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Nutrients Dec 2022During pregnancy, women tend to improve their lifestyle habits and refine their dietary intake. Quite often, however, these dietary improvements take an unhealthy turn,...
During pregnancy, women tend to improve their lifestyle habits and refine their dietary intake. Quite often, however, these dietary improvements take an unhealthy turn, with orthorexia nervosa (ON) practices being apparent. The aim of the present pilot cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence of ON tendencies and the incidence of pica and record diet practices in a sample of pregnant women. A total of 157 pregnant women were recruited through private practice gynecologists during the first months of 2021. Nutrition-related practices were recorded, orthorexic tendencies were assessed using the translated and culturally adapted Greek version of the ORTO-15 questionnaire, pica practices were evaluated with a binary question and nausea and emesis during pregnancy (NVP) was evaluated using the translated modified Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea (mPUQE). Only two women reported pica tendencies, with ice and snow being the consumed items. The majority (61.1%) of women reported improving their diet since conception was achieved. Folic acid and iron oral nutrient supplements (ONS) were reportedly consumed by the majority of participants (87.9% and 72.6%, respectively) and 9.6% reported using herbal medicine products. The ORTO-15 score was reduced with tertiary education attainment, ART conception, being in the third trimester of pregnancy, consumption of folic acid and MV supplements and was only increased among women who were at their first pregnancy. The majority of participants experienced severe NVP and the remaining experienced moderate NVP. NVP was associated with lower hemoglobin levels, lack of supplementary iron intake, avoidance of gluten-containing foods, as well as with increased gestational weight gain. The results highlight the need to screen pregnant women for disturbed eating behaviors and nutrition-related problems, in order to ensure a healthy pregnancy outcome.
Topics: Humans; Pregnancy; Female; Pregnant Women; Pilot Projects; Pica; Cross-Sectional Studies; Morning Sickness; Pregnancy Complications; Pregnancy Outcome; Vomiting; Nausea; Folic Acid; Iron
PubMed: 36558433
DOI: 10.3390/nu14245275 -
Cureus May 2023Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency. Pica is commonly associated with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). A case of a 40-year-old female who presented...
Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency. Pica is commonly associated with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). A case of a 40-year-old female who presented with a critical record of low hemoglobin (Hgb) (1.6 g/dL) with severe iron deficiency and pica with no lasting deficits despite such low hemoglobin is discussed in this article. The patient presented to the emergency room with complaints of weight loss, weakness, palpitation, fatigue, dysphagia, and on-and-off vomiting for about a year and severe menorrhagia for about one and a half years. She also has had pica for the past several years where she eats and chews toilet paper. Several of her female family members also have pica. She was found to have critically low hemoglobin of 1.6 g/dL and serum iron of 8 ug/dL and ferritin of less than 1 ng/mL. The patient was treated with six units of packed red blood cells and IV and oral iron supplementation. She was discharged with a hemoglobin of 7.3 g/dL. She was later found to have a 9.6 cm uterine mass that is consistent with leiomyoma (fibroid) in transvaginal ultrasound and is following up with a gynecologist for the definitive management. She did not have lasting deficits from the critically low hemoglobin and has stopped engaging in pica behavior.
PubMed: 37303454
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.38812 -
BMJ Case Reports Mar 2018A 2-year-old boy with a history of pica was admitted with vomiting and treated overnight for viral tonsillitis. A week later, he presented with a prolonged afebrile...
A 2-year-old boy with a history of pica was admitted with vomiting and treated overnight for viral tonsillitis. A week later, he presented with a prolonged afebrile seizure and required intubation and ventilation. Antibiotics and acyclovir were started. Despite extensive investigations including MRI head, no cause was identified. Four days later, he deteriorated with signs of raised intracranial pressure. On day 5, blood lead concentration in the sample collected at admission was reported as grossly elevated, consistent with a diagnosis of severe lead poisoning from ingesting lead-containing paint at the family home. Chelation therapy was started but, unfortunately, he did not make a neurological recovery, and care was withdrawn. A serious case review identified a lack of awareness of lead poisoning and its relation to pica as a root cause. We report this case to share our experience and the importance of considering lead poisoning in children with pica.
Topics: Brain Diseases; Chelating Agents; Chelation Therapy; Child, Preschool; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning, Nervous System, Childhood; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Paint; Pica; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 29523605
DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2017-222388 -
Journal of the American Association of... Feb 2016The study aims to review a condition defined by the desire to consume ice in order to satisfy an addictive-like compulsion, rather than for purposes of hydration or pain...
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The study aims to review a condition defined by the desire to consume ice in order to satisfy an addictive-like compulsion, rather than for purposes of hydration or pain relief. This condition is called ice pica, or pagophagia. Associations between ice pica and iron deficiency, suggestions for clinical screening of at risk populations, and recommendations for treatment and follow-up care are provided.
DATA SOURCES
An extensive literature review of original research articles, reviews, clinical practice manuscripts, and scientific publications on pica and pagophagia.
CONCLUSIONS
A compulsion or craving for the consumption of ice is often overlooked in clinical practice. It is therefore important for clinicians to include ice pica as part of the review of systems for certain patient populations. Ice pica is frequently associated with iron deficiency, and iron supplementation is an effective therapy in most cases.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Knowledge gained from screening for ice pica can generate valuable patient information and lead to the diagnosis and treatment of iron deficiency. The populations at risk include young women and blood donors of either sex.
Topics: Anemia, Iron-Deficiency; Female; Humans; Ice; Iron; Male; Pica
PubMed: 25943566
DOI: 10.1002/2327-6924.12268 -
Current Opinion in Psychiatry Nov 2021This article reviews available assessment instruments for three of the feeding and eating disorder diagnostic categories: avoidant restrictive food intake disorder... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
This article reviews available assessment instruments for three of the feeding and eating disorder diagnostic categories: avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), pica, and rumination disorder (RD). It includes an overview of the current status of screening tools, questionnaire measures, and diagnostic instruments.
RECENT FINDINGS
Screening instruments are available for all three disorders; however, for pica and RD, these typically include single screening items only and do not cover any specific features of these presentations. Only one questionnaire suitable for clinical populations is included, covering ARFID only. Standardized diagnostic interviews are limited to two covering both pica and RD, only one of which provides further clinical information. Of the five diagnostic instruments for ARFID described here, two include diagnostic items as well as allowing more detailed assessment of clinical features.
SUMMARY
There are a limited number of assessment measures available for all three disorders, with instruments for ARFID being the greatest in number and widest in terms of scope. A commonly encountered difficulty is that many assessment instruments do not adequately cover diagnostic exclusion criteria, which raises the likelihood of false positive findings. All currently available measures require further study to determine their reliability and validity.
Topics: Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Humans; Pica; Reproducibility of Results; Rumination Syndrome; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 34402460
DOI: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000736 -
Physiological Measurement Oct 2022This study proposes a novel technique for atrial fibrillatory waves (f-waves) extraction and investigates the performance of the proposed method comparing with different...
This study proposes a novel technique for atrial fibrillatory waves (f-waves) extraction and investigates the performance of the proposed method comparing with different f-wave extraction methods.We propose a novel technique combining a periodic component analysis (PiCA) and echo state network (ESN) for f-waves extraction, denoted PiCA-ESN. PiCA-ESN benefits from the advantages of using both source separation and nonlinear adaptive filtering. PiCA-ESN is evaluated by comparing with other state-of-the-art approaches, which include template subtraction technique based on principal component analysis, spatiotemporal cancellation, nonlinear adaptive filtering using an echo state neural network, and a source separation technique based on PiCA. Quality assessment is performed on a recently published reference database including a large number of simulated ECG signals in atrial fibrillation (AF). The performance of the f-wave extraction methods is evaluated in terms of signal quality metrics (SNR, ΔSNR) and robustness of f-wave features.The proposed method offers the best signal quality performance, with a ΔSNR of approximately 22 dB across all 8 sets of the reference database, as well as the most robust extraction of f-wave features, with 75% of all estimates of dominant atrial frequency well below 1 Hz.
Topics: Humans; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Pica; Heart Atria; Atrial Fibrillation; Neural Networks, Computer; Electrocardiography; Algorithms
PubMed: 36179708
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ac96ca -
Drug Design, Development and Therapy 2019[6]-gingerol is one of the main components of ginger with many biological activities. In this study, the effects of ondansetron and [6]-gingerol on pica and gut...
PURPOSE
[6]-gingerol is one of the main components of ginger with many biological activities. In this study, the effects of ondansetron and [6]-gingerol on pica and gut microbiota in rats injected with cisplatin were evaluated.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Rat model of cisplatin-induced pica was established, and the effects of ondansetron and [6]-gingerol on the gut microbiota were further studied by 16S rDNA gene analysis.
RESULTS
The results showed that the total intake of kaolin of the rats injected with cisplatin was significantly increased, and treatment of ondansetron and [6]-gingerol in advance could significantly ameliorate the pica induced by cisplatin. The body weight of the rats injected with cisplatin was decreased compared with the control group. The 16S rDNA gene analysis has shown that ondansetron, [6]-gingerol and cisplatin could increase the relative abundance of and decrease on phylum level.
CONCLUSION
[6]-gingerol was as effective as ondansetron in the treatment of pica induced by cisplatin in rats, and it seemed that [6]-gingerol had the potential to ameliorate the alteration of gut microbiome, but it needs further study.
Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Catechols; Cisplatin; Fatty Alcohols; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Kaolin; Male; Ondansetron; Pica; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
PubMed: 31534312
DOI: 10.2147/DDDT.S211845 -
La Revue de Medecine Interne Dec 2020
Topics: Bezoars; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Humans; Pica; Stomach; Stomach Neoplasms; Trichotillomania; Young Adult
PubMed: 32709437
DOI: 10.1016/j.revmed.2020.06.003 -
JPMA. the Journal of the Pakistan... Nov 2023Allotriophagy is defined as food cravings that are different from the expected or the norm. It gives clinical pointers to an underlying diagnosis. We propose a new term,...
Allotriophagy is defined as food cravings that are different from the expected or the norm. It gives clinical pointers to an underlying diagnosis. We propose a new term, allotriodipsia which suggests a preference for beverages that are different from the norm. Taken together, these two entities may point towards certain endocrinological abnormalities and iatrogenic sequelae. In this communication we highlight the clinical relevance of allotriophagy and allotriodipsia.
Topics: Humans; Pica; Endocrine System Diseases
PubMed: 38013549
DOI: 10.47391/JPMA.23-93 -
Turkish Neurosurgery 2022To study the operative approaches for posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) aneurysms or understanding the different pathologies that can affect this artery, and...
AIM
To study the operative approaches for posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) aneurysms or understanding the different pathologies that can affect this artery, and to present detailed knowledge of this artery?s anatomy.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The present study analyzed the different variations of the PICA?s first two segments, the anterior medullary and lateral medullary segments, regarding the number of trunks, their emergency site, and the presence or absence of hypoplasia of this artery, through microsurgical dissection of 23 fresh cadaver brains.
RESULTS
Some striking variations were found, such as the absence of the left vertebral artery in one of the brains and the emergence of any PICA in another two brains studied. Moreover, variations such as hypoplastic arteries, missing trunks on one side and double or triple trunks, different emergence sites, significant PICA emergence from the superior part of the vertebral artery (59% of the trunks), and asymmetries between the right and left sides were recorded. The double origins of non-hypoplastic PICAs were found in 17% (n = 4) of patients.
CONCLUSION
The results obtained in the present study indicated the great importance of the studies and reviews on the different topographies of PICA; these studies and reviews expand the knowledge and consensus on the characteristics and implications of PICA?s variations. The clinical implication of this knowledge and consensus is obtaining the best surgical strategies for clipping aneurysms and, in addition, the best choices for occlusion of the vessel affected if the territory of the main vessel has an adequate collateral circulation. From the results of the present study, it is evident that there was a significant PICA emergence from the superior part of the vertebral artery and that the double origin of non-hypoplastic trunks was also found in some patients; the latter is associated with a greater chance of aneurysms and other additional complications.
Topics: Cadaver; Cerebellum; Humans; Intracranial Aneurysm; Posterior Cerebral Artery; Vertebral Artery
PubMed: 34859823
DOI: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.33441-20.3