Consumption of nutritional supplements among the residents aged eighteen years and below in Tongzhou District / 预防医学

Objective@#To understand the consumption of nutritional supplements among the residents aged eighteen years and below in Tongzhou District of Beijing,so as to provide reference for supplements exposure assessment and health education.@* Methods@# A hundred people aged 18 years and below were selected from each of the eight neighborhood committees of Tongzhou Town,Tongzhou District,Beijing. The questionnaire for the Nutritional Supplements Guidelines for Chinese Residents Study was used to collect the rate of taking nutritional supplements,influencing factors,types and frequency. @*Results@#The rate of taking nutritional supplements was 44.16%. The rates of taking nutritional supplements in people aged 0-5 years,6-12 years and 13-18 years were 45.56%,42.86% and 41.00%,respectively,without statistically significant difference among them （P>0.05）. The rates of taking nutritional supplements in males and females were 44.82% and 43.49%,without statistically significant difference between them （P>0.05）. The Results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that annual per capita household income of more than 50 000 yuan （OR=1.688,95%CI: 1.171-2.435） and parents taking nutritional supplements （OR=4.104,95%CI: 3.023-5.573） were the promoting factors for the intake of nutritional supplements in people aged 18 years and below. The rates of taking calcium,vitamin D and multivitamin were 26.10%,21.56% and 8.31%,respectively. There were 272 （80.00%） people taking 1-2 kinds of supplements,and 200 （58.82%） people taking them daily. @*Conclusions@#In Tongzhou District,44.16% of the population aged 18 years and below takes nutritional supplements,mainly calcium and vitamin D. Family income and whether their parents taking or not are determinants.

¿Bebés en las escuelas? infancias hiperescolarizadas en una cultura prefigurativa / Babies at school? hyper schooling of infancy in a prefigurative culture / Bebês nas escolas? Infâncias “hiperescolarizadas” numa cultura pré-figurativa

(descriptivo): Desde hace más de una década, se observa en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires un notorio crecimiento de la población de niños y niñas de edades entre 0 a 3 años, con escolarización. En este estudio aportamos evidencia estadística corroborando un relevante incremento de las vacantes disponibles, la privatización de la matrícula y la persistencia de una elevada demanda insatisfecha. Proponemos un andamiaje conceptual para contribuir a responder una pregunta central: ¿cuáles son los cambios culturales y demográficos que están implícitos en el reclamo por más bebés con escolarización? Centramos el estudio en este proceso como emergente de un cambio de época, con nuevas concepciones de infancia y adultez. Por medio del concepto cultura prefigurativa, de Margaret Mead, arriesgamos algunas hipótesis sobre el deterioro del valor del sacrificio adulto‒paterno.

(descriptive): In the City of Buenos Aires, there has been important growth inpreschool enrollment for over a decade. The empirical data evidences a significant increase inenrollment, the privatization of preschool education and the prevalence of unsatisfied demand: Whatcultural and demographic changes underlie the general demand that more babies should go to school?The emergence of a new era starting with a change in thinking, and a new conceptualization ofchildhood and adulthood is proposed. Through Margaret Mead’s concept of “prefigurative culture”,we hypothesize the devaluation of the adult‒parental sacrifice.

(descritivo): Nos últimos dez anos, o aumento de crianças escolarizadas em seusprimeiros anos de vida cresceu muito na cidade de Buenos Aires. Este estudo traz estatísticasque provam o aumento do número de vagas, a privatização da matrícula e a persistente demandainsatisfeita. Com esses dados, a proposta é desvendar o conceito que contribui a responder umaquestão central: Quais são as mudanças culturais e demográficas que ficam por trás das discussõesque reclamam por mais e mais bebés na escola? Propõe‒se a emergência de uma nova época, comconcepções diferentes da infância e da vida adulta. Através do conceito de “cultura pré‒figurativa”de Margaret Mead, os autores arriscam a hipótese da deterioração do valor do sacrifício adulto‒paterno o que torna o ingresso na educação infantil cada vez mais cedo.

Prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs among school going children of Chandigarh.

Introduction: Dental caries is the most common chronic disease of childhood that interferes with normal nutrition intake, speech, and daily routine activities. Dental caries is a lifetime disease, and the highest priority risk group is school children. Aim: To assess the prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs among school going children of Chandigarh. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among school going children of Chandigarh in the age group of 3-17 years. The subjects were selected from four randomly selected schools. All the children from the selected schools were examined. A total of 4493 subjects formed the sample size. Dentition status was assessed using dft index by Gruebbel for primary dentition and DMFT index by Klein, Palmer, Knutson for permanent dentition, respectively. Chi-square test was used to find an association between the study variables. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare the mean difference. Results: Among the 4493 study subjects, caries prevalence was found to be 47.3%. Mean dft and DMFT score of the population was 1.06 ± 1.995 and 0.41 ± 1.022, respectively. When analyzing the treatment needs among various age groups 42.6% of the study subjects required oral prophylaxis and 45% required restorative procedures. Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that high prevalence of caries was found in primary dentition than permanent dentition and most of the decayed teeth were untreated. This study emphasize the need for treating dental caries at its earliest possible stage and parents should be made aware of caries preventive measures for their children.

Evidence of increasing risk of schistosomiasis among school-age children in municipality of Calatrava, Province of Negros Occidental, Philippines

Objective:To explore risk of school-age children being infected with schistosomiasis in selected villages in the municipality of Calatrava, province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. Methods:As part of the monitoring and evaluation of the helminth control program in the province of Negros Occidental, parasitological monitoring, through the use microscopy of stool samples processed using Kato-Katz technique, was conducted to describe the baseline and follow-up parasitological status of school-age children in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Seven villages from the municipality of Calatrava were selected as study sites.Results:During baseline assessment, only one case of schistosomiasis was reported from the village of Marcelo. During follow-up assessment, 32 cases (6.9%) of schistosomiasis were reported and the prevalence of moderate-heavy intensity infection was 1.3% in six villages. Among the seven villages included in the follow-up, Minapasuk had the highest prevalence at 14.6%, while San Isidro reported no case of schistosomiasis.Conclusions:Non-endemic villages, which have reported positive cases in school-age children, may need to be assessed for possible endemicity for schistosomiasis. Transmission of the disease may need to be determined in these villages through active parasitological and malacological surveillance. Other non-endemic villages adjacent to or share river networks with endemic villages in Calatrava may need to be explored for possible introduction of the disease, especially after typhoons and flooding. Establishing endemicity for schistosomiasis in these villages will help infected and at risk individuals to receive yearly treatment to reduce morbidities caused by this disease.

Evidence of increasing risk of schistosomiasis among school-age children in municipality of Calatrava, Province of Negros Occidental, Philippines

Objective: To explore risk of school-age children being infected with schistosomiasis in selected villages in the municipality of Calatrava, province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. Methods: As part of the monitoring and evaluation of the helminth control program in the province of Negros Occidental, parasitological monitoring, through the use microscopy of stool samples processed using Kato-Katz technique, was conducted to describe the baseline and follow-up parasitological status of school-age children in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Seven villages from the municipality of Calatrava were selected as study sites. Results: During baseline assessment, only one case of schistosomiasis was reported from the village of Marcelo. During follow-up assessment, 32 cases (6.9%) of schistosomiasis were reported and the prevalence of moderate-heavy intensity infection was 1.3% in six villages. Among the seven villages included in the follow-up, Minapasuk had the highest prevalence at 14.6%, while San Isidro reported no case of schistosomiasis. Conclusions: Non-endemic villages, which have reported positive cases in school-age children, may need to be assessed for possible endemicity for schistosomiasis. Transmission of the disease may need to be determined in these villages through active parasitological and malacological surveillance. Other non-endemic villages adjacent to or share river networks with endemic villages in Calatrava may need to be explored for possible introduction of the disease, especially after typhoons and flooding. Establishing endemicity for schistosomiasis in these villages will help infected and at risk individuals to receive yearly treatment to reduce morbidities caused by this disease.

Longitudinal trends in physical activity patterns in selected urban south Indian school children.

Background & objectives: There are very few studies describing the pattern of physical activity of children in India. This study was carried out to document patterns of physical activity in south Indian school children aged 8 to 15 yr and examine changes over a one year period. Methods: Physical activity was assessed using interviewer-administered questionnaires at baseline (n=256) and at follow up (n=203) in 2006 and 2007. Frequency and duration of each activity was recorded and metabolic equivalents (MET) assigned. Sedentary activity included activities with MET < 1.5, and moderate-to- vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with >3.0. For each activity, daily duration, intensity (MET), and the product of the two (MET-minutes) were computed. Children were categorized by age group, gender and socio-economic status. Height and weight were measured. Results: At baseline, sedentary activity was higher in children aged >11 yr, while intensity of MVPA was higher in boys than girls. Over one year, physical activity at school significantly decreased (P<0.001). There was also a significant decrease in MVPA MET-min (P<0.001) with interaction effects of age group (P<0.001) and gender (P<0.001). Interpretation & conclusions: There was a significant decline in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over a single year follow up, largely due to a decrease in physical activity at school. There appears to be a gap between State educational policies that promote physical well-being of school-going children and actual practice.

Peso de nacimiento y posterior estado nutricional, desarrollo cognitivo y actividad ocupacional: una revisión crítica / Birth weight and later nutritional status, cognitive development and job status: a critical review

El impacto del estado nutricional prenatal, especialmente lo concerniente al peso de nacimiento (PN) y sus efectos tanto en el corto, mediano o largo plazo, sobre el estado nutricional y el desarrollo cognitivo del niño y, sobre la ocupación desempeñada en la vida adulta, ha sido una problemática de interés para diversos investigadores; al respecto, algunos autores encuentran una asociación positiva y significativa entre estas variables, mientras que otros no encuentran ninguna relación. Es así como se ha descrito que niños con PN insuficiente, bajo o, extremadamente bajo, además del deterioro temprano del estado nutricional, presentarían en el corto plazo, un mayor riesgo de daño en la maduración cerebral, retraso del desarrollo cognitivo y menores circunferencias craneanas, lo que implicaría menor volumen encefálico y bajo rendimiento intelectual. En el corto y mediano plazo, esta situación perjudicaría el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje en la etapa escolar, mientras que en el largo plazo, esto condicionaría la ocupación a desempeñar en la vida adulta. Actualmente, el cuerpo de conocimientos pone de manifiesto que los hallazgos relativos a estas asociaciones no son concluyentes, existiendo gran controversia en estas materias. Este artículo de revisión tiene el propósito de analizar la evidencia existente hasta este momento, con el objeto de incentivar la investigación en estos aspectos que son de gran relevancia para el desarrollo del niño y su vida futura.

The impact of prenatal nutritional status, assessed through birth weight (BW) and their effects in the short, medium and long-term on nutritional status, cognitive development and job status in the adult life, has been a problem of interest for several researchers; as regards, some of these report a positive and significant association between these variables and others do not find any relation. Children with insufficient, low or very low BW despite the early more deteriorate nutritional status should present higher risk for brain maturation, failure cognitive development and lowered head circumference which implies both lowered brain volume and intellectual development. In the short and medium-term, this situation damages the learning process at school-age, while in the long-term this might condition the quality of jobs. At present, the body of knowledge pinpoints that findings related to these associations is not conclusive verifying a great controversy in these matters. This review article has the purpose of analyzing the current evidence, in order to stimulate research about to these aspects which are relevant for child development and their future life.

A Study on the Relationship between Self-Esteem and Meaning of Life in Higher Grade Elementary School Students

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between self-esteem and meaning of life in higher grade elementary school students. METHODS: Four hundred eighty four elementary school students in their 4 ~ 6th-grade at S, G and C City were recruited by convenient sampling. Data were collected from August to October, 2008 using a self-reported questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS/WIN 12.0 program with mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Duncan's test, and Pearson's correlation. RESULTS: The average score of meaning of life was 3.07 +/- 0.38 and that of self-esteem was 3.43 +/- 0.62. There were significant differences in self-esteem according to variables region and religion, and in meaning of life scores according to variables region, grade, sex and religion. There was a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and meaning of life. CONCLUSION: Self-esteem and meaning of life should be considered as important factors for healthy development in the elementary school period. Self-esteem should be considered as a main content in developing programs for finding meaning of life for higher grade elementary school students.

A Study on Knowledge of Oral Health, Behavior, Self-Efficacy, Belief, and the Number of Dental Caries of Elementary School Students

PURPOSE: To understand the differences and correlations of the knowledge of oral health, behavior, self-efficacy, belief, and the number of cavities in accordance with the general traits of elementary school students. METHODS: The survey was conducted at 2 elementary schools in D city, which 740 respondents were analyzed. RESULTS: A group of students who have received health education has plentiful knowledge of oral health and have more cavities. Also, a group of students who have been to dental clinics recently have more knowledge of oral health, follow guidance on oral health, and have high level of belief in health. The more knowledge of oral health the students have, the better they behave for oral health and the higher self-efficacy and belief in oral health become. Students with higher self-efficacy show more knowledge of oral health, more appropriate behavior, and stronger belief in oral health, while the number of cavities are much less. CONCLUSION: Health education contributes to improving the level of knowledge of oral health. Comprehensive programs beyond simple introduction of knowledge will be needed to improve behavior, self-efficacy, and belief in oral health. It is recommended to include a health clinic within a program for improving oral health in school so that it can help more students get oral health.