Genetic polymorphism (rs6587666) in protects from eczema in admixed Brazilian children population with high African ancestry.

Genetic variants in filaggrin () are key in eczema and are less common in Africans than in Europeans and Asians. Here we examined the association between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and eczema in a population of admixed Brazilian children and whether African ancestry modifies this association. We included 1010 controls and 137 cases and ran logistic regressions between SNPs in and eczema in the studied population and also stratified the analyses according to the degree of African ancestry.

Understanding the dynamics of asthma symptoms between childhood and adolescence using latent transition analysis.

Objectives: Asthma patterns in childhood are important predictors of unwanted outcomes in adolescence. We aimed to define asthma phenotypes in childhood and adolescence and evaluate the transitions between these phenotypes and factors potentially associated with the transitions.

Methods: Baseline (1445 children), first round (1363 children/early adolescents) and second round (1206 adolescents) data from the SCAALA Project in Salvador, Brazil, were used.

Conditional Cash Transfer Program and Leprosy Incidence: Analysis of 12.9 Million Families From the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort.

Leprosy is a neglected tropical disease predominately affecting poor and marginalized populations. To test the hypothesis that poverty-alleviating policies might be associated with reduced leprosy incidence, we evaluated the association between the Brazilian Bolsa Familia (BFP) conditional cash transfer program and new leprosy case detection using linked records from 12,949,730 families in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (2007-2014). After propensity score matching BFP beneficiary to nonbeneficiary families, we used Mantel-Haenszel tests and Poisson regressions to estimate incidence rate ratios for new leprosy case detection and secondary endpoints related to operational classification and leprosy-associated disabilities at diagnosis.

Genetic variants in 17q12-21 locus and childhood asthma in Brazil: Interaction with Varicella zoster virus seropositivity.

Background: Asthma is a complex disease with worldwide public health relevance, is related to environmental causes and a genetic predisposition. The chromosomal 17q12-21 locus has been consistently demonstrated to be associated with asthma risk. The effects of variants in the 17q12-21 locus on childhood asthma were first identified in a genome wide- association study.

Socioeconomic determinants of leprosy new case detection in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort: a population-based linkage study.

Background: Although leprosy is recognised as a disease of poverty, there is little evidence on the specific socioeconomic factors associated with disease risk. To inform targeted strategies for disease elimination, we investigated socioeconomic markers of leprosy risk in Brazil.

Methods: Socioeconomic data from the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort were linked to the Brazilian national disease registry (Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação) for leprosy from Jan 1, 2007, to Dec 31, 2014.

Socioeconomic risk markers of leprosy in high-burden countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Over 200,000 new cases of leprosy are detected each year, of which approximately 7% are associated with grade-2 disabilities (G2Ds). For achieving leprosy elimination, one of the main challenges will be targeting higher risk groups within endemic communities. Nevertheless, the socioeconomic risk markers of leprosy remain poorly understood.

A genome-wide association study of asthma symptoms in Latin American children.

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways and, despite the advances in the knowledge of associated genetic regions in recent years, their mechanisms have yet to be explored. Several genome-wide association studies have been carried out in recent years, but none of these have involved Latin American populations with a high level of miscegenation, as is seen in the Brazilian population.

Methods: 1246 children were recruited from a longitudinal cohort study in Salvador, Brazil.

Effects of maternal geohelminth infections on allergy in early childhood.

Background: Maternal geohelminth infections during pregnancy may protect against allergy development in childhood.

Objective: We sought to investigate the effect of maternal geohelminths on the development of eczema, wheeze, and atopy during the first 3 years of life.

Methods: A cohort of 2404 neonates was followed to 3 years of age in a rural district in coastal Ecuador.

Risk factors for non-atopic asthma/wheeze in children and adolescents: a systematic review.

Background: The study of non-atopic asthma/wheeze in children separately from atopic asthma is relatively recent. Studies have focused on single risk factors and had inconsistent findings.

Objective: To review evidence on factors associated with non-atopic asthma/wheeze in children and adolescents.

Environmental indicators of intra-urban hetererogeneity.

A large number of human diseases are related to poor access to water and sewer systems, inadequate solid waste management and deficient storm water drainage. The goal of this study was to formulate environmental sanitation indicators and classify sanitation conditions in specific sewer basins and their respective neighborhoods. The database used contains information on the following sanitation components in these areas: water supply, sewer systems, urban drainage, road pavement, building typology and public cleaning.

Epidemiologists working together with anthropologists: lessons from a study to evaluate the epidemiological impact of a city-wide sanitation program.

This paper discusses the role of qualitative approaches in epidemiological studies, beginning with a general discussion of epidemiological and anthropological methods. It focuses on a case study of the health impact of an environmental intervention carried out in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. Most of the precedent studies fields, based on primary date, use to devote little attention to the methodological and theorethical questions attached to long-term studies.

Factors associated with rotavirus diarrhoea in children living in a socially diverse urban centre in Brazil.

A case-control study, aimed at identifying factors associated with rotavirus diarrhoea cases presenting to health facilities, was conducted in children from low-income and middle-low-income families in Brazil. Cases were 390 children with diarrhoea and rotavirus in stools; controls were 1674 children without diarrhoea presenting to the same facilities. Data were collected by questionnaire and observations during home visits.

Poverty, dirt, infections and non-atopic wheezing in children from a Brazilian urban center.

Background: The causation of asthma is poorly understood. Risk factors for atopic and non-atopic asthma may be different. This study aimed to analyze the associations between markers of poverty, dirt and infections and wheezing in atopic and non-atopic children.

Validation of epidemiological tools for eczema diagnosis in Brazilian children: the ISAAC's and UK Working Party's criteria.

Background: Instruments for field diagnosis of eczema are increasingly used, and it is essential to understand specific limitations to make best use of their strengths. Our objective was to assess the validity of ISAAC and UK Working Party criteria for field diagnosis of eczema in children.

Methods: We performed a cohort study in urban Brazil.

Impact of a citywide sanitation program in Northeast Brazil on intestinal parasites infection in young children.

Background: Sanitation affects health, especially that of young children. Residents of Salvador, in Northeast Brazil, have had a high prevalence of intestinal parasites. A citywide sanitation intervention started in 1996 aimed to raise the level of sewer coverage from 26% to 80% of households.

Reductions in the prevalence and incidence of geohelminth infections following a city-wide sanitation program in a Brazilian Urban Centre.

Objective: In the city of Salvador, a large urban centre in Northeast Brazil, a city-wide sanitation intervention started in 1997, aimed at improving the sewerage coverage of households from 26% to 80%. Our aim was to study the impact of the intervention on the prevalence and incidence of geohelminths in the school-aged population.

Methods: THE STUDY COMPRISED TWO COMPARABLE COHORTS: the first assembled in 1997, before the intervention, and the second assembled in 2003, after the intervention.

Giardia duodenalis infection and anthropometric status in preschoolers in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil.

The aim of this study was to estimate the association between Giardia duodenalis infection and anthropometric deficits, as measured by weight-for-age and height-for-age. This cross-sectional study included 629 children from 12 to 48 months of age, selected from 30 geographic areas in the city of Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. Poisson regression and linear regression were used for the multivariate statistical analyses.

Impact of a city-wide sanitation intervention in a large urban centre on social, environmental and behavioural determinants of childhood diarrhoea: analysis of two cohort studies.

Background: Poor socioeconomic status (SES) increases diarrhoea risk, mostly mediated by lack of sanitation, poor infrastructure and living conditions. The effectiveness of a city-wide sanitation intervention on diarrhoea in a large urban centre in Northeast Brazil has recently been demonstrated. This article aims to explore how this intervention altered the magnitude of relative and attributable risks of diarrhoea determinants and the pathways by which those factors affect diarrhoea risk.

Determinants of cognitive function in childhood: a cohort study in a middle income context.

Background: There is evidence that poverty, health and nutrition affect children's cognitive development. This study aimed to examine the relative contributions of both proximal and distal risk factors on child cognitive development, by breaking down the possible causal pathways through which poverty affects cognition.

Methods: This cohort study collected data on family socioeconomic status, household and neighbourhood environmental conditions, child health and nutritional status, psychosocial stimulation and nursery school attendance.

A hierarchical model for studying risk factors for childhood diarrhoea: a case-control study in a middle-income country.

Objective: To identify factors associated with diarrhoea occurrence in children in a city in a middle-income country, with high access to water and sanitation.

Methods: A case-control study in the city of Salvador, north-eastern Brazil was conducted from November 2002 to August 2004. The study population consisted of children presenting at a health facility.

Effect of city-wide sanitation programme on reduction in rate of childhood diarrhoea in northeast Brazil: assessment by two cohort studies.

Background: A city-wide sanitation intervention was started in Salvador, Brazil, in 1997 to improve sewerage coverage from 26% of households to 80%. Our aim was to investigate the epidemiological effect of this city-wide sanitation programme on diarrhoea morbidity in children less than 3 years of age.

Methods: The investigation was composed of two longitudinal studies done in 1997-98 before the intervention (the sanitation programme) and in 2003-04 after the intervention had been completed.

Risk factors for childhood diarrhea incidence: dynamic analysis of a longitudinal study.

Background: Several longitudinal studies have investigated factors associated with childhood diarrhea in developing countries. However, most studies have neglected important dynamic features of the longitudinal design and hierarchical interrelationships among the potential risk factors.

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study of 902 children, age 0 to 36 months at baseline, in a large urban center in northeastern Brazil.

Community-based monitoring of diarrhea in urban Brazilian children: incidence and associated pathogens.

Community-based monitoring was conducted in order to investigate the occurrence of diarrhea in 'sentinel areas' of Salvador, Brazil, and to establish a preliminary profile of the most common pathogens present in children's diarrhea by screening stool samples. This report describes the results obtained from twice weekly home visits to identify and follow diarrhea episodes and testing of carer-requested stool sample collection over a 6-month period. Participants were selected from a large longitudinal study in 21 areas representing the city's poorer socioeconomic and sanitary conditions.

Prevalence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in children with diarrhea in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

We report the frequency of the different diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) categories isolated from children with acute endemic diarrhea in Salvador, Bahia. The E. coli isolates were investigated by colony blot hybridization with the following genes probes: eae, EAF, bfpA, Stx1, Stx2, ST-Ih, ST-Ip, LT-I, LT-II, INV, and EAEC, as virulence markers to distinguish typical and atypical EPEC, EHEC/STEC, ETEC, EIEC, and EAEC.

Childhood diarrhoea symptoms, management and duration: observations from a longitudinal community study.

This study examined the evolution and duration of diarrhoea episodes observed in a community setting, with regard to symptoms and carers' responses. The study group comprised 1156 children, aged 0-36 months, who were followed-up with twice-weekly home visits in 30 sampling areas in the city of Salvador, northeast Brazil. A total of 2403 diarrhoea episodes (mean duration: 2.