Nurturing the Citizens of the Future: Milk Stations and Child Nutrition in Puerto Rico, 1929–60

Between the 1930s and 1960s Puerto Rico was transformed from a marginal United States territory into an industrialised ‘showcase of development’. This article investigates the organisation of milk station programmes on the island during this crucial period and how these reflected the circulation of child welfare knowledge, nutrition expertise and public health practices. During the Depression, these perspectives fostered a recast of the eugenic regeneration ideologies motivating medical assessments of and sanitary interventions with Puerto Rico’s rural poor since the nineteenth century. Innovations in nutrition knowledge and an emerging rural hygiene movement highlighted the negative health effects of the island’s monocrops economy. In this context, the nourishment of children’s bodies assumed symbolic and instrumental significance for the reconfiguration of colonial and developmental models promoted by the new Popular Democratic Party (PPD). The experience of public health professionals in relief work during the 1930s contributed to the articulation of food and nutrition as key elements of this party’s populist discourse. Programmes like milk stations became part of strategies to rear and manage the labour force needed in the industrial development model promoted by the PPD. From the perspective of poor Puerto Ricans, however, they were part of the materialisation of its promise of social justice for the poorer classes.     

Follow-Up Study of Over Three Years of Patients with Uveitis after Cataract Phacoemulsification: Outcomes and Complications

Purpose: To evaluate the rate and onset of intraoperative and postoperative complications post-phacoemulsification. Methods: One hundred sixty-two eyes of 145 patients with uveitis who underwent phacoemulsification between 2006 and 2009 were identified through surgical record review. Fifty-nine eyes of 46 patients met the inclusion criteria. Hazard ratio (HR) and Kaplan-Meier survival probability were calculated for each class of uveitis. Results: Macular edema (ME) resulted to be associated to chronic postoperative inflammation (r?=?0.6; p?=?0.00) and mostly related to patients who presented more than one postoperative relapse/year (r?=?0.2; p?=?0.02). Fuchs uveitis resulted to be a risk factor for posterior capsule opacification (PCO) (HR 3.36 IC95%1.0-10.5; p?=?0.03). Hypotony and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) were detected in the anterior uveitis group (0.02 EY). Conclusion: The HR to develop ME was significantly related to chronic anterior uveitis. PCO and elevated IOP are most frequent in Fuchs uveitis. The postoperative visual acuity result was good among all the uveitis groups.     

Impact of new technologies on diabetes care

Technologies for diabetes management, such as continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, have improved remarkably over the last decades. These developments are impacting the capacity to achieve recommended hemoglobin A1c levels and assisting in preventing the development and progression of micro- and macro vascular complications. While improvements in metabolic control and decreases in risk of severe and moderate hypoglycemia have been described with use of these technologies, large epidemiological international studies show that many patients are still unable to meet their glycemic goals, even when these technologies are used. This editorial will review the impact of technology on glycemic control, hypoglycemia and quality of life in children and youth with type 1 diabetes. Technologies reviewed include CSII, CGM systems and sensor-augmented insulin pumps. In addition, the usefulness of advanced functions such as bolus profiles, bolus calculators and threshold-suspend features will be also discussed. Moreover, the current editorial will explore the challenges of using these technologies. Indeed, despite the evidence currently available of the potential benefits of using advanced technologies in diabetes management, many patients still report barriers to using them. Finally this article will highlight the importance of future studies tailored toward overcome these barriers to optimizing glycemic control and avoiding severe hypoglycemia.     

Five Year Trends in the Utilization of Robotic Bariatric Surgery Procedures,United States 2015–2019

Purpose

Robotic approaches have been steadily replacing laparoscopic approaches in metabolic and bariatric surgeries (MBS); however, their superiority has not been rigorously evaluated. The main goal of the study was to evaluate the 5-year utilization trends of robotic MBS and to compare to laparoscopic outcomes.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of 2015–2019 MBSAQIP data. Kruskal-Wallis test/Wilcoxon and Fisher’s exact/chi-square were used to compare continuous and categorical variables, respectively. Generalized linear models were used to compare surgery outcomes.

Results

The use of robotic MBS increased from 6.2% in 2015 to 13.5% in 2019 (N= 775,258). Robotic MBS patients had significantly higher age, BMI, and likelihood of 12 diseases compared to laparoscopic patients. After adjustment, robotic MBS patients showed higher 30-day interventions and 30-day readmissions alongside longer surgery time (26–38 min).

Conclusion

Robotic MBS shows higher intervention and readmission even after controlling for cofounding variables.

Graphical Abstract

     

Neuropsychological outcomes in children of mothers with epilepsy.

The study investigated the nature of the effects of maternal epilepsy on cognitive performance of the offspring. One hundred fifty-four children of mothers with epilepsy aged 5 to 11 years (study group), along with 130 control children, comparable with respect to IQ, socio-economic status, age, and gender underwent a neuropsychological assessment using subtests from the NEPSY: A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, tapping attentional, auditory-verbal, visuomotor, fine motor, and memory abilities. The study group scored significantly lower than the controls on measures of attention, memory, and fine-motor function. Deficits were more marked in but not limited to the subset of the study group exposed to maternal medication in utero. Group differences on auditory attention were found only in younger children. Valproate-exposed children obtained lower scores on sentence repetition, as well as on the more demanding part of a test of auditory attention, than other children in the study group, suggesting weaknesses in working memory in the former subgroup. Confounding by maternal epilepsy type and polytherapy complicate interpretation of this finding. Differences between subsets of children not exposed to anti-epileptic drugs in utero and controls suggest that both drug exposure and genetic factors may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with maternal epilepsy.     

Incidence of malnutrition in adult patients at Groote Schuur Hospital, 1984

In order to determine nutritional status and the incidence of malnutrition 700 consecutive adult medical (395) and surgical (305) patients admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital between January and November 1984 were studied. Significant depletion in body weight was observed in 20% of all patients, fat depletion in 30% and muscle depletion in 15%; 40% were hypo-albuminaemia. Intergroup analysis demonstrated that malnutrition was more common in medical than surgical patients, and in non-white patients 38% of coloureds and 42% of blacks were fat depleted. Since malnutrition is associated with enhanced mortality and morbidity rates from any disease state, the results indicate that, particularly in non-white patients, nutritional support should be given greater emphasis in overall patient care.     

Genetic variability in the Guahibo population from venezuela

Four communities from Guahibo of Venezuela were analyzed for the genetic variants of nine erythrocyte enzymes and five serum proteins. Of the 14 loci determined, four were monomorphic. Significant frequency differentiation among communities, was present for ESD and TF markers. In general, Guahibo allele frequencies are in the variation ranges described for South American groups. The analysis indicates a relatively higher affinity of Guahibos with other Venezuelan groups within an irregular pattern of genetic distances that are likely related to the complex demographic history of the South American groups. Genetic diversity estimates reveal a moderate degree of genetic structure between the four Guahibo communities. This intra‐tribal variability in Guahibo appears to be lower than in Venezuelan Piaroa but higher than in other Amerindians and could be attributed to a combined effect of low population size and relative isolation of communities. At a continental level, the distribution of genetic diversity is consistent with preferential population movements along the eastern and western coastal areas. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:21–28, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.