Four hundred and six soil samples collected from five schoolyards in Mai Trung Commune, Bac Giang Province, Northern Vietnam, from 2005 to 2007 were examined for helminth eggs using a sucrose centrifugal flotation method. The soils around latrines was found to be heavily contaminated with Ascaris sp. eggs. The contamination rate of Ascaris sp. eggs at each school and prevalence of ascariasis among the school children showed a positive correlation (P&It;0.05). This indicated that examination of soil from the area around latrines for Ascaris sp. eggs is a useful method to estimate the prevalence of ascariasis among school children.

Introduction Zinc,an essential trace element in the human body,is known to serve as the active center of approxi-mately 300 enzymes.Zinc deficiency causes various pathological conditions such as growth retardation,immunodeficiency,and neurological degeneration.Zinc deficiency is typically the result of inadequate dietary intake of zinc,the recommended dietary allow-ance for zinc has been presented for healthy individ-uals in the“Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese,2005”by the Japanese Ministry of Health,Labor,and Welfare. However,we have recently reported that zinc deficiency is common in elderly bedridden patients receiving long- termenteral nutrition based on the recommended dietary allowance,and that zinc deficiency may be associated with increased suscepti-bility to infections in those patients.On the basis of the findings,we have proposed that zinc preparations should be added to the standard enteral formulas to prevent infectious diseases in elderly bedridden patients.Ordinarily,zinc preparations used for zinc therapy are inorganic salts(e.g.,zinc sulphate,zinc picolinate,or zinc chloride)and organic compounds(e.g.,polaprezinc or zinc gluconate).Previous studies have revealed the different activities for zinc therapy between inorganic salts and organic compoundsWe carried out a randomized crossover study to compare organic zinc compounds with inorganic zinc salts,looking at whether there was a difference in their effects on serum zinc and cupper concentrations in elderly bedridden patients receiving long-term stan-dard enteral nutrition.We used zinc chloride as an inorganic salt and polaprezinc as an organic com-pound.Polaprezinc［N-(3- aminopropionyl)-Lhistidinato zinc］,a chelating compound of zinc ion and L- carnosine,is commonly used in the treatment of gastric ulcers in Japan.7 In addition,we carried out a pilot study to examine the therapeutic effects of polapr- ezinc on pressure ulcer healing in elderly bedridden patients receiving long-term standard enteral nutrition because zinc is essential for the wound-healing process.

OBJECTIVE: This study estimated the effects of weekend and off-hour childbirth and the size of perinatal medical care center on the incidence of cerebral palsy. METHODS: The cases were all children with severe cerebral palsy born in Japan from 2009 to 2012 whose data were stored at the Japan Obstetric Compensation System for Cerebral Palsy database, a nationally representative database. The inclusion criteria were the following: neonates born between January 2009 and December 2012 who had a birth weight of at least 2000 g and gestational age of at least 33 weeks and who had severe disability resulting from cerebral palsy independent of congenital causes or factors during the neonatal period or thereafter. Study participants were restricted to singletons and controls without report of death, scheduled cesarean section, or ambulance transportation. The controls were newborns, randomly selected by year and type of delivery (normal spontaneous delivery without cesarean section and emergency cesarean section) using a 1:10 case to control ratio sampled from the nationwide Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology database. RESULTS: A total of 90 cerebral palsy cases and 900 controls having normal spontaneous delivery without cesarean section were selected, as were 92 cerebral palsy cases and 920 controls with emergent cesarean section. A significantly higher risk for cerebral palsy was found among cases that underwent emergent cesarean section on weekends (odds ratio [OR] 1.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-2.81) and during the night shift (OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.30-4.02). No significant risk was found among normal spontaneous deliveries on weekends (OR 1.63, 95% CI 0.97-2.73) or during the quasi-night shift (OR 1.26, 95% CI 0.70-2.27). Regional perinatal care centers showed significantly higher risk for cerebral palsy in both emergent cesarean section (OR 2.35, 95% CI 1.47-3.77) and normal spontaneous delivery (OR 2.92, 95% CI 1.76-4.84). CONCLUSION Labor on weekends, during the night shift, and at regional perinatal medical care centers was associated with significantly elevated risk for cerebral palsy in emergency cesarean section.
Case-Control Studies ; Cerebral Palsy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Delivery, Obstetric ; statistics & numerical data ; Health Facilities ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Japan ; epidemiology ; Parturition ; Perinatal Care ; statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies ; Time Factors