate deficiencies in pregnant women and their babies at birth.Materials and Methods:The study group consisted of 117 pregnant women and their single, term babies in İzmir Ege Maternity Hospital. Analysis of vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine levels were performed from venous blood samples which were obtained from the mother and cord blood at birth. Additionally, a questionnaire using a face-to-face interview method was performed with the pregnant women included in this study. The mean duration of pregnancy was 39.1±0.89 weeks and the mean age of the mothers was 28.2±6.2 years.Results:Vitamin B12 deficiency (8 µmol/L) in 58.1% of mothers and 63.2% of babies. There was a significant correlation between maternal and cord blood vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine levels (p

Aim:Hyponatremia is a common electrolyte abnormality in hospitalized patients. Administration of isotonic maintenance fluids is recommended to prevent hyponatremia. The present study was conducted to evaluate the frequency and severity of hyponatremia in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).Materials and Methods:The frequency, severity and possible causes of hyponatremia in children with ALL throughout their entire intensive treatment were retrospectively evaluated. All children in this study received isotonic fluids as maintenance IV treatment during the hospitalization period.Results:In a five-year period, 618 hyponatremia episodes seen in 92 children with ALL (median age 59 months), treated with ALLIC 2002 protocol were entered into the study. The median number of hyponatremia episodes per patient was 6. All patients had at least one hyponatremia episode of which 83.2% were classified as mild, 13.2% as moderate, 2.9% as severe and 0.6% as very severe. The median duration of hyponatremia episodes was 5 (range between 1-43) days. The total duration of all hyponatremia episodes of each patient varied from 6 to 138 days with a median of 30 days. In 241 episodes of 68 children, there was inadequate salt intake secondary to oral feeding intolerance, nausea, vomiting and oral aphthous stomatitis. In four patients, seizure was seen during the hyponatremia period and thought to be secondary to hyponatremic encephalopathy. No patient developed central pontine myelinolysis.Conclusion:Hyponatremia is very frequent in ALL patients. Despite the use of isotonic IV fluids, it seems it cannot be completely prevented.