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Summary: Vitamin A deficiency is an important public hcalth problem in children under 5 years of age living in the tropics. We have previously demonstrated that Conjunctival Impression Cytology with transsef (CIC-T) is a simple procedure, which is adequately sensitive and specific as a screening tool for cpidemiological survey's of vitamin A status. The present study was designed to evaluate the utility of CIC-T and scrum retinal in malnourished children with kwashiorkor and children with chronic cholestasis. The study population comprised 15 cases of kwash iorkor, 5 cases of chronic cholestasis, and 20 healthy well-nourished controls, all aged less than 3 vcars. The mean serum retinol in the well-nourished children of 37.55 + 18.32mg/dl was significantly higher than the 17.2+11.53mg/dl in the kwashiorkor group (p=1),(0)1). The serum retinol in children suffering from chronic cholestasis had an inter mcdiate valuc of 23.59 +11.21mg/dl, which was similar to the levels in children with kwashiorkor (p=0.15) but significantly lower than that of the controls (p=0,03). This study demonstrates that a normal CIC-T smear is likely to indicate a scrum retinol of >20mg/dl (Odds Ratio=0.07.95% confidence Interval = 0.01-0).44. p=0).002). This study also confirms that CIC-T smear classification of normal and abnormal is the most predictive of serum retinal status. The simplicity; specificity: high positive predictive value and the acceptably low failure rate of CIC-T should make this test useful in pre dicting vitamin A status of children in this community: The nearly universal hypovita ininosis A in kwashiorkor in this study also confirms the need for vitamin A therapy in all children suffering from kwashiorkor

Summary: We report what, as far as we are aware, is the first docu mented case of Alagille syndrome which is characterised by chronic cholestasis, characteristic facies, pulmonary stenosis and defects of the vertebral arch, in a Nigerian girl who presented at the age of two days and was followed up intermittently for a period of 10.5 years. The biochemi cal indices suggestive of cholestasis in the patient improved with age while the height and weight remained suboptimal. The patient had two percutaneous liver biopsies with the second biopsy being consistent with paucity of interiobuiar bile duct syndrome. The characteristic facial features suggestive of the Alagille syndrome and ciinical and echocardiographic evidence of puimonary stenosis were first observed at the age of 58 months. This syndrome although rare, should be considered in the differential diagnosis of conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia in Nigerian children.

Summary:The present autopsy study has revealed that infection, contributing to 47 percent of the deaths, was the leading cause of child hood mortality from early neonatal period through school age period, with the highest incidence of 40 percent in the pre-school age period. The six leading infections, in descending order of frequency included pneumonia, meningitis, tuber culosis, measles, malaria and neonatal tetanus. Other common causes of mortality in the series included asphyxia in 11.0 percent, congenital malformations in 10.4 percent and malignancies in 8.7 percent of the total deaths. While preventable conditions generally, including infections, birth asphyxia, malnutrition, birth injuries and accidents accounted for 66.4 percent of the deaths, neonatal problems of asphyxia, birth injury and low birthweight contributed to 18.0 percent of the mortality. On the basis of the present findings, it is suggested that in order to reduce childhood mortality to acceptably low levels, improvement in obstetric and perinatal services in our institution should be undertaken. Furthermore, health education to parents, immunizations and economic improvement of parental status, should he carried out to prevent infections, malnutrition and accidents.

Background: Cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide in children under 15 years of age, with the incidence and mortality rate varying from 40 to 155 per million children., Aim: To describe the pattern of childhood cancer in Ibadan, Nigeria., Objective: To compare the findings of this study with those of previous studies in Ibadan and internationally., Methods: A retrospective review of histologically and cytologically confirmed cases of cancer in children aged <15 years diagnosed at University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan between January 1991 and December 2010 was undertaken. The cases were categorised using the International Classification of Childhood Cancer, third edition (ICCC-3)., Results: There were 625 cases comprising 360 (57·6%) males with a modal age of 3 years. The most common neoplasms were lymphomas (140, 22·4%), of which 90% were non-Hodgkin lymphomas, with Burkitt lymphoma constituting the majority of cases (73). Other common neoplasms were retinoblastomas (21%), soft tissue sarcomas (14·9%), leukaemias (10·2%) and CNS tumours (6·9%). Lymphomas, bone tumours, malignant hepatic tumours and other malignant epithelial neoplasms had the highest mean and modal ages, while retinoblastomas, neuroblastomas, germ cell tumours and renal tumours had the lowest mean and modal ages. During 1960-72 there were 1326 cases and during 1973-90 there were 1881 cases and the proportion of lymphomas was 58·9% and 45·4%, respectively. The present study demonstrated a marked decline in the number of cases and proportion of lymphomas (22·4%), particularly Burkitt lymphomas., Conclusion: During the last 20 years, there has been a decline in the number of cases of childhood cancer seen at UCH, Ibadan. This may be due to the establishment of additional specialist centres in the sub-region. Owing to a persistent decline in the frequency of Burkitt lymphoma, retinoblastoma is now the most common individual childhood cancer seen at Ibadan.

Aim: The most recent study on the clinicopathological features of gastric carcinoma from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, was done in 2000. The aim of this study is to update the knowledge on the clinicopathological features of gastric carcinoma diagnosed in the Pathology Department of the UCH Ibadan between 2000 and 2011., Materials and Methods: This was a 12-year retrospective review of clinical and demographic data and the histopathological features of gastric cancers diagnosed at the Pathology Department of the UCH. The chi square test, Fisher's exact test, and the t-independent test were used as applicable in the statistical analyses., Results: A total of 117 cases of gastric carcinoma were histologically diagnosed at the Pathology Department of UCH, Ibadan in this period giving a relative ratio frequency of 1.38% for all cancers. It represented 18.4% of all gastrointestinal tract malignancies diagnosed in the same period. There was a male preponderance with male:female ratio of 1.72:1; the middle-aged and elderly made up about 76.1% of cases. The disease was clinically and histologically advanced in 92.8% of cases. Gastric tumours were predominantly antral/ pyloric in 80% of cases and exophytic in 62.3% of cases. The intestinal histotype constituted 47.0% cases although a rise in the diffuse histological type was observed., Conclusion: There is a decline in the relative ratio frequency of gastric carcinoma in Ibadan; and a fall in the rate of the intestinal type of gastric carcinoma relative to the diffuse type when compared to previous studies from our centre.