Deep data science to prevent and treat growth faltering in Maya children.

The Maya people are descended from the indigenous inhabitants of southern Mexico, Guatemala and adjacent regions of Central America. In Guatemala, 50% of infants and children are stunted (very low height-for-age), and some rural Maya regions have >70% children stunted. A large, longitudinal, intergenerational database was created to (1) provide deep data to prevent and treat somatic growth faltering and impaired neurocognitive development, (2) detect key dependencies and predictive relations between highly complex, time-varying, and interacting biological and cultural variables and (3) identify targeted multifactorial intervention strategies for field testing and validation. Contributions to this database included data from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Longitudinal Study of Child and Adolescent Development, child growth and intergenerational studies among the Maya in Mexico and studies about Maya migrants in the United States.

[Impact of vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b in Cuba]. / Impacto de la vacunación contra Haemophilus influenzae tipo b en Cuba.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of mass vaccination in Cuba of children under 2 years of age against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), the most common causative pathogen of bacterial meningitis. METHODS: The availability of effective Hib conjugate vaccines led to a nationwide vaccination program in 1999 targeting all children under 2 years of age, with a 97% coverage rate achieved. To assess the program's impact, data from 1998 and 1999 from the National Bacterial Meningitis Reporting System were used. RESULTS: Vaccination efficacy was estimated at 99%. The overall incidence of Hib meningitis declined 46.1%, from 1.3 to 0.6 cases per 100,000 population. The greatest overall reduction, of 56.1%, occurred among children under 5 years of age. Among children under 1 year of age, the reduction was 70.5%, and among the rest of the age groups of children under 5, incidence decreased between 25.9% and 49.6%. In the group targeted for vaccination, incidence decreased 61.1%. Among children in the target group who contracted Hib meningitis, only 8 cases (24.2%) had been vaccinated, most with a single dose applied 1 month before becoming ill. CONCLUSIONS: Hib vaccination of all children under 2 years of age in Cuba greatly reduced the incidence of Hib meningitis, as measured by the National Bacterial Meningitis Reporting System.

Safety and preliminary immunogenicity of the recombinant outer membrane protein P64k of Neisseria meningitidis in human volunteers.

P64k is a meningococcal protein from Neisseria meningitidis that has been obtained by recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant P64k has been extensively characterized by physicochemical and immunological methods. Lately this protein has been found to act as a versatile immunological carrier for weak antigens in mice. In the present work, a Phase I clinical trial was carried out in healthy volunteers who received three inoculations of either placebo or recombinant P64k (20 or 50 microg). No severe adverse events occurred during the trial. Only mild adverse events in ten volunteers were observed. At 1 month after the third dose, 15 out of 18 volunteers (83.3%) who received the recombinant antigen had a P64k-specific antibody titre > or =1:100, as detected by ELISA. A fourth dose, given 9 months after the third one, elicited a potent booster immune response in P64k vaccinees. Accordingly, these P64k formulations were considered safe and immunogenic in healthy human volunteers.

The epidemiological impact of antimeningococcal B vaccination in Cuba.

The incidence of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) before (1984-1988) and after (1989-1994), a nationwide intervention with VA-MENGOC-BC vaccination started in 1989, was compared. The prevaccination period incidence density (ID> 8.8/10(5) year-person) was higher than the postvaccination ID (ID< 6.5/10(5) year-person). The percentage proportional differences from the start to the end of each period of ID in the vaccinal period was higher (87%) than the prevaccinal (37%) with significant differences among vaccinated groups (< 25 years old). A break-point (Chow test) was confirmed by the decrease in the ID between 1989 and 1990 in children under 1 year old, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 50-54 years. Comparison of ID using maps showed a decrease in IMD in all municipalities during the postvaccination period. These findings support the epidemiological impact of VA-MENGOC-BC vaccination in the reduction of IMD morbidity.

Seasonal rhythm of menarche as a sensitive index of living conditions.

The paper is focused on the seasonal pattern of birth and occurrence of menarche in different populations. The material collected in 1988/89 consists of 522 girls and their 249 mothers from schools of Merida, and of 135 girls and their 66 mothers from Progreso (Yucatan, Mexico). Occurrence of a biorhythm due to which girls matured in the month of their birth more frequently than by chance, was found. A shift of the maturation to an earlier or later month is caused by stress acceleration up or delaying maturation. Seasonal differences in menarche occur in different climates, but they depend on seasonal differences in the life style, occupation, and the like, rather than on climate itself. Typically menarche occurs in the extreme periods in terms of climate, diet, hard work, stress, etc., that is, in summer and/or in winter. The age of mother's maturation is correlated with that of daughter's. Month of daughter's maturation is correlated with that of mother's. Correlation exists between the month of woman's birth and the month of her maturation. No correlation exists between the month of daughter's birth and that of mother's, and between the month of daughter's maturation and the month of mother's birth.

Potential independent factors of variability of biological status and reproductive history of Yucatecan women.

In this paper, we report the results of the application of principal component analysis (PCA) in a study of the human ecology of rural-to-urban migrantion in Yucatan, Mexico. Socioeconomic, reproductive and anthropometric data from 216 women 32 years of age or older, were obtained in 1989-1990. Seventeen socioeconomic, demographic and environmental properties of the families of such women, plus migrant status, were employed in a PCA, which yielded five independent factors, explaining 57.1% of the total variance of such properties. These factors were employed to made a multiple regression analysis on 19 anthropometric and 21 reproductive traits, age adjusted. According to the multiple regression of women's biological status to independent factors, we found that in better living conditions (Factor 3), women are heavier, taller, with more body surface and subcutaneous fat in the trunk and in the upper extremity, than in worse living conditions. Better educational level of wife and husband (Factor 2) is associated with lower number of pregnancies and alive born children, as well as less reproductive losses. Women living in families with higher income (Factor 4), have a younger age at the first pregnancy, older age at the last pregnancy, greater number of pregnancies, alive born children and alive offspring at the interview, and they experience less reproductive losses in relation to the number of pregnancies. This fact suggests that for the families in this sample, big families are a strategy to cope with poverty and uncertainty in employment and income. Our results are discussed against the reports in the literature.

Family characteristics and offspring growth in various countries. I. Frequency of various family types in Bulgaria, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Poland.

9936 families were analyzed from Bulgaria, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Poland. A factor analysis revealed four factors: culture (F1), income (F2), genetics (F3), and family and apartment size (F4). Family types we coded as 1 if below the median and 2 if above the median. The most frequent types were represented by 1122, 2221, and 2211 (frequency 8.7-8.0%), and the least frequent by 1221 and 2111 (frequency 4.2-4.3%). Some similarity with respect to family types were found between populations: from Polish regions with heavy industry and seaside regions; from Polish towns under industrialization and from Mexico; from the Polish medium-size town of Lublin and Bulgarian towns; from Polish villages; from Polish mountain areas and north-eastern towns; from Korea; from Japan; from Polish cities.