Weanling diarrhoea in The Gambia: implications of a jejunal intubation study

Abnormalities in jejunal flora and bile salt metabolism were most marked in the youngest members of a group of Gambian village children in the weanling age group. These may be linked with the profound change in diarrhoeal morbidity, particularly diarrhoea-induced growth impairment, which occurs as soon as breast-fed infants are regularly supplemented. The pathogenesis of these changes is not understood. The presence of small bowel colonization did not appear to be a causal factor but, it is speculated, its appearance may mark the development of a post-enteritis enteropathy which is responsible for the weanling diarrhoea syndrome and which is caused and perpetuated by traditional weaning foods.     

A trial of ascorbic acid and of multivitamin supplementation on the oral health of West African children

204 children between the ages of 1·5 and 6·5 years living in a West African village where the incidence of gingivitis and bleeding gums is about 40% of the population at the end of the rainy season, were given vitamin C or a placebo for 69 days, followed by a multivitamin supplement or placebo for 47 days. The condition of their gums was continuously monitored by trained field workers and by a paediatrician during the supplementation period, and was also assessed in greater detail by the paediatrician at the beginning and end of each treatment period. No benefit of either type of supplement could be detected, either on incidence of bleeding, or on over-all severity of gingivitis, although there was a clear-cut seasonal trend towards lower incidence of bleeding in both groups as the study progressed.     

Class, stratification and inequalities in health: a comparison of the Registrar-General's Social Classes and the Cambridge Scale

Using published standardised mortality ratios for individual occupational groups in 1981, the value of the Registrar-General's Social Class schema for analysing health inequalities is compared with an alternative approach to the measurement of social stratification, the Cambridge Scale. A major issue is the extent to which the social classes really constitute social groups with a high degree of internal homogeneity and with clear boundaries between them. It is shown that, in relation to mortality ratios, they do not and that the stratification order is closer to a continuous hierarchy. The Cambridge Scale is to be preferred on both theoretical and empirical grounds: being constructed on a much sounder basis and superior in an explanatory sense. The advantages of a continuous measure are further explored by looking at the mortality ratios for malignant neoplasms and coronary heart diseases in the broader context of material factors (average earnings) and lifestyle (smoking).     

剑桥大学生物医学科研管理探讨

中国科学家因在特殊年代研发的青蒿素而获得诺贝尔奖,引发了对我国新时代生物医学科研管理策略的探讨。科学研究已进入大科学时代,对传统的科研管理模式提出了挑战。剑桥大学的生物医学成果显著,其科研管理体系较为完善,本文在介绍其科研管理经验的基础上,结合我国现状提出了相关建议。     

The use of oral glucose electrolyte solution prepared with untreated well water in acute non-specific childhood diarrhoea

When untreated bacterially contaminated well water was used to constitute an oral glucose electrolyte solution, bacterial multiplication was significantly greater in the solution than in the well water. A controlled prospective trial in a West African village, comparing this solution with one prepared from clean drinking water, found no significant differences in the effects of the solutions when they were given to children suffering from acute diarrhoea. The intake of potentially pathogenic organisms from the well water solution was small compared to that from the local weaning foods. In remote areas of developing countries, where general and food hygiene is poor, it may prove possible to use such untreated water in the preparation of therapeutic glucose electrolyte solutions.