Objective To investigate the changes of body composition in the children with acute leukemia during different treatment stages.Methods From January 2009 to April 2010,56 children with acute leukemia hospitalized in Shanghai Children's Medical Center for chemotherapy were enrolled.Meanwhile,56 healthy children with matched age and sex were enrolled as the control group.The body compositions of children in the control group and the children with acute leukemia at the end of the first course of each treatment stages ware detected by segmental multiple-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis.The distribution of body compositions was recorded asthe percentage of each body composition to the body weighL Results Among 56 children with acute leukemia,41were with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 15 with acute nonlymphoblasdc leukemia.Twenty-three cases were in remission-induction chemotherapy stage,15 in consolidation chemotherapy stage,and 18 in maintenance chemotherapy stage.Compared with children in the control group,children with acute leukemia showed a reduction in the percentage of intracellular fluid (P = 0.000), extracellular fluid (P - 0.005), protein (P = 0.000), mineral (P = 0.001), skeletal muscle mass (P = 0.000), body cell mass (P = 0.000), and active cell mass (P = 0.000), while an increase in body fat mass [(26.2 ± 8.3)% vs.(20.3±3.8)%, P=0.000].The body weight (P = 0.001), the percentage of intracellular fluid (P = 0.005), protein (P = 0.004), body cell mass (P = 0.001), and active cell mass ( P = 0.020 ) in the children during remission-induction chemotherapy stage were significantly lower than those of the healthy children.However, the parameters of the consolidation chemotherapy stage were significantly lower than those of the control group, including the percentage of intracellular fluid (P = 0.000), extracellular fluid (P =0.000), protein (P = 0.000), mineral (P =0.001), body fat mass (P =0.000), non-fat mass (P = 0.000), skeletal muscle mass (P = 0.000), body cell mass (P = 0.000), and active cell mass (P = 0.000).Most body compositions in the maintenance chemotherapy stage were lower than those of the healthy children ( P < 0.05) except for body mass index (P = 0.127) and the percentage of extracellular fluid (P = 0.097).Conclusions Body compositions remarkably change in children with acute leukemia after chemotherapy.Therefore, the nutritional status of children with acute leukemia should be closely monitored, and proper nutritional support should be provided when necessary to improve the prognosis.

Objective To investigate the accuracy and reliability of white blood cell classifications in normal saline diluted jaundice specimen which could not be classified by blood cell analyzer. Methods Jaundice specimens which not be classified were equally diluted with normal saline and assessed in LH750. Differential count of white blood cells after dilution was compared with the result of original specimen using XN-1000 blood cell analyzer. The white blood cell classifications of diluted jaundice specimen and the original blood sample were analyzed. Results In jaundice specimens diluted by normal saline, when WBC ＜2. 0 ×109/L, minimum relative deviation was 0％ and the maximum was 9. 03％. When WBC＞2. 0xl09/L, minimum relative deviation was 0. 09％ and the maximum was 5. 21％. All the results met the requirements. Conclusion Equal dilution of normal saline could preliminarily solve the problem that white blood cells could not be classified in jaundice specimen.