Thyroid volumes in a national sample of iodine-sufficient swiss school children: comparison with the World Health Organization/International Council for the control of iodine deficiency disorders normative thyroid volume criteria.
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OBJECTIVE: The determination of goiter prevalence in children by thyroid ultrasound is an important tool for assessing iodine deficiency disorders. The current World Health Organization/International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (WHO/ICCIDD) normative values, based on thyroid volume in iodine-sufficient European children, have recently been questioned, as thyroid volumes in iodine-sufficient children from the USA and Malaysia are smaller than the WHO/ICCIDD reference data. Our objective was to describe ultrasonographic thyroid volumes in a representative national sample of iodine-sufficient Swiss school children, and to compare these with the current reference data for thyroid volume. DESIGN AND METHODS: A 3-stage, probability proportionate-to-size cluster sampling method was used to obtain a representative national sample of 600 Swiss children aged 6-12 years. The following data were collected: thyroid size by ultrasound, urinary iodine concentration, weight, height, sex and age. RESULTS: The median urinary iodine concentration (range) of the children was 115 microgram/l (5-413). Application of the WHO/ICCIDD thyroid volume references to the Swiss children resulted in a prevalence of 0%, using either age/sex-specific or body surface area (BSA)/sex-specific cut-off values. Upper limits of normal (97th percentile) of thyroid volume from Swiss children calculated using BSA, sex and age were similar to those reported in iodine-sufficient children in the USA, but were 20-56% lower than the corresponding WHO/ICCIDD references. CONCLUSIONS: Swiss children had smaller thyroids than the European children on which the WHO/ICCIDD references are based, perhaps due to a residual effect of a recent past history of iodine deficiency in many European regions. However, there were sharp differences between our data and a recent set of thyroid volume data in Swiss children produced by the operator and equipment that generated the WHO/ICCIDD reference data. This suggests that interobserver and/or interequipment variability may contribute to the current disagreement on normative values for thyroid size by ultrasound in iodine-sufficient children. (+info)
Prevalence of cigarette smoking among secondary school students--Budapest, Hungary, 1995 and 1999.
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The average per capita cigarette consumption in Hungary is among the highest in the world (World Health Organization [WHO], unpublished data, 1997) (1). In 1999, the Metropolitan Institute of State Public Health and Public Health Officer Service, Budapest, Hungary, collaborating with CDC, conducted a survey of cigarette smoking among secondary school students aged 14-18 years in Budapest (1999 population of Budapest: approximately 2 million), similar to a survey conducted in 1995 (2). This report summarizes the survey findings, which indicate that current smoking among secondary school students in Budapest increased from 36% in 1995 to 46% in 1999. (+info)
Risk factors in causing outbreaks of food-borne illness originating in schoollunch facilities in Japan.
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We reviewed records of all outbreaks of food-borne illnesses due to schoollunch in Japan from 1987 through 1996 to determine the risk factors causing these outbreaks. Major hazards in 269 outbreaks were Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Foods including uncooked or partially cooked items, salad or egg products presented a high risk in 62 outbreaks with confirmed food sources. Contaminated food items were involved in 29 incidents (46.8%); storage of foods for an extended period before serving in 29 incidents (46.8%), inadequate cooking and cross contamination in 21 incidents (33.9%) each; infected employees in nine incidents (14.5%). (+info)
A randomized field trial of ACINDES: a child-centered training model for children with chronic illnesses (asthma and epilepsy).
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A randomized field trial of a child-centered model of training for self-management of chronic illnesses was conducted of 355 Spanish-speaking school-aged children, between 6 and 15 years old, with moderate to severe asthma and epilepsy, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The model, based on play techniques, consists of five weekly meetings of 8-10 families, with children's and parents' groups held simultaneously, coordinated by specially trained teachers and outside the hospital environment. Children are trained to assume a leading role in the management of their health; parents learn to be facilitators; and physicians provide guidance, acting as counselors. Group activities include games, drawings, stories, videos, and role-playing. Children and parents were interviewed at home before the program and 6 and 12 months after the program, and medical and school records were monitored for emergency and routine visits, hospitalizations, and school absenteeism. In asthma and epilepsy, children in the experiment showed significant improvements in knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors compared to controls (probability of experimental gain over controls = .69 for epilepsy and .56 for asthma, with sigma2 = .007 and .016, respectively). Parent participants in the experiment had improved knowledge of asthma (39% before vs. 58% after) and epilepsy (22% before vs. 56% after), with a probability of gain = .62 (sigma2 = .0026) with respect to the control group. Similar positive outcomes were found in fears of child death (experimental 39% before vs. 4% after for asthma, 69% before vs. 30% after for epilepsy), as well as in disruption of family life and patient-physician relationship, while controls showed no change. Regarding clinical variables, for both asthma and epilepsy, children in the experimental group had significantly fewer crises than the controls after the groups (P = .036 and P = .026). Visits to physicians showed a significant decrease for those with asthma (P = .048), and emergency visits decreased for those with epilepsy (P = .046). An 18-item Children Health Locus of Control Scale (CHLCS) showed a significant increase in internality in experimental group children with asthma and epilepsy (P < .01), while controls did not change or performed worse 12 months after the program. School absenteeism was reduced significantly for those with asthma and epilepsy (for the group with asthma, fall/winter P = .006, and spring P = .029; for the group with epilepsy, P = .011). CONCLUSION: The program was successful in improving the health, activity, and quality of life of children with asthma and epilepsy. The data suggested that an autonomous (Piagetian) model of training is a key to this success, reinforcing children's autonomous decision making. (+info)
Teenagers with Down syndrome study algebra in High School.
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This paper deals with the adaptation of an algebra curriculum for two students with Down syndrome who were included in High School. Since the kindergarten, this boy and girl have been fully included in general education classes. This paper examines the rationale for this choice on an algebra program. The adaptation of this program was easy because all that was required was to shorten it and do some additional steps in teaching (a little bit more than in a remedial course). Also, visual prompts were provided to the students. The boy needed a calculator all the time. Both of the students learned to calculate algebraic expressions with parenthesis, with positive and negative numbers and even with powers. The boy was able to do algebraic sum of monomials. The girl performed expressions with fractions. They took written and oral tests at the same time as their classmates, but with different exercises or questions. The girl was able to do some mental arithmetic. Often she was more consistent and careful than her typical classmates. The boy had problems with the integration and he did not attend the school full time. The inclusion, even when it was not perfect, provided the motivation to teach and to learn. In both cases, the crucial point was the daily collaboration of the mathematics teacher with the special educator. Both of the students enjoyed the mathematics program, as many typical students do. Mathematics gave them the fulfilling emotion of succeeding! (+info)
Early attention problems and children's reading achievement: a longitudinal investigation. The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine whether attention problems predict the development of reading difficulties and examine whether screening for attention problems could be of practical value in identifying children at risk for reading underachievement. METHOD: Three hundred eighty-seven children were monitored from kindergarten through fifth grade. Standardized assessments of attention problems and reading achievement were conducted at multiple time points. RESULTS: Attention problems predicted reading achievement even after controlling for prior reading achievement, IQ, and other behavioral difficulties. Inattentive first graders with normal reading scores after kindergarten were at risk for poor reading outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Attention problems play an important role in the development of reading difficulties for some children, and screening for attention problems may help identify children at risk for reading difficulties. (+info)
Spina bifida children attending ordinary schools.
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From September 1971 to September 1973 a policy was actively followed in South Gloucestershire of placing spina bifida children in ordinary schools wherever possible. This was achieved successfully in 14 cases out of a possible 24. Special attention was paid to the selection of children and schools. The main contraindications to attendance at ordinary school were: below average intelligence, special perceptual problems, the need for intensive physiotherapy, and problem incontinence-particularly infaecal continence. Success often depended on special provisions-for example, transport, aids to mobility, peripatetic physiotherapists. Personal attendants (welfare assistants) could be allocated to each of the more severely handicapped children. The lack of facilities for handicapped pupils in comprehensive schools is a matter needing urgent review. (+info)
Subject-domain approach to the study of air pollution effects on schoolchildren's illness absence.
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In this paper, the authors propose a new statistical modeling technique, the subject-domain approach, which is theoretically proven to be equivalent to the time-domain approach in detecting an association between exposure and response with time trends. The authors use an empirical data set from a school absence monitoring study conducted during the 1994-1995 school year in Taiwan to demonstrate this subject-domain approach's application to environmental epidemiologic studies. Because the subject-domain models can control the influential personal confounding factors in the models, they show greater statistical power than the traditional time-domain approaches in determining the relation between air pollution and illness absences. The authors' models found that the schoolchildren's risks of illness absence were significantly related to acute exposures to nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxides with a 1-day lag (p < 0.01) at levels below the World Health Organization's guidelines. By contrast, the authors could not detect significant associations between air pollution and schoolchildren's absenteeism using time-domain approaches. Such findings imply that the models built on subject domain may be a general solution to the problem of the ecologic fallacy, which is commonly encountered in environmental and social epidemiologic studies. (+info)