Showing papers by "Universidade Federal de Pelotas published in 1990"

Mate Drinking, Alcohol, Tobacco, Diet, and Esophageal Cancer in Uruguay

Abstract: A case-control study was conducted in Uruguay to investigate the role of mate drinking, alcohol, tobacco, and certain dietary factors in the etiology of esophageal cancer. The study included 261 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and 522 hospital controls matched by sex and age. A strong association with a clear dose-response relationship was observed with the amount of mate drunk daily and duration of the habit. The relative risk for those drinking over 2.5 liters of mate per day was 12.2 (95% confidence interval, 3.8-39.6) after adjusting for the effects of age, area of residence, alcohol, and tobacco. Strong associations were also observed with tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking which appear to act in a multiplicative way. The relative risk for those who smoke and drink heavily compared to that of light smokers and drinkers was 22.6. The risk associated with black tobacco was about three times higher than that associated with blond tobacco. A clear protective effect was found for the consumption of fruits and vegetables but a dose-response relationship was present only for fruits. Finally, an increased risk was also found for those eating barbecued meat daily.

Patterns of maté drinking in a Brazilian city.

Abstract: Mate drinking, a hot infusion of Ilex paraguayensis commonly drunk in parts of South America, has been associated with increased risks of upper digestive cancers. In a population-based survey, we have studied the patterns of mate drinking in a sample of 1400 adults living in a southern Brazilian city. Approximately one third of the population drank mate less than once a month or not at all; another third drank mate at least once a month, but less than once a day; while the remaining third drank mate daily. Daily drinking was most common among individuals aged under 60, those who migrated from rural areas, and among cigarette smokers. Drinkers ingested on average about 1800 ml/day at a mean temperature of 69.5 degrees C. Individuals who had never attended school tended to ingest larger quantities. The temperature of the drink was higher for males and for drinkers of alcoholic beverages. This information may contribute to the design of preventive interventions, since a large proportion of upper digestive cancer cases in those regions might be due to mate drinking.

Caesarean section and duration of breast feeding among Brazilians.

Abstract: A birth cohort study of 4912 Brazilian infants showed that the incidence and duration of breast feeding for children delivered vaginally and for those born by elective caesarean section were similar. Those delivered by emergency caesarean section, however, were not breast fed for as long. This difference persisted after adjustment for confounding variables.

Cross-cultural differences in developmental rates: a comparison between British and Brazilian children.

Abstract: Summary The Griffiths Mental Development Scales were administered to a population-based sample of 305 4-year-old children from a Brazilian city. Their performance was compared to that of 285 British children of the same age who participated in the standardization phase of this instrument. Although the mean general quotients were very similar for both groups, British children performed better than Brazilians in the fine motor and practical reasoning scales. Brazilians, on the other hand, proved to be more advanced in gross motor and speech scales. The possibility of these differences being explained in terms of cultural environment is discussed.

Is it Possible to Predict which Diarrhoea Episodes Will Lead to Life-Threatening Dehydration?

Abstract: Early detection of children who are likely to develop life-threatening dehydration as a consequence of diarrhoea would be of great value for health care workers in developing countries. We carried out a case-control study to compare the symptoms and signs observed on the first day of diarrhoea in two groups of 192 children aged under two years, in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. The cases were children admitted to a hospital with moderate or severe dehydration, and controls were children from the same neighbourhoods as the cases, who had diarrhoea which did not lead to hospital admission. The sensitivity and specificity of different clinical indicators were calculated. Alterations in thirst (82%), followed by six or more stools (71%), fever (60%), vomiting (58%) and loss of appetite (57%) had the highest sensitivities, whereas the specificities were largest for blood in the stools (97%), fever (78%) and vomiting (78%). Assuming that dehydration occurs in 5% of all episodes of diarrhoea, the use of fever as a screening criterion, or the use of vomiting, would select 24% of all children with diarrhoea, and capture about 60% of all episodes of dehydration. The combination of fever or vomiting would increase the proportion selected to 36%, and capture 75% of episodes of dehydration.

Subsequent pregnancies: who has them and who wants them? Observations from an urban center in Southern Brazil

Abstract: Subsequent pregnancies in mothers of a birth cohort from Pelotas, Southern Brazil, were studied in relation to maternal and socio-economic factors. Within about 3 1/2 years of the cohort child's birth, 39% of mothers had experienced at least one further pregnancy. This proportion decreased with increasing maternal age, years of schooling and family income. A U-shaped trend was observed with respect to parity. Mothers who had delivered the cohort child by caesarean section were also less likely to have another pregnancy within that time. Logistic regression analysis showed that each of these factors remained significantly associated with further pregnancies after controlling for the remaining variables. Analysis of the first subsequent pregnancy showed that a high proportion of mothers had not wanted the pregnancy. Unwanted pregnancies were also significantly associated with older women, low educational status, higher parity and low family income.

Reinfection after treatment of schistosomiasis: environment or "predisposition"?

Abstract: Although very efficient for the control of morbidity due to S. mansoni in individual patients, chemotherapy has not proven successful in the management of transmission within hyperendemic areas when used alone, even if repeated at short intervals. Consequently, a great deal of effort has been expended toward immunologic investigation and development of a specific vaccine. Based upon a study of a group of children (5-14 years) from the state of Alagoas, the author demonstrates that the outcome one year after chemotherapy depends essentially on the "risk rating" of the area of domicile. A regression analysis did not reveal significant correlation to neither age, sex or initial egg counts. Although the study was not designed to reveal individual variations in the immune status, it is postulated that putative differences in genetic make-up are irrelevant in terms of large-scale intervention. Since morbidity due to S. mansoni has substantially declined during the last two or three decades, a control policy based on vaccination can only be justified if high levels of protective immunity can be attained. At any rate, such a vaccine will have to be administered in early childhood (preferably below the age of three). It can also be demonstrated that immunization in adolescence or adulthood serves no purpose whatsoever. The author is convinced that environmental intervention, usually dismissed as unrealistic in terms of the developing countries, is not only feasible, if done on a selective basis, but prioritary.

Repeated mass treatment of schistosomiasis mansoni: experience in hyperendemic areas of Brazil. 3. Techniques for assessment and surveillance

Abstract: Severe morbidity due to schistosomiasis mansoni is now quite rare in Brazil; thus it is proposed that surveillance plus selective and multidisciplinary intervention limited to areas at high risk be the next step. Such a policy has to be carried out periodically and on a state-wide scale, and therefore will have to rely upon cheap and time-saving sampling procedures. Clinical features cannot at present be used as indicators, with the exception of grossly enlarged livers, which are more frequent in areas at high risk. Overall prevalence rates for a county or even city may also be misleading, even if broken down into units of smaller size. Thus, egg counts in the young age groups remain the best indicators for the detection of areas at high risk (i.e., the main foci of transmission). Egg counts performed on pooled specimens adequately reflect the risk rating of a particular neighbourhood, and have a favourable cost-benefit ratio. In addition, it is suggested that field personnel be trained in the empirical recognition of potential foci; such ‘screening by suspicion’ has been tested and found to be reliable.

Lectinas de sementes como marcadores taxonômicos da tribo Diocleae

Abstract: Eletroforese em gel de poliacrilamida das proteinas soluveis extraidas de sementes de doze especies da tribo Diocleae, apresenta padrao qualitativo semelhante no que diz respeito as bandas correspondentes as lectinas, sugerindo a possibilidade de seu uso como marcadores taxonomicos.