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Biomedical subjects

A Bächlin

Publications and source records attributed to A Bächlin.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

[Hepatitis A outbreak in a kindergarten].

In November/December 1990 eight out of 38 children of a kindergarten in Basle were involved in an outbreak of hepatitis A, and further cases occurred among family members and friends of the children. A questionnaire survey and a serologic analysis including all families associated with the kindergarten was undertaken to investigate the source, extent and spread of the hepatitis A. Among 147 persons examined, 20 clinical cases of hepatitis A were diagnosed (9 adults, 11 children), 5 more children were unapparently infected. The hepatitis A virus was imported by an adult who contracted the disease during a journey to Mexico. The virus spread from person to person, the third case being the kindergarten child, who was responsible for the actual outbreak. In a first phase, 11 persons were affected, 6 of them children from the kindergarten. The second phase involved 5 adults and another child from the kindergarten. The hygienic measures undertaken in the kindergarten proved to be efficacious; only one further child was infected thereafter. Immunoglobulin was protective if administered in time. Only 2 out of 21 passively immunized persons who had had contact with hepatitis A patients contracted an unapparent infection, but without further transmission. Among 82 persons who were passively immunized too late or not at all, 20 fell clinically ill with hepatitis A and 3 were unapparently infected. Use of the newly available hepatitis A vaccine is discussed.

Child Day Care Centers↗
PubMed1992

[Ball or chair as seating arrangement in the classroom. A prospective study].

False posture is believed to be connected with sitting habits in school: the child who used to play and run now has to sit in one place. The aim of our study was to determine the value of a new type of seating accommodation--a large plastic ball. During one school year a group of 162 children (ages 8 and 12) used this ball as the only seating accommodation, while another similar group of 148 used normal chairs. At the beginning and the end of the study both groups were examined (muscle testing, modified Matthiass test and balance test). The results suggest a possible effect of the new seating accommodation on the back and abdominal muscles, but on the whole we found little improvement due to the ball alone. When incorporating movement into the classroom context the ball may be helpful. We recommend basic training and supervision of the teachers involved.

Abdominal Muscles↗
PubMed1989

Intervention study on obese school-aged children.

Obesity is the visible result of a behavioral disease related to eating and drinking habits. Eating and drinking have to be considered as social activities, which means that an obese child cannot be treated separately but only as a part of his family. With respect to our programme, mother and father (usually one of them has some overweight, too) have to be prepared to join a 1-year therapeutic programme. The familial compliance may be strengthened and even guaranteed by the fact that fellow sufferers can be found in the closest circle. The compliance in question is enforced, moreover, because derision on the part of social environment, which results in isolation, brings obese people together. Generally, overweight children and adults try to overcome such difficulties resorting to pleasurable sensation by additional eating. Thus, a vicious circle is formed and sustained. Our behavioral programme takes 1 year. In the beginning those who are willing to participate are accepted into a 'club'. New members enter discussions and their family eating habits are revealed. As overweight people often eat hastily and alone, the programme starts by teaching them how to eat slowly, how to serve themselves (once per meal only) and that they have to take their meals in company. A 3-week camp organized and managed by a team of responsible therapists takes place in the mountains in July/August. The therapeutic team comprises a physician, a psychotherapist, a school psychologist, a home economics teacher, a gymnastics and swimming teacher, and a social worker.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Nutrition education in kindergarten: results of an intervention study].

The nutrition intervention in the case of the 3 target groups (children, kindergarten teachers and parents) with regard to knowledge, awareness of nutrition problems, efforts to make changes and the achieved improvement in eating habits met with partial success. Six months after the intervention, this partial success was already in some cases declining, a factor which with an extension of the programme to all kindergartens in the canton of Basel-Stadt will have to be taken into account.

Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗
PubMed1981

[Therapy of obese children].

Behavioural group treatment for families with obese children is presented: after analysing their actual living situation (eating-drinking, habits, physical activities, school situation etc.) parents and children work out changes and train these together. Included in this one-year program is a 3-week vacation-camp for the children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

[Factors influencing dental caries in school children in a city with fluoridated water].

In a joint study by the school health and the school dental health service 4386 children were examined and their nutritional habits recorded. Analysis shows that mainly the consumption of sweets between regular meals and insufficient dental hygiene are responsible for the presence of caries. While health education for dental hygiene is presently given at school nutrition education is still a neglected subject.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Pinworm infection in kindergartens of Basel (author's transl)].

Within the scope of mass examinations 949 children from kindergartens in Basle were submitted to the scotch tape test of Oxyures. The findings were positive in 64 cases (6,7%). The parents of 50 children accepted the suggestion that their children be treated twice with 100 mg of ciclobendazole each, at a weekly interval. This therapy resulted in complete cure of the oxyuriasis in all treated cases. Despite the impressive and safe action against this disease of ciclobendazole it is recommended in any case to take a second tablet, since the risk of reinfection is high.

Anthelmintics↗
PubMed1978

[Vaccination and morbidity in Basel school-children (measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, cytomegalic inclusion disease)].

Antibodies against diseases of childhood have been determined in fall 1977 taking bloodsamples of 430 15-year old students. Immunity was widespread for measles (96%), chickenpox (93%), mumps (90%) whereas 27% did not have antibodies against rubella. The level of vaccination (measles, mumps, rubella) is increasing fast in younger children. The possibility of being infected by a wild virus will be low in the future for those who have not been vaccinated. Antibodies against Cytomegalovirus were measured in 120 students of normalschool and 107 "gymnasiasts". The proportion between negative and positive was 1.1 for students in normalschool and 2.7 for those attending a higher education.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

[Early recognition of lung changes in young smokers].

To assess small airway obstruction in teenagers with a habit of smoking maximal expiratory flow-volume where obtained while the children were breathing first air and then a helium-air-mixture. The point of identical flow (PIF), the volume in which flow was the same with air and with helium was for the smokers significantly higher than the mean PIF in the nonsmokers-controls.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

A/New Jersey/76 influenza vaccine trial in seronegative schoolchildren: comparison of a subunit vaccine with a whole-virus vaccine.

In the present vaccination trial, 202 seronegative schoolchildren comprising both sexes and aged 11 to 12 years were vaccinated i.m. in the upper arm with either the subunit vaccine at a dosage of 600 CCA or 200 CCA or with a whole-virus vaccine at a dosage of 200 CCA, using the double-blind procedure. Both vaccines were prepared from the strain A/New Jersey/76 (x 53a-recombinant). The vaccination was followed four weeks later by a booster injection. In tests of local and systemic reactogenicity, it was found that at both dosages the subunit vaccine caused a low frequency of minor adverse reactions. The whole-virus vaccine was marked by a significantly higher rate of adverse reactions, whether of the local or systemic variety. The whole-virus vaccine had, however, a higher immunogenicity than the subunit vaccine, and due to the relatively high rate of adverse reactions it causes, it is not recommended for the vaccination of seronegative children. Because of its low reactogenicity, the subunit vaccine can be given at higher dosage, and it is a matter for consideration whether a better antibody response might not result from two booster injections.

Antibodies, Viral↗