الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of the WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Aim of the work
To evaluate the effect of breast feeding upon serum and stool interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in comparison to formula feeding in healthy infants and infants with diarrhea.
Summary
This study included 45 infants aged 1-12 months. They were subdivided into 4 groups. First group included 10 apparently healthy exclusively breast-fed infants. Second group included 10 apparently healthy exclusively breast-fed infants. Third group 15 apparently healthy exclusively breast-fed infants with acute diarrhea (less than 14 days). Fourth group included 10 exclusively formula-fed infants with acute diarrhea. All these infants were subjected to thourough history taking, clinical examination and laboratory investigations including: complete stool analysis, stool culture for enteropathogenic bacteria, examination of the stool for Rota virus and assay of serum and stool interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). The apparently healthy breast fed infants showed significantly higher serum IFN-γ than the apparently healthy formula-fed infants (p<0.05). Formula-fed infants with acute diarrhea showed significantly higher serum and stool IFN-γ than formula-fed infants without diarrhea (p<0.01, for both). Formula-fed infants without diarrhea and significantly higher stool TNF- α than breast fed infants without diarrhea (p<0.05). Both breast fed infants and formula-fed infants with acute diarrhea had significantly higher serum and stool TNF- α than those infants without diarrhea (p<0.01, for both). Infants with bacterial diarrhea had significantly higher serum IFN-γ than infants with viral diarrhea (p<0.05). The incidence of bacterial diarrhea was significantly higher in formula-fed infants than breast fed infants (p<0.01). a significant positive correlation between serum and stool TNF-α was detected in studied infants (r=0.65, p<0.05).