Despite the high-demand work environment for field epidemiologists in field epidemiology training programs, little is known about their occupational stress. To identify occupational stress and its related factors, the occupational stress among trainees in field epidemiology training programs in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions from 2016 to 2018 was examined using six subscales: Role Overload, Role Insufficiency, Role Ambiguity, Role Boundary, Responsibility, and Physical Environment. Furthermore, the data on the year of training and type of training program as well as the level of burnout, which affects stress-coping strategies, were collected. Fisher’s exact tests and logistic regression models were used to examine associations between occupational stress, burnout, the number of years of training, and the type of training program. Sixty-two trainees participated, and there were no significant associations between burnout, the year of training, and type of training program. A burden of occupational stress in Role Overload and Physical Environment was reported by 56% and 53% of respondents, respectively. The trainees affiliated with a university program were less likely to have a burden of occupational stress in Responsibility and Physical Environment. It is concerning that more than half of trainees in the programs experienced occupational stress in Role Overload and Physical Environment. Additional efforts to design improved training programs to reduce occupational stress are warranted.

An outbreak of acute gastroenteritis was reported from a kindergarten on January 5, 2018 and investigation was conducted. A case was defined as a kindergartener presented with vomiting or diarrhea twice a day between January 1 and January 5, 2018. All kindergarteners were interviewed to identify the factor associated with case development. Fifteen (31.3%) children of a total of 48 were identified as cases, and four were confirmed to be Group II, Norovirus positive. In our study, based on the pattern of epidemic curve and different attack rate by classroom in a kindergarten, Norovirus was likely transmitted from human to human.

Despite the extensive neuroimaging research investigating the neurodevelopmental mechanisms of schizophrenia, to date we have a limited understanding about how schizophrenia develops. Feinberg’s (1982) popular neurodevelopmental model proposes that excessive synaptic pruning during adolescence as indexed by the loss of delta brain-wave activity (EEG) in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep may underlie the pathophysiology to schizophrenia. Several studies have shown that the amplitude and incidence of delta wave EEG are disrupted in stage 3 sleep in schizophrenia. However, little research has investigated sleep EEG in adolescents who are at high risk for transitioning into psychosis. The current paper reviews recent longitudinal findings documenting the normal rate of delta EEG changes over the childhood and adolescent periods and proposes a sleep EEG study that can help inform how schizophrenia develops in adolescence.