Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0029089 (ophthalmoplegia)
 3,338 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Beri-Beri is caused by vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency. Thiamine is essential for carbohydrate metabolism and the generation of energy. Depending on age and calorie intake, 1-1.5mg/day are required with a 50% increase during pregnancy and lactation. Fever and increased muscular activity will also increase thiamine requirements (storage in muscles is limited, and reserves are quickly depleted). The sources of thiamine are meat, the outer layer of cereal grains and pulses, nuts, and leafy vegetables. The vitamin is lost during milling and processing and during excessive cooking. Beri-beri takes 2 forms: wet beri-beri which has a high output biventricular failure with edema associated with profound peripheral vasodilation and tachycardia (this also occurs in an acute fulminating form known as shoshin beri-beri) and dry beri-beri with symptoms of peripheral neuropathy with taxia, weakness, paraesthesia, and patchy sensory loss with areflexia. In this form, foot and/or wrist drop may occur. Thiamine deficiency can also produce Wernicke-Korsakoff psychosis characterized by vomiting, horizontal nystagmus, ophthalmoplegia, memory loss, and confabulation. Wet beri-beri is a medical emergency treated by intravenous administration of thiamine for several days. 38 patients (27 men and 11 women) were identified with beri-beri in urban Banjul in the Gambia. 14 had wet beri-beri, 11 a mixed presentation, and 13 dry beri-beri. Most of the patients were disabled for many months. Risk factors were pregnancy, alcohol consumption, fever, exercise, diabetes, and dysentery. 4 of the patients died (2 were in the last trimester of pregnancy). The staple diet in urban areas of the Gambia is imported, polished white rice in a groundnut- or oil-based sauce with fish and vegetables such as peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Meat is too expensive for the urban poor, and fruit and vegetable consumption is highly seasonal and income-dependent. There is little chance that this diet will be changed for the 46% of the population who live in urban areas. It is likely that a substantial proportion of the population has subclinical thiamine deficiency and are at risk of beri-beri. Since thiamine added to imported rice will be destroyed by traditional means of cooking, adding the vitamin to wheat flour may be an appropriate public health measure.
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PMID:Beri-beri: "Endemic amongst urban Gambians". 1231 72