MeSH terms: Amphetamine; Cannabis; Drug and Narcotic Control; Heroin Dependence/history; Humans; Hypnotics and Sedatives; Japan; Lysergic Acid Diethylamide; Organization and Administration; History, 20th Century
Ninety-six cases of severe malnutrition and associated nutritional disorders were encountered in children in the department of paediatrics for the year 1971. The predominant age group was in children under the age of two years. Malay and Indian children were affected more than the Chinese children with malnutrition. Protein caloric malnutrition had already affected the growth pattern of these children as the majority were below the 50th percentile in height and weight comparing them with Hong Kong childrens’ height and weight standards. Seventy-five per cent of the children presented with infection. Fifty-four per cent of the families with malnutrition had three to six children and in two thirds of the families the income was from $100/- to $249/- per month. Forty per cent of the children lived in the kampong type of houses with no proper sanitation. Worm infestation was common in this group. The mean haemoglobin, serum iron levels, and serum folic acid levels were lower in the Indians and Malays. Protein caloric malnutrition must be treated early because of its irreversible effects on brain and bone growth. It is recommended that some form of allowance either in the form of food or money be given to these children from poor social-economic background.
MeSH terms: Age Factors; Body Height; Body Weight; Child; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Child, Preschool; China/ethnology; Family Characteristics; Female; Folic Acid/blood; Hemoglobins/analysis; Humans; India/ethnology; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infection/complications; Iron/blood; Liver; Malaysia/ethnology; Male; Nutrition Disorders/complications; Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology*; Organ Size; Sex Factors; Singapore; Socioeconomic Factors; Spleen; Continental Population Groups
This is a study of 169 cases of attempted suicides who had been referred to or who had consulted a private psychiatrist. These patients were interviewed, examined and treated either as out- or in-patient in private hospitals during the years 1968-1976. Their demographic and clinical data were analysed, presented and discussed. The reasons and motivations tor the act were also obtained and summarized. In the follow-up study conducted, it was discovered that schizophrenic patients who had attempted suicide carries the highest completed suicide risk.
The serious health hazards posed by adverse drug reactions have long been recognised, but the application of epidemiological principles to their studies is only a recent development. A total of 3160 patients admitted into Medical Unit I, General Hospital, Singapore were kept under surveillance for adverse reactions to drugs for six months in 1972. Fifty three of them (1.7%) were admitted with adverse drug reactions as the sole reason for admission. There were 25 males and 28 females. There were two deaths and ten life-threatening reactions, and hypersensitivity was the most common type of reaction encountered. Among the chief offending drugs were Chinese herbal medicines, digoxin, corticosteroids, antibiotics, phenothiazines, and hypoglycaemic agents. All doctors especially the general practitioners must be fully aware of these hazards so that they can help prevent un- necessary morbidity and mortality and also to avoid taxing heavily on the already over-burdened hospital service in a developing country.
MeSH terms: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Child; Drug Hypersensitivity/epidemiology*; Female; Humans; Length of Stay; Male; Middle Aged; Poisoning/epidemiology*; Prospective Studies; Self Medication; Singapore; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions*
Mass BCG Vaccination is an effective and an inexpensive method of tuberculosis control. In Singapore, a nation wide BCG Vaccination programme was implemented in 1957, and from 1957 to 1972, i.e. a 16 year period, over 1 million vaccinations had been performed: 680,098 for infants, 512,797 for school students, 49,417 for contacts of tuberculosis patients and 7,775 for other special groups. The coverage of newborn infants has been over 90% from 1967 to 1972. In 1972, it was estimated that 90% of primary school children and 75% of secondary school students have been covered with BCG vaccinations. Although no controlled studies have been done in Singapore, it is observed from our analysis that the BCG programme has contributed in no small measure to the decline in tuberculosis incidence and mortality rates. Thus for 1972, the tuberculosis incidence rates per 100,000 were 5 for the BCG vaccinated group and 37 for the non-vaccinated group of primary school students, and 34 and 127 for the corresponding groups of secondary school students. In 1956, the death rate per 100,000 of respiratory tuberculosis was 4 and that of non-respiratory tuberculosis was 23 for children aged 4 and below, and the corresponding rates were 0.5 and 6.7 for those aged 5 to 9, and 0.8 and 3.7 for the group aged 10 to 14. In 1971 there were no tuberculosis deaths in children under 10 years of age, and the death rates for the age group 10-14 were 0.3 per 100,000 for either form of 241 tuberculosis.
The periodicity of the microfilariae of Brugia malayi was studied in 9 human carriers from Shin-san Ri, Seong-san Myon, Cheju Island. The periodicity pattern was markedly nocturnal and the peaks were observed between 21:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. The average peak count was 1:30 a.m. and the percentage of peak count at this time was 95.3. The ratio of minimum of the average peak count percentage to the maximum was 8.3. The periodicity pattern of B.malayi in Cheju Island was compared with that in Inland and no differences were found between two forms. From the above observations, it was concluded that the periodicity of B. malayi in Korea is markedly nocturnal and closely resembles that in the strain of Penang, Malaya.