Immunogenicity of oral poliovirus vaccine administered in mass campaigns versus routine immunization programmes.

Reported are the results of a study to investigate the immunogenicity of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) when administered in mass campaigns compared with that following routine immunization programmes. For this purpose, paired sera were collected from a cohort of children before and after a mass vaccination with OPV in Morocco in 1987. Serum samples and information on vaccination status and other confounding factors that could influence antibody responses to OPV were collected. Neutralizing antibody titres to poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3 were determined using a standardized assay. OPV doses administered exclusively during the mass campaign were consistently associated with higher type-specific seroprevalence rates than the same number of doses administered in the routine programme. These findings could not be attributed to differences in confounding factors. Enhanced secondary spread of vaccine virus may have occurred but could not be demonstrated because of limitations in the study design. Mass campaigns appear to be highly effective in raising the dose-related poliovirus type-specific immunity of the population above that achieved by the routine immunization programme. Our findings support the continued use of mass campaigns as an adjunct to routine programmes in order to both enhance and catalyse current efforts to achieve the global eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000.

PIP: Reported are the results of a study to investigate the immunogenicity of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) when administered in mass campaigns compared with that following routine immunization programs. For this purpose, paired sera were collected from a cohort of children before and after a mass vaccination with OPV in Morocco in 1987. Serum samples and information on vaccination status and other confounding factors that could influence antibody responses to OPV were collected. Neutralizing antibody titers to poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 were determined using a standardized assay. OPV doses administered exclusively during the mass campaign were consistently associated with higher type-specific seroprevalence rates than the same number of doses administered in the routine program. These findings could not be attributed to differences in confounding factors. Enhanced secondary spread of vaccine virus may have occurred but could not be demonstrated because of limitations in the study design. Mass campaigns appear to be highly effective in raising the dose-related poliovirus type-specific immunity of the population above that achieved by the routine immunization program. These findings support the continued use of mass campaigns as an adjunct to routine programs in order to both enhance and catalyze current efforts to achieve the global eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000. (author's)

Forced swimming in rats: hypothermia, immobility and the effects of imipramine.

Rats when forced to swim in a restricted space not only became immobile but showed marked hypothermia. The hypothermia was greater than that observed after reserpine or Ro 4-1284 and was not antagonized by imipramine at doses which significantly reduced immobility. Hypothermia induced by forced swimming can therefore be dissociated from the immobility occurring in these conditions and also from drug-induced hypothermia.

Immobility induced by forced swimming in rats: effects of agents which modify central catecholamine and serotonin activity.

Rats were forced to swim in a restricted space will rapidly cease apparent attempts to escape and adopt a characteristic posture which we have termed "immobility". We show in previous experiments that immobility was reduced by a variety of antidepressant agents and thus suggested that the method could serve as a screening model for antidepressants. The present experiments showed that immobility was reduced by drugs which increase central dopaminergic and alpha-adrenergic activity but was less affected by drugs which act mainly on central serotonin. Conversely, immobility could be increased by drugs which diminish central catecholamine activity but not by drugs which inhibit central serotonin. It was concluded that immobility depended primarily on the activity of central catecholamines but that caution was required before ascribing immobility exclusively to activity within a single system.

[Contraception and antenatal care (author's transl)]. / Contraception et surveillance de la grossesse.

Taking a representative sample selected from 11,220 deliveries the authors set out to study the interrelationship between contraception, antenatal care and socio-cultural factors. They show that there is a liaison between the first two variables even taking account of the socio-cultural factors which were found. This result leads to the conclusion that the spread of contraceptive information brings with it an improvement in the statistics for perinatal results.

[Study of weight deficiency in a representative sample of newborns]. / Etude de l'insuffisance ponderale a la naissance.

A study of a representative sample of 11,330 newborns allowed to establish the distribution of birth weights in terms of gestation-age. The comparison with Lubchenco's curves shows important differences since the 10th percentile of the American curve is below the 3rd percentile of the French sample for prematures. The use of a technique of multivariant analysis distinguishes groups with low and high risks of prematurity and hypotrophy. The distinction is more obvious for the first group than for the second. The study of the rate of early neonatal mortality in terms of weight and gestation-age, led to individualize the risk related to hypotrophy from that related to prematurity.

[Epidemiologic evaluation of health program in perinatology. I. Region rhône-Alpes 1972-1975 (author's transl)]. / Evaluation épidémiologique du programme de Santé en périnatologie. I. Région Rhône-Alpes 1972-1975.

In 1971, a Health Project was established in order to organize some actions destined for the prevention of perinatal mortality and morbidity. A first examination of these actions was studied in the Rhône-Alpes Region by comparing the results of two surveys, one carried out in 1972 and the other in 1975, both on a representative sample of births. This article successively examines the evolution of morbidity and prevention. The authors note an important improvement in the quality of prevention and a slight progress in the results: perinatal morbidity declined as well as certain signs of fetal distress, while on the other hand, the term and birth weight showed no significant change. In the second part of this article the authors studied the relationships between the socio-cultural characteristics of the parents and the use of prevention measures. They found that certain social inequalities observed in 1972 had decreased while some others increased, new measures seem to be adopted sooner by the higher social classes when they were first envisioned for the interest of better protecting the lower social classes. However, the inequalities diminished for certain fundamental elements of prenatal surveillance, such as the respect for the minimum number of prenatal consultations.

[Study of growth from 0 to 18 months. Are infants followed in maternal and child welfare clinics a valuable reference for this study]. / Etude de la croissance de 0 à 18 mois

1,017 healthy french children have been surveyed in the P.M.I. centres of the 14th ward of Paris. Birth weight in function of duration of pregnancy has been studied. Standard measures of growth from two weeks to 18 months regarding weight, length and head circumference of boys and girls have been established. The biometric data of the children have been compared with some biological and social factors of their parents.

[The concept of risk in perinatology. Results of epidemiologic surveys (author's transl)]. / La notion de risque en périnatologie. Résultats d'enquêtes épidémiologiques

A national survey of pregnancy and childbirth was conducted in 1972 in France from which for the first time risk factors for all pregnancies and practical consequences for prevention were obtained. Risk factors were determined by multivariate analysis for stillbirth, prematury, and low birth weight infants. Two groups of women were found to be at higher than average risk. The first included those under 18 or over 40 years old, or having a history of previous stillbirth or infant with birth weight less than 2 500 g. The 13% of all pregnant women in this group had double the overall population rate of stillbirth, prematurity and low birth weight infants. The second group, 7% of all pregnant women, included widowed, divorced, and separated women, as well as immigrant workers or wives of immigrant workers. These two groups of women, as well as those with pathological findings during pregnancy should be more closely followed during pregnancy as specified by law. However, the survey showed that the surveillance of high risk pregnancies is on the whole inferior to that of the overall population. Several solutions have been proposed to remedy this situation: -- to double the number of obligatory prenatal examinations, to 10 per woman, for all pregnancies, which would double the present total number of prenatal examinations from 4 000 000 to 8 000 000; -- to apply the legislation to women with high risk pregnancies by increasing either the inducements (educating these women and their doctors, more reembursements of costs), or constraints (requiring more medical appointments, home visits, or financial sanctions).

[Results of a survey on breast feeding in maternal-child welfare centers of the 14th arrondissement of Paris]. / Resultats d'une enquete sur l'allaitement maternel dans les centres de P.M.I. du XIV arrondissement de Paris.

An inquiry was held in the 14th ward of Paris, concerning 1 352 infants observed in centres of maternal care, and studying the conditions of breast-feeding. At birth 56% of the metropolitan French children were breast-fed. The frequency was higher in the educated classes, in primiparal and in women who had attended pre-natal relaaxation classes. The effects of these features can be added up. Women who gave birth in a public hospital and women with healthy newborn children were also more likely to be breast-fed. The duration of breast-feeding was not related to previous features. Breast-feeding was more frequent and more prolonged in immigrants than in the French metropolitan population.