[Participation in the IEC Workshop on Adolescent Sexual Health--a challenge to protect reproductive health/right in Latin America and Caribbean Region].

In order to explore the possibility of new global activity in nursing/midwifery to be performed by the WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing Development in Primary Health Care at St. Luke's College of Nursing, the center sent two faculty members to attend the IEC Workshop on Adolescent Sexual Health held in November 1996 in Mexico. The two representatives took part as resource persons and reported to the workshop on the activities of nurses and midwives for adolescent sexual health in Japan. During the session, they obtained information on the actual situation of adolescent sexual health in Latin America and Caribbean region and the novel strategies which were carried out in cooperation between governmental and non governmental organizations. The workshop also provided a good opportunity for international communication and information exchange with health workers in the region about adolescent sexual health. By participating in the workshop, we obtained first-hand information on various aspects of cooperation in international health.

A brief review of epidemiological studies on ischemic heart disease in Japan.

The age-adjusted death rate from ischemic heart disease in Japan is the lowest among developed countries and the rates have decreased since 1970. The incidences of myocardial infarction in selected populations ranged between 0.12 and 2.56 per 1,000 for middle-aged males, and between 0.00 and 1.52 per 1,000 for females. The incidences of sudden death within 24 hours were from 0.00 to 1.58 per 1,000 for males and from 0.00 to 0.76 per/1,000 for females. The incidences in Japanese populations appeared to be far below those in Western populations. In the Cox proportional hazard regression model, hypertension and smoking were selected as independent risk factors for myocardial infarction in an agricultural district. It was noteworthy that the level of serum cholesterol was not associated with development of myocardial infarction in rural areas. No positive relation between dietary fat and serum cholesterol was observed in school children, suggesting that growth, sexual maturation and others might be confounding variables between them. The levels of serum cholesterol for females were more affected by menopause than those of blood pressures and body mass index. Although some polymorphisms in selected candidate genes appeared to be associated with some serum lipids and apolipoproteins, the effect of individual RFLP on the inter-individual variations in serum traits was relatively subtle in comparison with that of lifestyle factors.