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Phototherapy with blue light decomposes riboflavin, which has a maximum absorption at 450 nm. A study was designed to determine whether riboflavin deficiency developed in neonates who received phototherapy for moderate hyperbilirubinemia. Twenty-one infants with normal erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity were investigated. Five infants with moderate hyperbilirubinemia who did not require phototherapy served as the controls. Riboflavin deficiency was determined from the degree of saturation of erythrocyte glutathione reductase, a method shown to reflect riboflavin nutritional status in the neonate. Sixteen of 21 infants who were exposed to phototherapy developed riboflavin deficiency; all who had phototherapy for 49 hours or more developed the deficiency. That the concentration of serum bilirubin or the duration of hyperbilirubinemia was not a factor is supported by the fact that none of the controls became deficient. This observation may have important metabolic and clinical consequences for the neonate.

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The data presented shows that the pattern of fatal cerebrovascular disease as seen at necropsy in Jamaica is very different from that in comparable studies in white communities. In a 15-year period (1952-1967) cerebro-vascular disorders accounted for 296 (9.9 percent) of all adult necropsies performed in a large general teaching hospital. Of these no less than 77 percent were due to haemorrhage whereas only 23 percent were due to infarction. This high incidence of haemorrhagic strokes probably reflects the high incidence of hypertension which has been shown to exist on the Island. 89 percent of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhages are associated with hypertension and there is a far lower proportion of hind brain as compared with cerebral hemisphere haemorrhages. A small but significant group appears to be due to hypertension occurring during or shortly after childbirth. Subarachnoid haemorrhages due to rupture of berry aneurysms of the circle of Willis also present unusual features. 70 percent of all such aneurysms occur at the junction of the internal carotid arteries and their branches whereas middle cerebral and anterior communicating artery aneurysms are relatively uncommon. Multiple aneurysms of the Willisian vessels and intracerebral extensions of haemorrhages from ruptured aneurysms also appear to be far less common than generally reported elsewhere.Cerebral infarction due to atheroma and thrombosis is rare - only 54 cases being encountered during the period under consideration. This is even more surprising in view of the fact that cerebral artery atheroma is probably as common as in North America and Europe (Summary)

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During a 10-year period 1958-67, 151 tumors were noted in children under 15 years of age in Jamaica. This comprised 2.9 percent of all malignant tumors observed. Leukemia was the most common form of cancer. The incidence of retinoblastomas was high and surpassed incidences of neuroblastomas and of Wilms' tumors. Kaposi's sarcoma was not observed, and hepatocellular carcinoma was extremely rare. The tumor incidence pattern in Jamaica therefore largely resembles that in the United States and in Western Europe. It contrasts significantly with that in Uganda and in Western Nigeria. This merits attention, since over 90 percent of the Jamaican population is either pure Negro or of predominantly Negro descent as a result of importation from West Africa in former days. (Summary)

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Some of the cancers of the Gastro-intestinal tract take on a special significance in Jamaica. This is particularly evidenced by the incidence figures of Cancer of the Oesophagus and Cancer of the Stomach in males. A recent publication from the International Union against Cancer, compared data from 32 Cancer Registries in 24 Countries. Among these Jamaica was found to have the highest incidence of Cancer of the oesophagus Cancer exceeding the Jamaican rates, but as no Cancer Registry figures were available from those countries, a comparison could not be made. Jamaica's high incidence figures are shared by at least 2 other Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico and Curacao. Cancer of the Stomach is the most common single type of Cancer in Jamaican male. The incidence figures for all types of Gastro-intestinal Cancer will be briefly discussed in relation to rates in other parts of the world and the suspected aetiological factors wil be briefly reviewed (AU)

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