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Biomedical subjects

C Yarbrough

Publications and source records attributed to C Yarbrough.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1981

The relationship between physical growth and infant behavioral development in rural Guatemala.

The present study investigated the relationship between a number of anthropometric indices and behavioral development during the first 2 years of life in rural Guatemala. Length and weight were the indices most strongly correlated with behavioral development. If the effect of the infant's length and weight was statistically controlled for, none of the other anthropometric variables explained a significant proportion of the variance in behavioral development. Controlling the length (or weight) assessed at the same age as the behavioral assessment, length (or weight) for younger ages was not significantly correlated with behavioral development. Changes in length or weight over time correlated with changes in behavioral performance. We were unable to explain the association between physical growth and behavioral development by a number of variables including gestational age, nutrient intake, prevalence of disease, and familial characteristics.

Body Height↗
PubMed1981

The predictive validity of infant assessments in rural Guatemala.

The behavioral development of rural Guatemalan infants was assessed shortly after birth on a Neonatal Assessment Scale (NAS) and at 6, 15, and 24 months of age on a Composite Infant Scale (CIS). Summary variables based on NAS performance poorly predicted later assessed performance even as recently as 6 months after birth. The CIS was modestly correlated with later performance (between 3 and 7 years of age). These results are similar to those concerning samples from developed nations. Summary variables reflecting failure of easy items, the items most strongly predictive of 4-year performance, and the first principal component factor score all were highly correlated with each other. Of the variables generated they had the most predictive validity. A motor item variable had at least as impressive predictive validity as the mental items at 6 and 15 months. By 24 months the mental variable was a better predictor than the motor variable. In terms of predicting later performance, there seemed to be little justification for weighting items other than to achieve a characterization of overall performance.

Child↗
PubMed1980

A case of cicatricial pemphigoid or cicatricial linear IgA bullous dermatosis.

A case has been described with clinical features of cicatricial pemphigoid, but immunofluorescent (IF) biopsy findings are suggestive of linear IgA bullous dermatosis (LABD), i.e., the presence of IgA deposits with a linear pattern at the basement membrane zone. The patient failed to respond to sulfones and gave a limited response to corticosteroid. These findings suggest that therapy of the type found to be effective in cutaneous forms of LABD, i.e., combinations of low doses of sulfones and corticosteroids, may be indicated in such cases.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1980

The impact of ordinary illnesses on the dietary intakes of malnourished children.

The effect of respiratory infections, diarrhea, illness-induced apathy, and of a summary variable of selected common symptoms on food intake was estimated from data collected on preschool children from rural Guatemala. The presence of selected common symptoms was associated with an average reduction in daily intake of nearly 20%, equivalent to 175 kcal and 4.8 g of protein. Effects were of similar magnitude for diarrhea and for apathy but lower for respiratory infections, namely 61 kcal and 1.0 g of protein. It is concluded that common illnesses are an important cause of low dietary intakes in children from Guatemama.

Aging↗
PubMed1980

Complement-fixing intercellular antibodies in a case of cicatricial pemphigoid.

A patient with ocular and oral lesions, as well as cicatricial pemphigoid, had intercellular antibodies to a titer of 80 by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy staining tests with her serum. These were identified as pemphigus-like antibodies, since direct IF microscopy indicated no intercellular IgG deposits. Complement IF microscopy tests of the serum gave a closely comparable titer (40) of intercellular antibodies. Since serum samples of patients with true pemphigus either fail to fix complement or have much lower complement fixation titers, the complement IF microscopy tests of patients' serum samples may be of value in differentiating pemphigus-like antibodies from pemphigus antibodies.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed1977

Stature and age as factors in the growth of second metacarpal cortical bone in moderately malnourished children.

The association of stature and age with measures of second metacarpal cortical bone growth is investigated in a sample of 1586 radiographs taken from Guatemalan Ladino children aged 1-7 years in a setting of endemic mild-to-moderate malnutrition. For given stature, chronological age is positively associated with cortical thickness and cortical area and negatively associated with periosteal and medullary diameter. These different partial correlations are seen as evidence of different kinds of growth. Correlations of cortical bone variables with body size within a chronological age are shown to derive from the overall relationship between age, stature, and measures of cortical bone.

Body Height↗
PubMed1977

Genetic-environmental interactions in physical growth.

Variability in stature among young children is often ascribed to health and nutrition differences in malnourished populations and to genetic differences in well-nourished populations. Hence, it was hypothesized that parent-child correlations in malnourished Guatemalan populations would be markedly lower than those reported for European samples. Instead, it was found that parent-child and sibling correlations were similar in both kinds of populations. The simplest interpretation of these results is that variability in stature among malnourished children is as much as reflection of genetic differences as in developed nations. However, explanations can also be advanced which would attribute the higher than expected correlations to the environment. For instance, it could be that socioeconomic and nutritional status is correlated across generations. In other words, parents who had relatively better conditions as children are more likely to provide a better environment for their children. Consequently, the relative contribution of genetics and environment to variability in height is still unsettled. Nonetheless, it appears that variability in body size in malnourished populations, regardless of the relative importance of its causes, is a useful indicator of health and nutrition.

Body Height↗
PubMed1977

Relations between nutrition and cognition in rural Guatemala.

The nutritional status of three and four year old children, as measured by height and head circumference, is related to cognitive performance in four rural Guatemalan villages. The relationships persist when social factors are taken into account. Families in two of the villages participate in a voluntary, high protein-calorie supplementation program. In the other two villages, the families receive a vitamin and mineral supplement with one-third of the calories. Although the longitudinal study still is ongoing there is some evidence that the children who receive the higher calorie supplement (or whose mothers received it during pregnancy and lactation) are most likely to score high in cognitive performance. The results support other animal and human studies that report an association between nutrition and cognitive development. The findings, while not diminishing social environmental explantions of differences in cognitive function, suggest the worth of nutrition intervention programs in rural areas of lesser-developed countries.

Child Development↗
PubMed1977

[Effects of diarrhea on growth retardation in Guatemalan children].

The relationship between days ill with diarrhea and growth velocities in height and weight was investigated in 716 children from rural Guatemala, ranging in age from 0 to 7 years. Information regarding diarrheal diseases was obtained through biweekly interviews of mothers. Increments studies were semestral from 0 to 48 months and annual from 48 to 84 months of age. The results, based on two years of date collection, show that the greater the percent of time ill with diarrhea, the smaller the increments in height and weight. It was estimated that diarrheal diseases explain around 10% of the growth retardation observed in this population.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1977

Estimation of stature in children from radiographically determined metacarpal length.

Whether radiographically determined second metacarpal diaphyseal length could provide a reliable estimator of stature in children was investigated. The data consist of measurements of stature and 1597 left hand-wrist radiographs of children from 1 to 7 years of age from rural Guatemala. The errors in estimating stature in children from metacarpal length are comparable to those from equations estimating stature from long bones. It is concluded that second metacarpal length may be a reliable and practicable referent for the estimation of stature in children.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1976

A simple assessment of the risk of low birth weight to select women for nutritional intervention.

There is growing evidence that the high prevalence of low-birth-weight (LBW) babies, a characteristic of many poor societies, can be significantly reduced through nutritional intervention programs. In order to increase the efficiency of these programs, pregnant women at risk of delivering LBW babies must be identified. Several risk scales have been extensively used in urban populations of developed countries. However, these indicators are of little use in poor communities, since most of them require expensive laboratory techniques, a long interview, at least two visits to a health center, and a precise estimation of gestational age. The present paper proposes several risk indicators of LBW, appropriate for use in areas with inadequate health resources. In a four-year longitudinal study of pregnant women from poor rural villages in Guatemala, mothers of LBW babies were found to be typically small in stature and head circumference. In addition, their houses tended to be of relatively poor quality. The proportion of LBW babies found among women at risk, as defined by these indicators, was significantly lower among women with similar characteristics receiving adequate food supplementation during pregnancy. Categories of high risk were based on maternal height, head circumference, and house quality. It is concluded that use of these categories will increase the efficiency of these programs without decreasing significantly their effectiveness.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1976

Sexual dimorphism in bone growth as a function of body size in moderately malnourished Guatemalan preschool age children.

The sexual dimorphism in second metacarpal bone growth was investigated in 710 malnourished Guatemalan children one to seven years old to determine if the sex differences seen are only the result of differences in stature and weight. The study sample was mixed-longitudinal and consisted of 1,586 annual examinations. Boys have greater mean stature, weight, periosteal diameter, medullary diameter and cortical area than girls the same age, while girls have greater age specific mean cortical thickness and percent cortical area than boys. When the effects of stature, weight and age are removed boys still have significantly larger periosteal and medullary diameters and less cortical thickness and percent cortical area than girls. These differences between boys and girls therefore cannot be explained by sex differences in body size. However, no sex differences in cortical area remain after accounting for differences in stature, weight and age.

Body Constitution↗