Association of Streptococcus mutans Infection and Oral Developmental Nodules in Pre-dentate Infants

Since dental caries may present soon after tooth eruption, we hypothesized that colonization of Streptococcus mutans can occur in the predentate stages. In this study, we examined S. mutans colonization and its association with oral developmental nodules (Bohn's nodules) in 60 pre-term and 128 full-term, three-month-old infants. Overall, S. mutans was cultured from 30% (56/188) of the infants, and oral developmental nodules were noted in 55% (103/188). Compared with the pre-term, full-term infants showed a higher prevalence of S. mutans (34% vs. 20%, p < 0.02) as well as developmental nodules (61% vs. 42%, p < 0.05). In both groups, S. mutans was positively associated with numbers of developmental nodules in a dose-response relationship (p < 0,001), and with maternal salivary levels of the bacteria (p = 0.03). The permanence of S. mutans infection was confirmed by repeat saliva sampling at 6 months of age. Our results thus showed that many infants have already acquired S. mutans at 3 months of age, prior to tooth eruption.

Oral Colonization of Streptococcus mutans in Six-month-old Predentate Infants

We hypothesize that S. mutans colonization occurs more frequently in pre-term children due to their relative immaturity. In this study of 172 predentate, six-month-old infants, we found that 50% of pre-term and 60% of full-term children harbored S. mutans. The colonization was confirmed by repeat sampling. Although there were minor differences, factors associated with S. mutans infection in pre-term and full-term infants were generally similar. In both groups, increased frequency of sugar was ranked the most important factor (p < 0.001), followed by breast-feeding (p < 0.001), and habits which allowed saliva transfer from mother to infant (p < 0.01). By contrast, non-colonization of S. mutans was associated with multiple courses of antibiotics (p < 0.001). Compared with pre-term children, there were higher percentages of full-term who had night feedings and consumed sugar during sleep times. Mothers with infected infants had S. mutans levels > 5 x 10(5) CFU/mL saliva (p < 0.001), poorer oral hygiene,, more periodontal disease, and lower socio-economic status (P < 0.02) and snacked frequently (p < 0.001), compared with mothers with non-infected infants.

Pediculus humanus capitis infestations in the community: A pilot study into transmission, treatment and factors affecting control

Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) infestations affect schoolchildren worldwide, creating social, economic and health consequences for families. Problems with self-detection, chronic infestations and classroom transmission are compounded by increasing resistance of the lice to pediculicides. Public health strategies are based on limited research and little is known about transmission dynamics. Mismanagement and transmission in the general community are blamed for control failure. The purpose of this study was to explore community head-lice experience in Brisbane, Australia, and to identify critical factors underlying control failure. A home-based pilot survey used physical examination to verify transmission and treatment patterns which were self-reported by a group of trace-contact families in addition to other unconnected participants. The survey was enlarged to further compare therapy outcomes and suspected risk factors. The findings reinforce those of previous studies - that children attending school and early childhood centres, and subsequently their families, are most at risk of contracting pediculosis capitis, and some may carry lice for years. First-line (pediculicidal) treatment and even additional physical methods of hand-picking and fine-toothed combing usually fail to eradicate lice quickly and completely (overall cure-rate 39 per cent, n = 84 cases). Failures were linked to hair characteristics. Public education alone may not control pediculosis. Accurate diagnosis requires considerable experience; a strong case exists for returning to institutional surveillance.

Globalisation and the reconstruction of the literate child

In New Zealand, the turn from the welfare state since 1984 to a global market driven economy in the early mid 1990s has affected the way that primary curriculum documents have been developed and implemented. Those documents, together with teachers’ handbooks, have in turn affected the way that teachers teach. In particular, the construction of literacy and what constitutes literacy teaching in these documents have affected teachers’ work and have also constructed and are reconstructing childhood and the child literate. The way that teachers teach literacy depends on their constructions of children and childhood and that as their views of childhood and children change, so too do their views of the teaching of literacy. Against this background of locating childhood and children in educational and literacy discourses, other discourses of new technologies, cultural diversity, time and space of “new times” are also challenging the construction of literacy, the literate child and childhood.

Opening windows into the mind: mothers' preferences for mental state explanations and children's theory of mind

A new questionnaire, the Maternal Mental State Input Inventory (MMSII) was created to measure mothers' preferences for introducing and elaborating on mental states in conversation with their young children. In two studies, the questionnaire was given to mothers of young children, and the children's theory of mind (ToM) development was assessed with standard tasks. In both studies, the questionnaire exhibited good internal reliability, and significant correlations emerged between mothers' self-reported preferences for elaborated, explanatory talk about the mental states and children's theory of mind performance. Further, mothers' conversational preferences, as measured by the MMSII, were the best predictors of children's theory of mind development when relevant control variables were included in the analyses. These results converge with naturalistic observational research that has demonstrated links between mothers' conversational styles and their children's theory of mind. They go further in suggesting that mothers' tendencies toward elaborated, explanatory talk about a range of mental states is particularly beneficial to children's theory of mind development. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cartografando estratégias de resistência construídas por educadores no cotidiano de trabalho numa escola de Vitória-ES

Este estudo buscou cartografar as estratégias de resistência construídas por professores de uma escola pública municipal de ensino infantil da cidade de Vitória, considerando a dinamicidade da produção de saúde e doença. A cartografia se efetivou por meio de vivência institucional, entrevistas, construção de um diário de campo, questionários, fotografias e confrontação-validação dos resultados com o coletivo de trabalhadores. Apesar de todas as nocividades do ambiente de trabalho, os professores não se deixam paralisar e criam estratégias, novas formas de fazer seu trabalho, buscando condições menos adoecedoras para o desenvolvimento de suas atividades que, quando coletivizadas, potencializam o processo inventivo desses trabalhadores. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam a importância dessas discussões, uma vez que dão visibilidade a essas formas de luta, o que pode promover transformação do que é vivido nas escolas hoje.

Sentidos que emergem do/circulam no trabalho docente na educação infantil

Este estudo focaliza a constituição do trabalho docente na Educação Infantil (EI), tomando como referência o cenário da EI articulado ao campo profissional, vinculado às especificidades da EI, na indissociabilidade do educar e do cuidar, no contexto de transformações do sistema educativo e da expansão da oferta da EI. Perspectiva compreender os sentidos que emergem do/circulam no trabalho docente na EI das auxiliares de creche e professoras que atuam com crianças de zero a três anos, quando mediadas por um processo de formação. É sustentado pelos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos bakhtinianos vinculados aos referenciais do trabalho docente e da formação no campo da educação infantil, com base numa configuração dialógica da compreensão. Articula essa ancoragem à pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa por meio dos procedimentos metodológicos de observação participante e entrevistas, tendo como campo de estudo a experiência de uma instituição de Educação Infantil. Os resultados demonstram tensionamentos entre formação continuada e vivência profissional, estendendo-se às profissionais docentes em situação funcional díspar diante da perspectiva pedagógica da indissociabilidade do educar e do cuidar. Os sentidos que emergiram e circularam, a partir das rodas de conversa propostas nesta pesquisa, abrangem a complexidade do trabalho docente na EI, configurado por lógicas hierárquicas no exercício da docência. Tais fundamentos incidem na diluição de um trabalho educativo pautado no compromisso pedagógico e na formação das crianças, pois, da forma como vêm sendo ampliadas e flexibilizadas as contratações, intensificam a fragilidade da função docente, no que tange à formação mínima exigida em lei para atuar na EI quanto na formação continuada.