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The paper comments on an article about the epidemiological distribution of central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. It argues against the use of Bender-Gestalt measure as the statistical basis of the empirical findings in the article. It expresses concern that the rates of CNS dysfunction in Afro-Americans as generated by the study are almost certain to be used in racist polemics and legal briefs. The paper has the potential of doing further disservice to investigators in the area of racial studies, particularly in the sociobiopsychologic factors of behavioral dysfunction in children, and tends to strengthen the deeply felt and considered opinion of many Afro-Americans in the country that scientific studies on race tend to do them more harm than good and that they should be discontinued.

Predictions that measles would be eradicated through vaccination have not been fulfilled. The reasons for this failure are analyzed in this paper, and the possibilities for successful action against measles are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study investigating the possibilities for epidemiological contribution to population in the U.S. Researchers developed new epidemiological research approaches to the field of population dynamics and family planning program development. Meanwhile, epidemiological aspects of various population phenomena and of program operation were structured. The research revealed that population epistemology is a new specialty which can bring to the study one of the great problems facing mankind special descriptive, analytical and integrative capabilities.

The most consistent demographic finding reported in social psychiatric field studies is an inverse relation between social class and psychological disorder. This relationship has been interpreted on the one hand as evidence of social causation, with low status producing disorder, and on the other as evidence of social selection, with pre-existing disorder determining social status. This substantive issue could turn on a simple question of fact: whether Negroes and Puerto Ricans in New York City have higher or tower rates of disorder than their class counterparts in more advantaged ethnic groups. The facts, however, are not available from existing research. The results of field studies contain clues to group differences in modes of expressing distress, including some that involve problems of response bias, but the evidence is far from clear about the relation of the symptoms reported to the underlying psychiatric condition of individuals. It would seem that the substantive issue of social causation vs. social selection must yield precedence to resolution of the central unsolved problem of psychiatric epidemiology--the measurement of untreated psychological disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study which determines whether infant mortality rates, particularly neonatal mortality rates, vary by racial and ethnic neighborhoods when socio-economic status is held constant. The study included four racial and ethnic populations in Syracuse Negro, Native White, Italian, and Polish that have neighborhoods in the lowest socio-econornic area of the city. A socio-economic status score, derived for each census tract, is a composite of five factors representing occupation, education, and housing characteristics of the population. Specifically, the variables are: First, percentage of persons in the combined occupational categories of operatives, service workers and laborers; Second, median school year completed by the adult population over 25 years of age; Third, average monthly rental; Fourth, average market value of own homes;and Fifth, percent of single-family dwelling units. For the total city, principal causes of death during the neonatal period were congenital malformations, complications associated with prematurity, and injuries at birth.

An outbreak of measles on the island of Ponape led to a study of the epidemiology of the disease in the United States Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The authors' report on the critical number of susceptibles necessary for secondary transmission, the time intervals needed for accumulation of susceptibles, and a mathematical model used to predict such intervals, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gonorrhea is a major communicable disease in the United States. Control is difficult because of important gaps in knowledge. One method of control is contact tracing. Men and women diagnosed as having gonorrhea were interviewed to determine the relative effectiveness of interviewing in identifying contacts and providing treatment for infected persons. Findings are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on issues related to childhood malnutrition in the U.S. Response of pediatricians to a report regarding the diagnosis of kwashiorkor in some parts of the country; Use of kwashiorkor incidence as an apt indication of the key role of deprivation, including incorrect feeding especially in relation to weaning; Presentation of growth failure, edema, a characteristic dermatosis, hair changes, enlarged fatty liver, muscle wasting and psychomotor disturbances in children diagnosed with the condition.

This article relates the incidence of pellagra in the U.S. The first recorded outbreak was in 1907, and after that data, pellagra rapidly became widespread south of the Mason-Dixon line. During the 1920s, several thousand deaths from pellagra occurred annually. In 1927, a report was published showing the nature of the disease and how it should be tackled. Potent liver extracts for treating pellagra were developed early in the 1930s but it was not until 1937 that the pellagra-preventive factor, nicotinic acid, was identified. By that date, the outbreak in the U.S. had passed its peak.