As infant mortality rates decline steadily in South Asia, largely through a fall in post-neonatal mortality, increasing attention is turning to the perinatal period(l). Many studies in this region have demonstrated birth asphyxia to be a major cause of perinatal death(2). However, the contribution of birth asphyxia to the burden of neurodisability in developing country populations is still to b...

Preterm birth is “a birth which takes place after at least 20, but less than 37, completed weeks of gestation. This includes both live births, and stillbirths” [15]. Preterm birth may cause problems such as perinatal mortality, serious neonatal morbidity and moderate to severe childhood disability. Between 6-10% of all births in Western countries are preterm and preterm deaths are the cause for...

This paper provides a general formulation of the regression discontinuity (RD) design and shows its general applicability to many epidemiological problems. It then applies the RD method to estimate the effects of the 1995 pill scare in the UK, using individual birth records and aggregate monthly statistics. The results show that, following the announcement of the health warning on the “third ge...

Introduction Preterm birth is defined as delivery before 37 completed weeks (WHO). The issue of preterm birth is still a major health problem in the world; 75% of neonatal mortalities are due to prematurity.(1,3) A variety of morbidities are significantly increased in preterm neonates who survive. Morbidity in multiple organs such as respiratory tract, cardiovascular, GI, metabolic, neurologica...

amitraz is a triazapentadiene, an α2 adrenergic agonist and a member of the amidine chemical family. a limited number of human intoxication cases have been published in the literature. lack of a clear and specific protocol for the therapy of amitraz intoxication may make its successfully managed case reports useful and valuable for other clinical practitioners in poisoning departments. the case...

developmental dysplasia of the hip (ddh) is the most frequent developmental disorder of the locomotor system. it is detected among 0.1–5.2% of newborns (1, 2). this might be the reason, that there is a high interest to detect ddh cases as early as possible. undetected or late cases lead to catastrophes for the patient and family. limping, leg length discrepancy, pain, frequent operations and so...

Familial studies in inflammatory polyarthritis indicate strong hereditary factors, particularly in relationship to the serological tests (Lawrence and Ball, 1958). In a single kindred of some 3,000 persons reported briefly by Whittinghill, Hendricks, Taylor, and Thorp (1958), rheumatoid arthritis was distributed independently of spondylitis and Still's disease. The ten spondylitics had higher t...

Despite the wealth of epidemiological material of the last decade, birth defects are still the chief cause of perinatal mortality and no significant breakthrough in understanding or reduction has yet been seen. Many proposed aetiological factors are still being evaluated. This report suggests a possible, simple, remediable factor in the aetiology of defects of the central nervous system.

Cebocephaly and sirenomelia are uncommon birth defects. Their association is extremely rare; however, the presence of spina bifida with both conditions is not unexpected. We report on a female still-birth with cebocephaly, alobar holoprosencephaly, cleft palate, lumbar spina bifida, sirenomelia, a single umbilical artery, and a 46,XX karyotype, but without maternal diabetes mellitus. Our case a...