Ifugao males, learning and teaching for the improvement of maternal and child health status in the Philippines: an evaluation of a program

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Improving Maternal and Child Health (MCH) is a prioritized global agenda in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 5. In this challenge, involving males has been an important agenda, and a program with such intent was conducted in <it>Alfonso Lista, Ifugao</it>, of the Philippines. The objectives of this study were: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness in knowledge, attitude, and practice before and after a MCH session; (2) to evaluate the session's effectiveness in relation to socio-demographic characteristics; and (3) to examine if males who have learned about MCH topics can teach another group of males.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A male community representative who received a lecture from the health office staff was assigned to teach a group of community males [Group 1, N = 140] in 5 sessions, using educational materials. 10 male volunteers from Group 1 then taught a different group of males [Group 2, N = 105] in their own <it>barangays </it>(villages). To evaluate its effectiveness, a self-administered questionnaire survey pertaining knowledge, attitude and practice regarding MCH was conducted at three different time points: before the session (Time 1, T1), after the session (Time 2, T2), and 3 months following the session (Time 3, T3). A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to test for changes over time and its interaction effect between specific socio-demographic variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Group 1, there was a significant positive increase in knowledge score over time at T1-T2 and T1-T3 (<it>p </it>< 0.001). For attitude, the score increased only at T1-T2 (<it>p </it>= 0.027). The effectiveness in knowledge and attitude did not vary by socio-demographic characteristics. As for practice, majority of the participants reported that they had talked about MCH topics in their community and assisted a pregnant woman in some ways. A comparison between Group 1 and Group 2 revealed that Group 2 had similar effectiveness as Group 1 in knowledge improvement immediately after the session (<it>p </it>< 0.001), but no such improvement in the attitude score.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although the change in attitude needs further assessment, this strategy of continuous learning and teaching of MCH topics within community males is shown to improve knowledge and has a potential to uplift the MCH status, including the reduction of maternal deaths, in <it>Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, Philippines</it>.</p

The Investigation on Oral Condition of 1-year-old Infants and the Contents of Dental Consultation with Their Parents at the Time of Oral Examination

某病院小児歯科で歯科健診を受けた1歳児1,529人を対象として, 健診結果と健診時の保護者の相談内容について集計した。その結果, 以下の結論を得た。 1. 萌出歯数は1歳0か月では7.5本, 1歳6か月では13.8本であった。 2. 齲蝕に罹患していた小児の割合は3.6%であった。また, 1歳0か月～1歳5か月までの3.2%, 1歳6か月～1歳11か月までの10.7%の小児が齲蝕に罹患していた。 3. 齲蝕に罹患した小児のうち, 85.5%が卒乳していなかった。また, 61.8%に就寝前または夜間の母乳の摂取, 29.1%に哺乳瓶による就寝前または夜間の飲料の摂取の習慣があった。 4. 1歳児を持つ保護者への「何か気がかりなことはありますか」という質問に対し, 最も多かった回答は「歯みがきを嫌がる」であり, 以下順に「歯ならび」, 「歯みがきの方法」であった。 5. 歯科健診を受けた1歳の小児のうち, 43.0%が健診を契機に引き続き同病院小児歯科を定期的に受診するようになった。そのうち, 健診をした時点で齲蝕に罹患していたのは4.4%であった。また, 定期的に受診するようになった小児の保護者のうち, 44.4%が歯科健診時に「特に気になることはないという回答をしていた。このことから, 齲蝕治療などの特別な動機がなくても, 1歳時の歯科健診を契機に定期的に小児歯科を受診するようになる小児が多く存在することが判明した。The results of dental examinations and the contents of consultation with parents or guardians at the time of examination were compiled for 1,529 1-year-old infants without having any particular motivation who received dental examinations. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The mean number of erupted teeth in infants aged 1year and 0 months was 7.5. 2. Dental caries affected 3.2% of the infants aged 1year and 0 to 5 months and 10.5% of the infants aged 1year and 6 to 11 months. 3. Among the infants afflicted with caries, 85.7% had not been weaned. 61.8% were generally breast-fed before going to bed or during the night, and 29.1% were bottle-fed before going to bed or during the night. 4. When parents with 1-year-old infants were asked if they felt anxious about their children's oral health, the most common response was "aversion to teeth-brushing", followed by "teeth alignment" and "methods of brushing their children's teeth". 5. Of the infants who received dental examinations at age 1, 43.0% continued to receive regular pediatric dental care. Among those infants who become regular patients, only 4.4% were afflicted with caries in examinations at age 1. Moreover, 44.4% of the parents of infants who came to receive regular care had answered at the dental examination that they had "no particular anxieties". Thus it was clear that even without caries or a particular motivation, there are many infants who come to receive regular pediatric dental care due to the approach of the dentist

Regulatory Mechanism for Exfoliative Toxin Production in Staphylococcus aureus▿

The exfoliative toxin (ET) is a major virulence factor of Staphylococcus aureus that causes bullous impetigo and its disseminated form, staphylococcal scalded-skin syndrome (SSSS). ET selectively digests one of the intracellular adhesion molecules, desmoglein 1, of epidermal keratinocytes and causes blisters due to intraepidermal cell-cell dissociation. Most S. aureus strains that cause blistering disease produce either ETA or ETB. They are serologically distinct molecules, where ETA is encoded on a phage genome and ETB is enocded on a large plasmid. ETA-producing S. aureus strains are frequently isolated from impetigo patients, and ETB-producing S. aureus strains are isolated from SSSS. ET-induced blister formation can be reproduced with the neonatal mouse. To determine the regulatory mechanism of ET production, we investigated the role of the two-component systems and global regulators for eta or etb expression in vitro and in vivo with the mouse model. Western blot and transcription analyses using a series of mutants demonstrate ETA production was downregulated by sigB, sarS, and sarA, while ETB production was downregulated by sigB and sarA but not by sarS. Production of both toxins is upregulated by saeRS, arlRS, and agrCA. Furthermore, by the in vivo neonatal mouse model, sigB and sarS but not sarA negatively regulate the exfoliation activity of the ETA-producing strain, while sarA negatively regulates the ETB-producing strain. In both strains, saeRS, arlRS, and agrCA positively regulate the exfoliation activity in vivo. The data illustrate similar but distinct regulatory mechanisms for ETA and ETB production in S. aureus in vitro as well as in vivo

Status of periodontal diseases in Junior high school students for 3-year period

歯周疾患は齲蝕とならぶ口腔の二大疾患である。歯周疾患は中高年に罹患者が多い疾患であるが, 若年性歯周炎のように10代から発症するものもある。今回, 10代前半である中学生を対象に歯周状態について3年間にわたり縦断調査を行う機会を得た。対象は2010年度に本学附属中学校に在籍した中学3年生で, 中学1年生および中学2年生時に歯周疾患に関する口腔内診査を行った生徒68名とした。口腔内診査では, Gingival index(GI), Probing depth(PD)およびBleeding index(BI)を測定した。3年生の91.2%の生徒が歯肉炎(GI>0またはPD>3)を有していると評価された。学年別歯周状態を比較すると, GI, PDおよびBIの平均値は1年生時から2年生時に増加したが, 3年生時に減少し, 歯周状態の改善傾向を認めた。一方, PDが4mmを認めた生徒もおり, 今後集団指導と併せ個別対応を行いたいと考えている