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B Lozoff

Publications and source records attributed to B Lozoff.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Long-term developmental outcome of infants with iron deficiency.

BACKGROUND: Iron-deficiency anemia has been associated with lowered scores on tests of mental and motor development in infancy. However, the long-term developmental outcome of infants with iron deficiency is unknown, because developmental tests in infancy do not predict later intellectual functioning. METHODS: This study is a follow-up evaluation of a group of Costa Rican children whose iron status and treatment were documented in infancy. Eighty-five percent (163) of the 191 children in the original group underwent comprehensive clinical, nutritional, and psychoeducational assessments at five years of age. The developmental test battery consisted of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, the Spanish version of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery, the Beery Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, the Goodenough-Harris Draw-a-Man Test, and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. RESULTS: All the children had excellent hematologic status and growth at five years of age. However, children who had moderately severe iron-deficiency anemia as infants, with hemoglobin levels less than or equal to 100 g per liter, had lower scores on tests of mental and motor functioning at school entry than the rest of the children. Although these children also came from less socioeconomically advantaged homes, their test scores remained significantly lower than those of the other children after we controlled for a comprehensive set of background factors. For example, the mean (+/- SD) adjusted Woodcock-Johnson preschool cluster score for the children who had moderate anemia in infancy (n = 30) was 448.6 +/- 9.7, as compared with 452.9 +/- 9.2 for the rest of the children (n = 133) (P less than 0.01); the adjusted visual-motor integration score was 5.9 +/- 2.1, as compared with 6.7 +/- 2.3 (P less than 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Children who have iron-deficiency anemia in infancy are at risk for long-lasting developmental disadvantage as compared with their peers with better iron status.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗
PubMed1991

Early genital naming.

To evaluate the clinical impression that young girls are given little or confusing information about their genitals, a sample of 117 mothers with 1- to 4-year-old children were asked which words for genitals, if any, they used with their children. The ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous sample was composed of 63 girls and 54 boys, with the average ages of 26 and 29 months, respectively. Neither boys nor girls were likely to be given a standard anatomical genital term, although many children received colorful colloquial expressions. However, girls were less likely than boys to receive a term for their genitals. Receiving names for genitals was related to certain family circumstances, such as higher parental education, exposure to adult male nudity, having a sibling of the opposite sex, and cosleeping. Pediatric health professionals have the opportunity to contribute to early sex education by conveying accurate information regarding genital terms in the course of routine physical examinations.

Child Language↗
PubMed1987

Iron deficiency anemia and iron therapy effects on infant developmental test performance.

The behavioral effects of iron deficiency and its treatment were evaluated in a double-blind randomized controlled community-based study of 191 Costa Rican infants, 12 to 23 months of age, with various degrees of iron deficiency. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered before and both 1 week and 3 months after IM or oral administration of iron. Appropriate placebo-treated control infants were also tested. Infants with iron deficiency anemia showed significantly lower mental and motor test scores, even after considering factors relating to birth, nutrition, family background, parental IQ, and the home environment. After 1 week, neither IM nor oral iron treatments differed from placebo treatment in effects on scores. After 3 months, lower mental and motor test scores were no longer observed among iron-deficient anemic infants whose anemia and iron deficiency were both corrected (36%). However, significantly lower mental and motor test scores persisted among the majority of initially anemic infants (64%) who had more severe or chronic iron deficiency. Although no longer anemic, they still showed biochemical evidence of iron deficiency after 3 months of treatment. These persistent lower scores suggest either that iron therapy adequate for correcting anemia is insufficient to reverse behavioral and developmental disturbances in many infants or that certain ill effects are long-lasting, depending on the timing, severity, or chronicity of iron deficiency anemia in infancy.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗
PubMed1979

Sickle cell anemia and trait in southern India: further studies.

Population surveys and family studies among 568 members of nine ethnic groups in southern India identified 15 homozygotes for sickle hemoglobin (HbS)who had mild clinical and hematological manifestations with high levels of fetal hemoglobin (mean=20%, range 8-36%) in a heterogeneous red cell distribution. In one family, the heterozygous mother had a hemoglobin pattern consistent with a form of the heterocellular hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin. Sickle cell trait was found in 153(27%) of those studied. Chromatographic quantitation of the hemoglobin fractions in these heterozygotes showed a trimodal distribution of the proportion of HB Sexplicable by a genetic model postulating the presence of genotypes with two (-alpha/-alpha), three (-alpha/alpha alpha) and four (alpha alpha/alpha alpha) active alpha-globin genes. Globin synthesis studies in four heterozygotes believed to have two active alpha-globin genes demonstrated an alpha/non-alpha total activity ratio (0.57) consistent with this model.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗
PubMed1979

Infant care: cache or carry.

To test the hypothesis that a characteristic infant-care pattern existed during most of human history, contemporary hunter-gatherers in a representative sample of world cultures were examined. Numerically coded measures of infant care revealed a uniform pattern. Mothers are the principal caregivers, providing extensive body contact day and night and prolonged breast-feeding. When not carried, the baby of hunter-gatherers has complete freedom of movement. Care is consistently affectionate, with immediate nurturant response to crying. Nonetheless, in most groups, children achieve early independence and by 2 to 4 years spend more than half the time away from the mother. In the United States this pattern of carrying that endured for one to three million years has been replaced by one resembling nesting or caching. Infants spend little time in body contact with caregivers and their movements are restricted by playpens, high chairs, or cribs. Of the minority who are breast-fed, half are weaned within a few weeks. Separate sleeping arrangements and delayed response to crying are regularly recommended. These remarkable transformations may profoundly alter infant development and maternal involvement.

Africa↗
PubMed1978

Hemoglobin Hofu or alpha 2 beta 2 [126 (H4) Va1 leads to Glu] found in combination with hemoglobin S.

Hb Hofu, alpha 2 beta 2 [126 (H4) Va1 leads to Glu], was found in 10 members of 2 apparently unrelated Valmiki families in central India. None showed evidence of hemolysis and hemoglobin levels were normal in most. In two individuals, Hb Hofu occurred in combination with Hg S, but neither had clinical manifestations of sickle cell disease. In samples containing Hb Hofu, the isopropanol precipitation test was positive. Quantitation of the hemoglobin fractions by DEAE-cellulose chromatography showed that Hb Hofu constituted a mean of 23--25% of the total whether in combination with Hb A or Hb S.

Female↗
PubMed1977

Field methods for the assessment of health and disease in pre-agricultural societies.

The few surviving pre-agricultural societies preserve the best available indication of human adaptation during more than 99% of the species' history. The field methods described allow collection of data that may explain why hunters and gatherers are physically small in the face of apparent plenty, what causes their death and how they control population growth. Observations of daily life, especially family, food and work, provide the context within which biological data can be interpreted. Computer-compatible event-recording systems make possible the collection and encoding of quantitative behavioural observations. A careful census permits characterization of fertility and mortality. Physical assessment, by medical history, physical examination and anthropometry, establishes the patterns of growth and development in the population and the prevalence of clinically recognizable diseases and nutritional disorders. If blood, urine or faeces can be collected, lightweight portable field-proven equipment and techniques are available for the collection, analysis and preservation of specimens for biochemical, nutritional, haematological and genetic determinations.

Adaptation, Biological↗
PubMed1977

Sickle cell anemia and trait in a population of southern India.

In an ethnic group in southern India, the Irula, seven individuals with sickle cell anemia were found to manifest only mild illness. Although a relatively high level of fetal hemoglobin was present in one, none of the factors thought to ameliorate the course of sickling disorders could be identified in the remaining six. In a random population survey, sickle hemoglobin was found in 90 of 292 Irula (31%). In those with sickle cell trait, the proportion of sickle hemoglobin in hemolysates (mean = 26%, range 19-32%) was substantially lower than that reported for any other population.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗
PubMed1976

The etiology and porotic hyperostosis among the prehistoric and historic Anasazi Indians of Southwestern United States.

Porotic hyperostosis was studied in 539 crania from maize-growing prehistoric and historic groups who occupied two dissimilar ecological zones of the Plateau country of Arizona and New Mexico--canyon bottoms and sage plain. Defined as abnormal localized sieve-like structural changes involving the hematopoietic areas of the cranium, it was found in 185 (34.3%) of these skulls. More frequent in children than in adults, it shows significant frequency differences between both children and adults of the two ecological zones. The two ecological zones differ in the availability of iron in the diet; the canyon inhabitants depended heavily on maize (which interferes with iron absorption) while the sage plain people consumed more iron-rich animal products. We hypothesize that an increased dependence on maize produced more iron deficiency anemia and resulted in more porotic hyperostosis. Maize is known to have permitted a food surplus which in turn allowed for increased Southwestern population growth in marginal areas like the canyon bottoms. Heavy dependency on a single food type with consequent hematologic problems may have been an important reason for the subsequent abandonment of the Anasazi region.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Kwashiorkor in Cleveland.

Kwashiorkor is uncommon in the United States. Two cases of kwashiorkor were encountered in Cleveland in a short period of time. Both infants had edema, growth failure, irritability, skin and hair changes, and anemia. In each case a major abnormality of feeding had been neither recognized nor corrected during contact with medical personnel. The children did not have milk allergy and both were fed in the hospital without major difficulty, all symptoms resolving with adequate calorie, protein, vitamin, and iron intake. The importance of complete feeding histories is emphasized since such gross protein-calorie malnutrition and its sequelae are preventable.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1975

The paleoepidemiology of porotic hyperostosis in the American Southwest: Radiological and ecological considerations.

Porotic hyperostosis was observed in 34 percent of 539 crania excavated from sites in Arizona and New Mexico. Common causes of this cranial pathology in the Old World (thalassemia, sickel cell anemia, and malargia) do not explain its occurrence in the American Southwest, as malaria and hemoglobinopathies are not known to have existed in the New World prior to European contact. Iron deficiency anemia which may also be assoicated with porotic hyperostosis occurs on a mass level only with hookworm infestation or nutritionally-related iron deficiency. Since hookworm infestation is rare in the American southwest and has not been reported in prehistoric southwestern American Indians, the hypothesis of nutritional anemia was examined. In canyon bottom sites where the diet was heavily dependent on maize, which is low in iron and also contains an inhibitor of iron absorption, significantly more crania had porotic hyperostosis than in sage plain sites, where the diet included ample animal protein rich in easily absorbable iron (p less than .001). Furthermore, canyon bottom children, who were more susceptible to iron deficiency anemia, had a higher incidence of porotic hyperostosis lesions than adults (p less than .0001).

Adult↗