Education Outcomes of Children Born Late Preterm: A Retrospective Whole-Population Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Early life exposures can have an impact on a child's developmental trajectory and children born late preterm (34-36 weeks gestational age) are increasingly recognized to have health and developmental setbacks that extend into childhood. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess whether late preterm birth was associated with poorer developmental and educational outcomes in the early childhood period, after controlling for health and social factors. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using administrative databases housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, including all children born late preterm (34-36 weeks gestational age (GA)) and at full-term (39-41 weeks GA) between 2000 and 2005 in urban Manitoba (N = 28,100). Logistic regression was used to examine the association between gestational age (GA) and outcomes, after adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Adjusted analyses demonstrated that children born late preterm had a higher prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (aOR = 1.25, 95% CI [1.03, 1.51]), were more likely to be vulnerable in the language and cognitive (aOR = 1.29, 95% CI [1.06, 1.57]), communication and general knowledge (aOR = 1.24, 95% CI [1.01, 1.53]), and physical health and well-being (aOR = 1.27, 95% CI [1.04, 1.53]) domains of development at kindergarten, and were more likely to repeat kindergarten or grade 1 (aOR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.03, 2.25]) compared to children born at term. They did not differ in receipt of special education funding, in social maturity or emotional development at kindergarten, and in reading and numeracy assessments in the third grade. CONCLUSIONS: Given that the late preterm population makes up 75% of the preterm population, their poorer outcomes have implications at the population level. This study underscores the importance of recognizing the developmental vulnerability of this population and adequately accounting for the social differences between children born late preterm and at term.

Trial marriage: Florida's experience in consolidating HIV/AIDS, STD, and TB programs.

After a three-year experiment in consolidating services, the Florida Department of Health has again separated programs for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and tuberculosis. The authors report that while there were some clear advantages to consolidating services, especially programs dealing with HIV and other STDs, the individual programs suffered in some important ways. The authors describe Florida's effort to preserve the positive programmatic and administrative aspects of the consolidated approach and to apply the lessons learned.

An outbreak and review of cave-associated histoplasmosis capsulati.

Three male college students from Florida developed acute onsets of fever, chills, shortness of breath, and cough within one day of each other, and all were eventually hospitalized for four to 29 days. All chest x-ray films showed diffuse reticulonodularities in both lung fields. Laboratory studies confirmed the diagnosis of histoplasmosis. The three students had been 'spelunking' (cave exploring) 6 to 7 days before their onset of symptoms. One of four soil samples collected in the caves was positive for Histoplasma capsulatum by the indirect mouse inoculation procedure. Of three investigators who entered the implicated caves, two developed acute febrile illness within 15-21 days. One investigator was hospitalized for 18 days with a confirmed diagnosis of histoplasmosis. Investigation identified an additional case (the person had entered the caves 6 months before this episode), but was not reported to health authorities. Spelunkers should be aware of the potential risk of histoplasmosis and how to avoid infection. Physicians should be cognizant of cave-associated histoplasmosis, inquire about spelunking in persons who develop febrile respiratory illnesses with diffuse nodularities on chest x-ray films, and report such cases to their health department. A review of 42 reported outbreaks of cave-associated histoplasmosis and the approach to environmental control of infected caves are included.

Abortion.

PIP: This chapter addresses the role of health professionals in providing abortions and examines the dynamic technology of this field. Once the decision to perform an abortion is made, the proper procedure must be selected. Gestational age is the fundamental determinant but the experience and capability of the practitioner are also crucial. Suction curettage is the safest and most effective procedure available for abortions performed within 10 weeks of conception. Evaluation of the abortion patient should include, at a minimum, tests for hemoglobin, presence of gonococci, and Rh type. One of the most important parts of preparation for an abortion is sensitive and searching counseling. A potentially serious complication of suction curettage is perforation of the uterus. Dilatation and evacuation (D and E), is similar to the suction curettage procedure. This method may be used for gestations of 20 or more weeks after conception and requires greater operator expertise and experience. The complications of D and E are similar to those of suction curettage but are more frequent. Amnioinfusion is currently the most widely used method of pregnancy termination after 14 weeks in the US. The abortifacient agent that has had the greatest use is hypertonic saline. Morbidity associated with saline amnioinfusion includes hemorrhage requiring transfusion, retained tissue requiring manual or surgical removal infection, coagulopathy, and hypernatremia. Prostaglandins are alternative abortifacient agents. A disadvantage of using prostaglandins to induce abortion is that they frequently require repeat doses to be effective. Other disadvantages include nausea, vomiting, diarhea, and bronchospasm. Urea is anther effective abortifacient agent.^ieng