This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and educational use, including for instruction at the author's institution and sharing with colleagues.Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. We also analyzed samples of soil, water, and canine feces and surveyed other domestic and environmental data using structured questionnaires to each child's parents. To associate the parasitological, anthropometric and socio-environmental data, a categorical analysis of principal components (catPCA) was conducted. In the first axis of catPCA, the correlations among socio-environmental variables showed a gradient of "relative welfare". The eigenvectors showed the most influential variables in the analysis were promiscuity (0.0765), father's education (−0.741), crowding (0.727), wastewater disposal (−0.658), mother's education (−0.574), and flooding (−0.409). The 85% of children were parasitized and 79.6% polyparasitized. The 27.7% of children had deficit in some nutritional status indicator, being the stunting the most prevalent deficit (16.8%). There also found parasites in 42% of the dog feces, 53% of the soil samples, and non-pathogenic amoebae in the water samples. The SEV was mainly associated with geohelminths and stunting, especially among the poorest children. The study evidences that living conditions are variable within this population. Part of these variations could be linked to the differences in the extent to which parents are able to use their scant resources to influence their children's morbidity. Further studies need to be done from a qualitative approach.

We analyzed the nutritional status of urban and rural schoolchildren from Mendoza (Argentina), but avoided rural and urban categorization by generating subpopulations as a function of their socioenvironmental characteristics. We transformed weight and height data into z-scores using the CDC/NCHS growth charts; defined underweight, stunting, and wasting by z-scores of less than -2 SD; and calculated overweight and obesity, according to the cutoff proposed by the International Obesity Task Force. Socioenvironmental characteristics included housing, public services, parental resources, and farming practices; we processed these variables by categorical principal-component analysis. The two first axes defined four subgroups of schoolchildren: three of these were associated with urban characteristics, while the remaining subgroup was considered rural. Nutritional status differed across groups, whereas overweight was similar among the groups and obesity higher in urban middle-income children. Urban differences were manifested mainly as underweight, but rural children exhibited the greatest stunting and wasting. Thus, the negative effects of environment on nutritional status in children are not restricted to poor periurban and rural areas, though these are indeed unfavorable environments for growth: some urban families provide children with sufficient quantity and diversity of foods to expose them to obesity. By contrast, the more affluent urban families would appear to have greater possibilities for allowing their children to adopt a healthy life-style. Although the causes of differences in nutritional status between middle- and high-income urban groups are not clear, these determinants probably involve economic as well as educational influences.

The cities studied are in different stages of nutritional transition. Puerto Madryn is undergoing growing industrialization and urbanization and thus exhibits characteristics typical of an 'obesogenic' environment. General Alvear, a less complex urban centre, where some cultural patterns related to an agrarian way of life appear to have been retained, is situated at a less advanced stage.

No abstract

This paper addresses the effect of a reduction of uterine blood flow (RUB) on postcranial bone growth in rats. The objectives were: (1) to discover and characterize the changes evoked by growth retardation through a reduction in placental blood flow, (2) to see if the resulting growth retardation is different in each bone, and (3) to analyze any sex-specific features. RUB was induced by the partial bending of uterine vessels at day 1 of pregnancy. Control and sham-operated animals were also included. The animals were X-rayed at birth. The lengths and widths of the humerus, radius, and femur and pelvic length, interischial, interpubic, and pubic widths were measured. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and LSD post hoc tests. The intersubject analysis showed significant differences between groups and non-significant differences between sexes. In males, sham-operated and RUB showed significant differences in pelvic lengths and widths, and humeral, radial, femoral, and tibial widths. In females, there were significant differences only for humeral widths, radial lengths and widths, and femoral and tibial widths. We conclude that reduced blood flow delays appendicular bone growth as observed at birth. Pelvic length was more affected than that of the limbs. The widths of the pelvic and limbs bones, in turn, were more altered than the lengths, and the growth of the males more than that of the females. Partial bending of uterine vessels compromised postcranial growth, though under such disadvantageous circumstances the females proved to be more capable of growing and thus more resilient than the males.

The shifts observed for soft tissues--positive trend for fat and negative for muscle area--occurring without changes in height lead us to suppose that in these three decades, La Plata's population has experienced deterioration in living conditions and important changes in their lifestyle, such as an increased consumption of energy-dense foods and sedentary habits.

The epidemiology of the Neotropical rust caused by Puccinia psidii in the Indian Myrtaceae Syzygium jambos (rose apple) was investigated in central Brazil. Disease severities recorded during a 12-month period were fitted by a Fourier curve with three cyclic components or harmonics. The first, second and third harmonics accounted for 49´6, 25´9, and 1´5% of total disease measured, respectively. A highly significant linear correlation was observed between the first harmonic and the accumulated number of days having at least 6 h wetness, or a minimum of 90% relative humidity, combined with temperatures that ranged from 18 to 208C. No significant correlation was observed between the second and third harmonics and the weather variables evaluated. Rose apple trees showed a flush of growth with new susceptible host tissue during the evaluation period, with two major outbreaks of rust of variable intensity. Host growth was fitted by a Fourier curve with two significant harmonics. The first and second harmonics accounted for 37´5 and 22´1% of total host growth measured, respectively. A highly significant negative linear correlation was observed between the first harmonic and daily maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall, and duration of the light period. Inoculum availability was not a limiting factor for disease progress since urediniospores were present during most of the period studied. A major peak in numbers of rust spores followed the main peak of disease severity. Thus, rust epidemics on rose apple in central Brazil were shown to depend on the duration of leaf wetness in the dark, and also on night-time temperatures during that same wetness period. This study is the first example of a periodical analysis of an epidemic in a perennial crop.

The aim of this study was to assess the physical growth of schoolchildren from Argentina by comparison with the CDC/NCHS and Argentinean growth references (AGR), to contribute to the discussion about the use of local or international references for the assessment of growth in developing countries. Weight and height were measured in 3,411 schoolchildren aged 5-14 years. Data were log-transformed and compared with both references by paired samples t-test (CI = 0.95; alpha = 0.005). The boys' weights were greater than CDC/NCHS (up to 10, and at 14 years old) and the national reference at all ages (P < 0.005). The girls also were heavier than CDC/NCHS (at 7 and 12 years old, P < 0.005) and AGR, except at age 11 and 14 years. In boys, height was lower than CDC/NCHS at 9 and 14 years of age, and higher than AGR at all ages (P < 0.005). The girls were also shorter than CDC/NCHS at 7, 13, and 14 years old (P < 0.005), and-except at age 14-taller than AGR. The weight was higher than both of the references. Height showed a clear dissociation from the national reference and minor differences from CDC/NCHS. Nevertheless, around puberty, the children's height fell short of CDC/NCHS, especially the girls, whose values approached those of their Argentinean peers. This divergence could be associated with cohort effects or population variations in adolescent growth spurt. The use of a single growth reference for preadolescent may be appropriate. The height decrease in adolescents suggests the usefulness of local standards at this period.