Parasitic infestation and nutritional status among schoolchildren in Vientiane, Lao PDR

AIMS: To investigate the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infestation among school-aged children residing in Vientiane capital city; and to assess the impact of its infestation on nutrition status of those children. METHODS: The school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2005 to February 2006. The systemic random samplings were employed to select schools and schoolchildren. Five hundred and thirty-six schoolchildren (350 high-school children and 186 parents of elementary-school children) were completely interviewed by semistructured questionnaire and performed anthropometric measurement. The direct faecal smear was employed to analyse 299 (55.8%) stool samples. The SPSS version 12.01 and Epi Info version 6.0 were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of parasitic infestation was 38.1%, with 18.1% of Opisthorchis viverrini and 14.7% of Ascaris lumbricoides. The prevalences of stunting and underweight were 20.2% and 20.0%, respectively. The prevalences of stunting (OR = 3.28; P < 0.01) and underweight (OR = 2.69; P < 0.05) were higher among high-school children who were infested by intestinal parasites. CONCLUSION: Approximately one-third of schoolchildren in Vientiane capital city were infested by intestinal parasites. The persistent parasitic infestation seemed to be associated with growth rate pattern among those children. School-based parasite control programme and health promotion are needed to eliminate this major public health problem in Lao People Democratic Republic.     

DSM-III-R Disorders, Social Factors and Management of School Attendance Problems in the Normal Population

Abstract— Eighty 13–15-year-old children who failed to attend one of four schools for more than 40% of a term, without good reason, were studied. A systematic schedule: (C.A.P.A.) was used in interviewing parents and children. Twenty-five had DSM-III-R Disruptive Behaviour Disorders and 15 had Anxiety/Mood Disorders. Truancy was associated with the former and school refusal with the latter but both often occurred without any Disorder. Fourteen children had neither school refusal nor truancy. Compared to controls, poor attenders came from materially disadvantaged homes. School refusal with anxiety disorders rarely received psychiatric treatment. Non-disturbed absentees were not usually dealt with appropriately.     

Relationships between physical growth, mental development and nutritional supplementation in stunted children: the Jamaican study

The relationship between physical growth and change in mental development on the Griffiths mental development scales was investigated in 127 stunted Jamaican children over a 2-year period. The role of nutritional supplementation in this relationship was examined. There were no consistent associations between changes in weight-for-height or head circumference and developmental change. Height gain over 2 years was significantly associated with change in mental age, and locomotor and hearing and speech subscale scores. Height gain in the first year predicted change in mental age, and hearing and speech in the second year. Some of the effect of supplementation on development was shared with linear growth. Therefore, nutrition probably explains part of the relationship between growth and development. However, supplementation also had effects on development independent of growth. The benefits of supplementation on development and the extent to which they were shared with growth varied among the subscales.     

Cardiorespiratory fitness and nutritional status of schoolchildren: 30-year evolution

ObjectiveTo compare the changes in cardiorespiratory fitness in evaluations performed every ten years since 1978/1980, according to the nutritional status and gender of students in the city of Ilhabela, Brazil.MethodsThe study is part of the Mixed Longitudinal Project on Growth, Development and Physical Fitness of Ilhabela. The study included 1,291 students of both genders, aged 10 to 11 years old. The study periods were: 1978/1980, 1988/1990, 1998/2000, and 2008/2010. The variables analyzed were: body weight, height, and cardiorespiratory fitness (VO_2max - L.min-1 and mL.kg-1.min-1) performed using a submaximal progressive protocol on a cycle ergometer. Individuals were classified as normal weight and overweight according to curves proposed by the World Health Organization of body mass index for age and gender. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with three factors followed by the Bonferroni method were used to compare the periods.ResultsThe number of normal weight individuals (61%) was higher than that of overweight. There was a significant decrease in cardiorespiratory fitness in both genders. Among the schoolchildren with normal weight, there was a decrease of 22% in males and 26% in females. In overweight schoolchildren, males showed a decrease of 12.7% and females, of 18%.ConclusionDuring a 30-year analysis with reviews every ten years from 1978/1980, there was a significant decrease in cardiorespiratory fitness in schoolchildren of both genders, which cannot be explained by the nutritional status. The decline in cardiorespiratory fitness was greater in individuals with normal weight than in overweight individuals.     

Eight-year-old very and extremely preterm children showed more difficulties in performance intelligence than verbal intelligence

Aim

This study determined possible discrepancies between verbal IQ and performance IQ in 8-year-old very preterm (VPT) and extremely preterm (EPT) children, and examined associations between verbal IQ and performance IQ, and sociodemographic factors, perinatal factors, early cognitive outcomes and also with school achievement scores.

Methods

This prospective cohort study included 120 eight-year-old VPT/EPT children. Cognitive development was assessed at the ages of 2, 5 and 8 years. Eight years’ school achievement results in arithmetic, reading and spelling were collected. Multiple regression analyses were performed to determine predictors of verbal IQ and performance IQ at the age of 8 years and to determine associations with school achievement scores.

Results

Mean performance IQ (89.8) was significantly lower than mean verbal IQ (99.4; Cohen's d = 0.59) at the age of 8 years. Gestational age (GA), small for GA status, and cognitive scores at the ages of 2 and 5 years significantly predicted verbal IQ and performance IQ at the age of 8 years. Performance IQ at age 8 years was an important predictor for arithmetic scores (β = 0.42).

Conclusion

Performance IQ was more strongly affected than verbal IQ in 8-year-old VPT/EPT children and was strongly related to mathematical difficulties.

     

School performance and intellectual outcome in adolescents with phenylketonuria

In a retrospective study, 34 treated adolescents with phenylketonuria and their relatives were tested with scale 2 of the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFT 20) and self-developed questionnaire concerning their development in school. The patients also filled in the Anxiety Questionnaire for Children. With an IQ of 93.6, the patients reached a normal mean intellectual performance but this was significantly below the mean IQ of the general population (100, p < 0.01), the IQ of their mothers (98.2, p < 0.05), their fathers (105.4, p<0.05) and their siblings (110.3, p<0.05 ). The patients' IQs correlated significantly with the IQs of their mothers, the socio-economic status of their families, the quality of dietary control since birth and the serum phenylalanine concentration at the moment of testing. With respect to age at which the patients started school, type of school attended and number of school years which had to be repeated, there were no significant differences between the patients and their siblings. The patients did not display a markedly higher degree of general anxiety, nervousness at examination time or a greater reluctance to attend school.     

Physical growth and nutritional status of garhwali girls

Objective: The present study was conducted to evaluate physical growth and nutritional status of 214 school-going girls ranging in age from 5 to 12 years of rural area in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttaranchal.Methods: Physical growth was evaluated using eleven standard anthropometric measurementsviz., height, body weight, sitting height, biepicondylar humerus, bicondylar femur, head circumference, chest circumference, upper arm circumference, biceps skinfold, triceps skinfold and subscapular skinfold. To assess the nutritional status, weight deficit for age, height deficit for age, upper arm circumference deficit for age and triceps skinfold deficit for age have been calculated using NCHS standards.Results: It has been observed that the well nourished Indian girls and American girls show better performance in physical growth parameters as compared to the Garhwali girls at all ages. The Garhwali girls were found to be comparable with rural Indian girls in their growth status. Grade-I and Grade-II malnutrition was prevalent among the Garhwali girls, however, Grade-III malnutrition was found to be present in only a few girls.Conclusion: This average to poor nutritional status of the present Garhwali girls may be attributed to low dietary intake, low-middle socio-economic background, uneducated or partially educated parents, large family size, gender discrimination etc.     

Iodine nutritional status among school children in selected areas of Howrah District in West Bengal, India

This article is a study on iodine nutritional status among 1627 school children aged 6-12 years, along with biochemical analysis of iodine of 200 urine samples, 50 drinking water samples and 175 salt samples carried out in certain randomly selected areas of the district Howrah in Gangetic West Bengal. Results indicate that the entire region is clinically goitre endemic having goitre prevalence 38%; however the median urinary iodine level was 25 microg/dl indicating no biochemical iodine deficiency, 70% salt samples had a recommended level of iodine and the region was found to be environmentally iodine sufficient. Consumption of dietary goitrogen and hard drinking water may have the possible role for the persistence of endemic goitre in the region.     

Forms and functions of school refusal behavior in youth: an empirical analysis of absenteeism severity

BACKGROUND: School refusal behavior is a particularly nettlesome problem for mental health and education professionals because of its symptom severity and heterogeneity as well as lack of consensus regarding inclusive classification strategies. Alternatively, a functional model of school refusal behavior may provide a particularly useful way of organizing, assessing, and treating this population. METHOD: The present study included 222 youths aged 5-17 years (134 males, 88 females) with school refusal behavior and their parents. Participants were assessed at a specialized university-based clinic for youths with school refusal behavior. Child self-report and parent-based measures of forms of behavior related to school refusal as well as functions of school refusal behavior were employed. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modeling revealed that function was a better determinant of degree of school absenteeism than behavior form. CONCLUSIONS: Assessing the function of school refusal behavior is likely a key factor in the evaluation of this population and may be linked to informed decisions about choice of treatment.     

Maternal nutritional status mediates the association between maternal age and birth outcomes

Young maternal age during pregnancy is linked with adverse birth outcomes. This study examined the role of maternal nutritional status in the association between maternal age and small for gestational age (SGA) delivery and birth length. We used data from a birth cohort study in Ethiopia, involving women who were 15–24 years of age and their newborns. A mediation analysis was fitted in a sample of 1,422 mother infant dyads for whom data on birth length were available, and 777 dyads for whom gestational age and birth weight was measured. We used commands, medeff for the mediation analysis and medsens for sensitivity analysis in STATA 14. Maternal nutritional status, measured by mid‐upper arm circumference, mediated 21% of the association between maternal age and birth length and 14% of the association with SGA delivery. The average direct effect (ADE) of maternal age on birth length was (β = 0.45, 95% CI [0.17, 0.99]) and the average causal mediated effect (ACME) was (β = 0.12, 95% CI [0.02, 0.15]). We also found an ADE (β = 0.31, 95% CI [0.09, 0.47]) and an ACME of (β = 0.05, 95% CI [0.003, 0.205]) of maternal age on SGA delivery. The sensitivity analysis suggests an unmeasured confounder with a positive correlation of 0.15 and 0.20 between the mediator and the outcome could explain the observed ACME for birth length and SGA, respectively. We cannot make strong causal assertions as the findings suggest the mediator partly explained the total effect of maternal age on both outcomes.     

School and neuropsychological performance of evacuated children in Kyiv 11 years after the Chornobyl disaster

This paper examines the cognitive and neuropsychological functioning of children who were in utero to age 15 months at the time of the Chornobyl disaster and were evacuated to Kyiv from the 30-kilometer zone surrounding the plant. Specifically, we compared 300 evacuee children at ages 10-12 with 300 non-evacuee Kyiv classmates on objective and subjective measures of attention, memory, and school performance. The evacuee children were not significantly different from their classmates on the objective measures (grades; Symbolic Relations subtest of the Detroit Test; forms 1 and 2 of the Visual Search and Attention Test; Benton Form A; Trails A; Underline the Words Test) or on most of the subjective measures (the attention subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist completed by mothers; the attention items of the Iowa Conners Teacher's Rating Scale; mother and child perceptions of school performance). The one exception was that 31.3% of evacuee mothers compared to 7.4% of classmate mothers indicated that their child had a memory problem. However, this subjective measure of memory problems was not significantly related to neuropsychological or school performance. No significant differences were found in comparisons of evacuees and classmates who were in utero at the time of the explosion, children from Pripyat vs. other villages in the 30-kilometer zone, and children manifesting greater generalized anxiety. For both groups, children with greater Chornobyl-focused anxiety performed significantly worse than children with less Chornobyl-focused anxiety on measures of attention. The results thus fail to confirm two previous reports that relatively more children from areas contaminated by radiation had cognitive deficits compared to controls. Possible reasons for the differences in findings among the studies are discussed.     

早产儿宫外生长发育迟缓原因剖析及营养摄入现状

早产儿宫外生长发育迟缓(EUGR)是全球普遍面临的问题。关于EUGR居高不下的原因,早产儿出生胎龄较小、体质量较低、接受医疗操作及检查增加、营养支持中断已有较多研究,但对于摄入能量、各种营养素能力有限及生长曲线标准的更新却少有报道。文献指出,早产儿脂肪摄入量达到推荐量的平均时间约在生后第6天,蛋白质约在生后第4天,碳水化合物在生后1周左右,其他多种维生素及微量元素通常达不到或需经历较长时间方可达到推荐量。在没有充足的能量和营养供给来维持早产儿宫内生长的速率及追赶生长的需求时,EUGR始终未有改善。文章对患儿EUGR及重要营养素(能量、脂肪、蛋白质、维生素、矿物质等)住院期间的摄入量作一综述,为更合理和规范早产儿的营养管理,有效控制EUGR提供依据和建议。     

Demographic status and prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in schoolchildren in Izmir, Turkey

Thirteen primary schools from nine areas were randomly selected in the shantytown and apartment districts in Izmir. Fecal specimens were evaluated with native-lugol, formalin-ethyl-acetate sedimentation and with trichrome staining for protozoa and helminths and with cellophane tape for Enterobius vermicularis. Of the study group, 33.4% had one or more parasites. The most common parasite was Blastocystis hominis (14.6%) followed by Enterobius vermicularis (10.1%) and Giardia intestinalis (7.8%). When parasitic distribution was evaluated in association with demographic features, a significant relation was found between the income level and parasitic infection prevalence. Multiple parasitic infections were more prevalent in crowded families (either extended or with many children). When parasitic infection prevalences in the 9-10 and 11-12 years of age groups were compared, the probability in the shantytown primary school group was significantly higher than in the apartment group (p<0.05).