Arztliche Jugendkunde最新文献

The preventive and therapeutic strategies should be determined by considering sociobiological factors and the great plasticity of the juvenile individualities causing the type of dealing with the alcohol and drug abuse problems. Already in the elementary school an enlightening and the attitude to drugs and alcohol influencing instruction should be given. Later on the therapeutic ways become more and more complex. Main methods in the efforts against alcoholism should be the suggestion of own decision ability and the induction of ideas of positive life aims and values.

The prerequisite for the full oral rehabilitation and social adaptation of cleft palate patients is a consistent, comprehensive care system, providing a well organised integration of preventive and interceptive measures, as well as close cooperation between the various specialised disciplines. Preventive stomatological care should begin in infancy.

This report concerns the development of total and HDL-cholesterol serum values after a two year health education programme for school children aged 13 or 14 at the beginning. Of altogether 521 pupils who were examined again after two years, 281 had completed an intervention programme with an emphasis on healthy diet, encouragement of non-smoking and physical activity. The others had not taken part in the programme and formed the control group. Concerning cardiovascular risk, the average levels of total and HDL-cholesterol in the serum were generally more favourable after the two year intervention period than in the group uninfluenced by the health education programme.

Corrections to the real birthweight of infants are proposed from the 28th to 42nd week of pregnancy. These take account of the influence of parity and maternal height and weight. The effect of these three characteristics on the birthweight is calculated both one and two dimensionally by combining the characteristics with the actual duration of pregnancy. Thus, for example, after 40 full weeks of pregnancy 560g of the birthweight would be considered the weight correction. For newborn infants of relatively short light-weight mothers, this account should be added to the real birthweight ascertained, and for the babies of relatively tall, heavy mothers it would be subtracted. Only after this correction can the two dimensional classification of neonates into hypotrophic, eutrophic or hypertrophic take place according to birthweight and duration of gestation.

In Children with chronic disorders the motivation for oral health is not sufficiently strong. Neither the quantity nor the quality of the oral hygiene for their deciduous and permanent teeth is adequate to counteract the specific demands of the diseases. Regular paediatric dental care for chronically sick children in close cooperation with the attending paediatrician can make oral health a reality throughout childhood and adolescence.

In the present review the practical relevance and the problems of left-handedness have been discussed. Nowadays the diagnosis of the correct hand for writing and learning to write are very important for left-handers. Laterality is a hybrid phenomenon which concerns not only pedagogics but also many other fields, such as medicine, transport, sport and art.

A catamnestic study of disturbed pupils, who have been examined by a child neuropsychiatrist for admission to a balancing class, revealed that the accumulation of biological and psychosocial load factors presents a risk for persisting behavioural disturbance. Failure at school was prevented by a temporary stay in a balancing class, but psychic maldevelopment indicated by the high percentage of odd children in the disturbed population could not be precluded. The refore the life-long medical and special pedagogic care for these children beyond discharge from the balancing class is considered to be necessary.

The percentile curves for fetal growth between the 25th and 42nd week of gestation calculated for more than 52,000 newborns in East Germany in 1985 were compared with the rates defined for the same population in 1973-74 and showed a significantly lower mean birth weight. Besides methodological differences (primarily a more precise estimation of gestational age in the new study by using ultrasound fetometry), the differences seem to be mainly the result of changes in the reproductive behaviour of the population over that period (decrease in parity). When comparing different populations independently of ethnic specificities, a number of modifying factors have to be taken into account which significantly influence the birth weight, namely: parity, spacing, age and stature of the mother. These variables have also to be remembered when assessing the maturity of newborns in order to standardize the birth weight in relation to mortality and morbidity. As a basis for calculating percentile curves the cumulative frequency distribution should be preferred, rather than assuming a normal distribution, since fetal diseases or developmental anomalies result in an uneven distribution with an over-representation of small for date fetuses. The selection of data for calculating normal values must be rejected because of the arbitrary decisions which this entails.

A total of 23 maternity centres and 8 youth welfare centres in the county town of Magdeburg were inspected in 1987 and 1988 to review the condition of buildings and layout of rooms. Checks were also made on anti-infectious routines and compliance with the vaccination regulations. In all of these areas a number of deficiencies were found, and the results of follow-up inspections clearly show that the attention being given to public health regulations for sterilization and disinfection and to the storage of vaccines, is still inadequate. Urgent action is also required to improve conditions which are beyond the control of staff, such as buildings in need of repair, lack of space and the installation of washbasins, toilets, etc.