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PubMedDate not supplied

Wuchereria bancrofti infection in human and mosquito populations of a Polynesian village ten years after interruption of mass chemoprophylaxis with diethylcarbamazine.

In 1991, a study on Wuchereria bancrofti microfilariae (mf) and infection rates was carried out in the human and mosquito populations of a Polynesian village where, 10 years before, the mf prevalence rate was 6.4% and twice-yearly mass treatment with 3 mg/kg of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) was interrupted. Venous blood samples were collected from 575 (97%) individuals aged 15 years or more, of whom 122 (21.4%) were mf positive. The mf carrier prevalence rate was 27.4% in males, significantly higher than that of 14% in females; it increased from 7-12% in the youngest age group (15-19 years) to 40-50% in the oldest (> or = 60 years) for both males and females. 387 mosquito collections were performed and 1748 female Aedes polynesiensis were dissected, of which 1176 were parous. Among the latter, 114 (9.7%) were infected with Wuchereria bancrofti larvae at L1, L2 or L3 stages. The mean number of larvae per mosquito was 2.46 (range 1-15). Of the 114 infected mosquitoes, 30 harboured L3 larvae, giving a 2.55% infective rate; the mean number of L3 larvae per mosquito was 1.15 (range 1-2). Such findings indicate that the interruption of systematic twice-yearly mass treatment with DEC (3 mg/kg) has resulted, after 10 years, in a substantial increase of microfilarial prevalence in humans, and in high infection rates in mosquitoes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Occult tuberculous infection in children.

Three hundred and fifty New Zealand children with occult tuberculous infection are reviewed. Ninety four had received BCG vaccine previously. Three hundred and forty were admitted to hospital and 3 gastric aspirations were obtained from each child and cultured for tubercle bacilli. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated from 1 or more aspirates in 29 (8.5%) of the children. Excluding those who had received BCG the isolation rate was 10.9%. Mycobacterium bovis was not cultured from any child. X-rays of the chest which were initially normal showed calcification after 2 to 5 years in 73 (20.8%) cases. The 350 children were treated with 2 drugs, during the early years isoniazid and PAS and in the past 3 years isoniazid and rifampicin in standard dosage for either 12 or 18 months. The reasons for treating these children are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Gout in Maoris.

Historical evidence suggests that the Maori people of New Zealand were virtually untroubled by gout or obesity at a time when these disorders, along with other elements of the gouty diathesis, were rife in the best fed and hardest drinking sections of the Northern European population. By the mid 20th century, however, the apparent decline of the gout in Europe and North America and the breakup of the gouty diathesis in those lands had been more than compensated by their large-scale reappearance in the Maori and in other indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific Basin who, at first sight, appeared to have become one large gouty family. Half the Polynesian population of New Zealand, Rarotonga, Puka Puka, and the Tokelau Islands proved to be hyperuricemic by accepted European and North American standards, the associated gout rate reaching 10.2% in Maori males aged 20 and over. The trends towards hyperuricemia and gout, on the one hand, and towards obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and associated degenerative vascular disorders, on the other hand, which manifest themselves separately in some Polynesian Pacific Islanders, run together in the Maori and Samoan people, presenting a combined problem of considerable importance to the public health. The appearance of these traits under conditions of plenty in the descendants of hardy and wide-ranging Polynesian voyagers, suggests the emergence of a formerly favorable ancestral polygenic variation through selection for survival under harder conditions. This may now have lost its primitive survival value with a paradoxic shift towards increased prevalence of obesity and the gouty diathesis in more affluent environmental conditions. This may now constitute a genetic load, with recent environmentally determined increase in morbidity and mortality rates from degenerative vascular disorders. There is no satisfactory evidence that overproduction of uric acid differs in mechanism from its European counterparts, although more work remains to be done to determine whether there is any difficulty in renal handling of an increased uric acid load. A high Maori morbidity rate from gout and morbidity and mortality rates from associated components of the gouty diathesis in the face of readily available skilled medical advice and care, indicate the need for greater future attention to help education and health care delivery, at least while conditions of plenty continue. Continuation of previous epidemiologic surveillance may then be required in order to provide a continuing index of the effectiveness of these measures, as well as an opportunity for further research into the interrelationships of these associated disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The relationships between atopy, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and a family history of asthma: a cross-sectional study of migrant Tokelauan children in New Zealand.

We have examined age-related changes in the association between nonspecific bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) and atopy in 494 second-generation Polynesian migrant children, aged 5 to 15 years. BHR (provocative dose of methacholine, less than or equal to 7.8 mumol, causing a 20% fall in FEV1) was present in 125 children (25.3%). Atopy (skin wheal, greater than or equal to 4 mm diameter) was present in 157 children (32%). BHR associated with atopy demonstrated a constant age-related frequency in the 7- to 15-year-old children that was influenced by a family history (FH) of asthma (FH, 50%; no FH, 34%; p = 0.051). BHR not associated with atopy demonstrated a marked decreasing frequency with age from 25% in 5- to 7-year-old children to 3% in 13- to 15-year-old children and was uninfluenced by an FH of asthma. We conclude that the differences in the frequency of BHR with age, together with the genetic influence on BHR associated with atopy, compared with the findings in nonatopic children, indicate distinct heterogeneity in the pathogenesis of BHR in these Tokelauan children. These differences may be important for understanding the relationships between nonspecific BHR, atopy, and asthma in children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Ethnocentric perception of childrearing practices in protective services.

The protective services system in the United States may be committing a form of institutional abuse of minority families if the professionals who work in that system are not sufficiently well versed in the unique childrearing practices of each culture in the communities the system represents. It is easy for misunderstandings to occur from an ethnocentric perspective, and these misunderstandings are unlikely to be in the minority group's favor. Although there is wide agreement that this represents a problem, there is not enough information readily available to allow protective service professionals to adopt a cross-cultural perspective in conducting their work. To discover some of the possible misunderstandings by the dominant American culture of subculture childrearing practices, this study was conducted through in-person interviews with members of six minority groups, Mexican-, Japanese-, Vietnamese-, Filipino- and Samoan-Americans and Blackfeet Indians, in three communities in conjunction with an evaluation of child abuse prevention demonstration projects. The themes of delegating responsibility to children and issues of dominance and submission emerged as areas for awareness and sensitivity on the part of child protective services.

Asian↗
PubMed1995

Comparative conflict resolution patterns among parent-teen dyads of four ethnic groups in Hawaii.

Ninety-six high school students reported their own behavior and the behavior of their parents in the resolution of conflicts during the previous year, using the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). Parent-teen dyadic aggression levels for Americans of European, Japanese, Polynesian, and Filipino ancestry were compared in a series of orthogonal contrasts. The adolescent children of Polynesian American parents reported significantly higher parent aggression levels than did adolescents with parents of other ethnicity. Parent aggression was the best predictor of teen aggression directed toward parents. Subjects reciprocated with counteraggression toward European American parents significantly more often than toward parents of other ethnicity. Aggression by one parent was highly correlated with aggression by the other parent. Aggression by either parent was more highly correlated with teen aggression toward the mother, than with teen aggression toward the father.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Comparison of urinary albumin excretion between Maoris, Pacific Island Polynesians and Europeans with non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

Elevated urinary albumin excretion is a marker for increased mortality and morbidity in European subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Urinary albumin excretion was compared in 32 Maoris, 34 Pacific Island Polynesians and 66 subjects of European origin with non-insulin-dependent diabetes attending a diabetes clinic in Wellington, New Zealand. The random urinary albumin to creatinine ratio was used as an estimation of urinary albumin excretion rate. The random urinary albumin to creatinine ratio was significantly higher in Maori and Pacific Island Polynesian subjects, compared to diabetic Europeans (geometric mean urinary albumin to creatinine ratios were 13.13, 12.00 and 2.79 mg/mmol respectively, P less than 0.05). These findings would be consistent with the high mortality and morbidity seen in the Maori and Pacific Island Polynesian diabetic populations. The correlation between hypertension and increased urinary albumin excretion was stronger in the Europeans than in the Maoris and Pacific Island Polynesians studied, suggesting that differences in blood pressure alone are unlikely to account for the observed differences in albumin excretion. Follow-up studies are required to determine whether diabetic Maoris and Pacific Island Polynesians with increased urinary albumin excretion have a similar prognosis to their European counterparts.

Albuminuria↗
PubMed1994

Glomerular hyperfiltration in young Polynesians with type 2 diabetes.

An increase in glomerular filtration rate (hyperfiltration) may be an important early event in the initiation of diabetic nephropathy but the prevalence of hyperfiltration appears to vary between different populations with type 2 diabetes. We have measured glomerular filtration rate using 51Cr EDTA clearance in 15 young Polynesians (mean age 32 years), 1-30 months after the initial diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and 15 control Polynesian subjects of comparable age and sex distribution. The mean glomerular filtration rate in the diabetic subjects (216 ml/min) was 57% greater than that of the controls (137.5 ml/min, P < 0.0001). About one-third of their excess in glomerular filtration rate could be accounted for by the marked obesity of the diabetic subjects, but even after correcting for body size the diabetic subjects still had a significantly higher mean glomerular filtration rate than controls (165.6 vs. 119.6 ml/min per 1.73 m2, P < 0.001); 73% of the diabetic subjects had hyperfiltration (> 140 ml/min per 1.73 m2). The diabetic subjects were normotensive but nonetheless had increased rates of albumin excretion (median 61 versus 9 mg/day, P < 0.001). We conclude that hyperfiltration is common in young Polynesians with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Prospective studies are needed to determine whether this early abnormality of renal function heralds the later development of overt nephropathy.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels decreased in impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus.

A cross-sectional survey was carried out in a New Zealand Polynesian and Caucasian workforce of 5677 staff aged 40-64 years to determine whether serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 are altered in people with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 concentration was significantly lower in newly detected cases with diabetes and IGT (n = 238) compared with controls individually matched by sex, age (+/- 2 years), ethnicity, and date of interview (mean (S.D.): 69 (31) vs. 76 (34) nmol/l; P = 0.0016). Among controls, serum concentrations were significantly lower in Maori (mean (S.E.) = 65 (5) nmol/l; P = 0.0013) and Pacific Islanders (59 (4) nmol/l; P = 0.0001) compared with Europeans (82 (3) nmol/l), after adjusting for age, sex, and time of year. We conclude that diabetes and IGT are associated with low serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and that low concentrations of this hormone in New Zealand Polynesians may partly explain their increased prevalence of diabetes/IGT compared with Europeans.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

HLA-DR and -DQ DNA polymorphisms: new linkage relationships established by RFLP genomic typing in Polynesians and Melanesians.

Class II restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of DR beta, DQ beta, and DQ alpha loci were examined in Polynesians of the southwest Pacific and in non-Austronesian-speaking Melanesians from the Papua New Guinean Highlands. Polynesians, previously considered to have a restricted set of HLA-DR antigens, showed class II gene heterogeneity associated with DR2, DR5, DRw6, and DRw8 RFLPs. Furthermore, Melanesians and Polynesians share certain antigens such as DRw6 and DRw8, but the DR beta 2 genes associated with DRw6 and the DQ genes associated with DRw8 are population-specific and show little or no overlap. This study has shown that genetic analysis of closely linked polymorphic genes is a powerful anthropological tool and supports the view that Polynesians represent an independent colonizing group in the Pacific, rather than a group evolved from within Melanesia.

Black People↗
PubMed1992

HLA-DR,DQ sequence polymorphisms in Polynesians, Micronesians, and Javanese.

The origins of the Polynesians remain an enigma. Linguistic reconstructions of proto-Austronesian languages suggest a shared origin for Polynesians, Micronesians, and Javanese with dispersal from northern Borneo and Sulawesi. Analysis of 810 chromosomes for nucleotide sequence polymorphism at HLA-DRB1, DRB3, DRB5, DQA1, and DQB1 loci in Polynesian (Rarotonga, Western Samoa, and Niue), Micronesian (Nauru and Kiribati), and Javanese populations showed virtually no overlap of HLA class II haplotypes between contemporary Polynesians and Javanese. Further, there were marked differences in population distributions of some HLA-DRB1 alleles that could not be distinguished in earlier serologic or restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) studies, e.g., for DR12, DRB1*1201 had a frequency of 15%-30% in Polynesians (1% in Micronesians and Javanese), whereas DRB1*1202 had a frequency of 28%-38% in Micronesians and 51% in Javanese (1% in Polynesians). A novel DR6-related allele, DRB1*1408, was found in all three Polynesian study populations. The Polynesian HLA class II genetic repertoire is not readily derived from the island Southeast Asian gene pool.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The influence of a maternal chronic hepatitis B virus infection on the repertoire of transcribed T-cell receptor beta chain variable region genes in human cord blood.

We used an anchor polymerase chain reaction method to compare the repertoires of transcribed T-cell receptor beta chain variable region (V beta) genes in cord blood T cells from neonates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive (n = 40) and HBsAg negative (n = 40) women. Fifteen of the HBsAg positive women were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positive, and 25 were HBeAg negative. The percentage of V beta 7.4 transcripts was lower in cord blood T cells from neonates of HBsAg-positive relative to HBsAg-negative women (9.7% +/- 0.5% vs. 12.7% +/- 0.6%, P = .002). The percent of V beta 5.1 transcripts was higher in cord blood T cells from neonates of HBeAg-positive relative to HBeAg-negative women (9.3% +/- 0.7% vs. 7.0% +/- 0.3%, P < .001). There were no correlations between neonatal maturity at birth and V beta repertoire. In summary, a maternal chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with changes in the repertoire of transcribed T-cell receptor genes in neonatal cord blood T cells. It is possible that the T-cell response to the HBV is associated with a limited repertoire of V beta genes. The mechanism of vertical chronic HBV infection in human neonates may involve changes in the T-cell response to the virus that are induced in utero.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Disease and development: ciguatera fish poisoning.

Ciguatera, a form of fish poisoning with a pantropical distribution, has been a recognized health problem in the Caribbean and the Pacific for centuries (in the decade from 1973 to 1983 for the island Pacific region as a whole, reported incidence, conservatively 20% of actual incidence, was 97/100,000). Island peoples in subsistence communities have developed strategies to minimize its impact. These strategies are less effective when people move to towns, cities and wage labor. The existence of ciguatoxic fish, which are indistinguishable from those that are not, has serious implications for development in island states. Furthermore, development activities which result in disruption of the marine environment increase the potential for ciguatoxic biotopes. The distribution of this health risk in the Pacific region is presented, adaptive strategies discussed, and implications for health, nutrition, resource development and tourism explored.

Animals↗