Association of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection with autism spectral disorder (ASD) has been suggested since 1980s. Despite the observed association, its role as a risk factor for ASD remains to be defined. In the present review, we systematically evaluated the available evidence associating congenital CMV infection with ASD using PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases. Any studies on children with CMV infection and ASD were evaluated for eligibility and three observational studies were included in meta-analysis. Although a high prevalence of congenital CMV infection in ASD cases (OR 11.31, 95% CI 3.07-41.66) was indicated, too few events (0-2 events) in all included studies imposed serious limitations. There is urgent need for further studies to clarify this issue.

Blood lead levels (BLLs) of 188 pediatric patients were measured and their parents were queried as to the smoking style in their home. Their mean BLL was 3.16/~g/dl, which was among the lowest levels in the world, and none of them had levels of over 10 /~ g/dl. Preschool children (1 to 6 years of age) with parents who smoked in the same room had a significantly higher BLL (mean; 4.15/2 g/dl) than those with parents who never smoked (mean; 3.06/~g/dl) (P<0.01). However, the mean BLL of school children (6 to 15 years of age) with parents who smoked in the same room was not significantly different from that of school children with parents who never smoked. Passive smoking caused an increase of the BLL only in preschool children in Japan. This is probably because preschool infants spend much more time with their parents and have much more contact with passive smoking than school children and, additionally young infants have a limited ability to excrete lead from the body.

The body zinc clearance test was much more useful than serum zinc concentrations in diagnosing marginal zinc deficiency. Oral zinc supplementation improved the height velocity in short males, but not in short females.

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