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Biomedical subjects

R A Mahmood

Publications and source records attributed to R A Mahmood.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Labour crunch, foreign workers and policy responses: the experience of Japan.

"Japan has experienced labour shortages since the late 1960s....The present study is an attempt to analyse the Japanese government's response to circumvent labour shortages. It focuses on two aspects: perception of Japanese society towards the increasing presence of foreign workers in Japan and associated problems; and measures taken by the government to overcome labour crunch. These aspects are examined within the [framework of an] increasing flow of foreigners to Japan during the past decades." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

Asia↗

Adaptation to a new world: experience of Bangladeshis in Japan.

The author explores aspects of Bangladeshi migration to Japan. "The information base for the study is two major sources: sections on the level and trend of migration, socio-economic characteristics of migrants and their job experiences in Japan are based on a survey of Bangladeshi returned migrants from Japan. Information on their socio-economic adjustment was obtained from personal interviews with migrants who had lived and worked in Japan." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

Acculturation↗

Seroepidemiology of rubella in Bahrain.

Although the Ministry of Health of the State of Bahrain has set priorities for vaccination against a number of communicable diseases including the six target diseases of the Expanded Program of Immunization, no such policy for rubella immunization exists. The incidence of rubella in Bahrain is not precisely known nor is the magnitude of the problem of Congenital Rubella Syndrome. A survey of schoolchildren and primigravidae attending antenatal clinics was undertaken in Bahrain to determine the level of natural immunity against rubella in these groups, which we hope would help us in formulating a vaccination policy. We have found that 67.8% of the 6-7 year old children are susceptible to rubella and that by the age of 18 years susceptibility drops to 10.4%. The decrease in susceptibility was significant until the age of 14 years after which the change became minimal. Efforts should ideally be focused on immunizing all susceptible females before they get married. However, at present, it would be more economical to vaccinate all girls premaritally than to screen and vaccinate those susceptible. When a cheaper screening test for assessing immunity against rubella becomes available, a policy of premarital and post-partum screening followed by vaccination of susceptibles should be put into practice.

Adolescent↗

Bottle feeding as a risk factor for cholera in infants.

To determine risk factors for cholera in infants, a retrospective matched-pair study of 42 cases and their controls was undertaken during an outbreak of El Tor cholera in Bahrain in the autumn of 1978. The highest attack-rate of cholera (125/10 000) occurred in infants in the 6--11 month age-group, which corresponds to the weaning age in this community. Significantly more cases than controls were principally bottle fed (greater than 50% milk intake by bottle) than principally breast fed during the week before onset of illness (p=0.004). Analysis of various patterns of breast and bottle feeding did not determine whether the protection afforded by breast feeding was a negative effect (due to the lack of exposure to contaminated bottle feedings for breast fed infants) or a positive effect (due to protective functions of constituents of human breast milk). Cholera infection (with or without symptoms) among mothers of either case or control infants was uncommon (case mothers 3, control mothers 5), and mean serum vibriocidal and antitoxic antibody levels were similar for the two groups of mothers. These observations suggest that maternal infection did not affect the relative risk of infants having symptomatic cholera.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗

Poliomyelitis survey in Middle-East countries.

The poliomyelitis survey was started in 1976 in Bahrain and Kuwait. For each paralytic case, diagnosis was done by virus isolation, neutralizing antibody titration and specific IgM characterization. More than 90% of the infants who were ill were less than 2 years old. In Bahrain, 17 paralytic cases in 1976 and 12 in 1977 occurred between January and July (annual incidence was respectively 7.7 and 5.4/100,000). The first epidemic was due to poliovirus type 2, the second one to poliovirus type1. From 29 cases, 13 occurred in vaccinated infants of which 9 received 3 or 4 oral vaccine doses. For 3 infants, paralysis occurred less than one month after vaccination. All the isolates were wild polioviruses (rct). In Kuwait, 119 cases were examined, and of them, 57 occurred between August 76 and May 77 (incidence 5.7/100,000). Poliovirus type 1 was responsible for 61% of cases, type 2 for 5% and type 3 for 12%. From October 1976 to December 1977, 350 stools samples were collected from contacts: 19% of them carried poliovirus (12% type 1, 1% type 2 and 6% type 3). All the viruses isolated from both paralytic cases and contacts were wild strains (rct). Of 119 cases, 35 occurred in vaccinated infants from which 4 had received 3 or 4 oral vaccine doses. For 11 infants paralysis occurred less than one month after vaccination. The virus spread was evaluated (i) just before vaccination in 337 infants or children from June to December 76: 8% carried poliovirus Sabin-like strains (and 18% non polioviruses), and (ii) one month after vaccination in 75 infants: 37% carried poliovirus Sabin-like strains.

Adolescent↗