Isokinetic profile of dorsiflexors and plantar flexors of the ankle--a comparative study of élite versus untrained subjects.

A comparative study was made of the isokinetic characteristics of the ankle (plantar-flexion and dorsiflexion) in young men. Six cyclists, seven gymnasts, 10 soccer players and 25 non-athletic young men were tested on the Cybex II+ dynamometer. Peak torque, torque acceleration energy (TAE), total work and average power were measured. Cyclists had slightly higher (5%) mean plantar flexion than the others, but this was not significant. The situation was reversed for dorsiflexion. Moreover, the average dorsiflexion per unit of plantar flexion was significantly higher in the gymnasts than it was in the cyclists for both torque and work. This suggests that at a specific level of plantar flexion, the gymnasts had stronger dorsiflexion compared with the cyclists and that in sports involving jumping and running, increased attention should be given to strengthening the antagonist muscle groups (dorsiflexors) in order to achieve greater agonist-to-antagonist muscle balance thus preventing injury. The non-athletic subjects had substantially lower endurance capability in both flexors as measured by the endurance ratio. This implies that identifiable specialization in particular muscles results from training or participating in specialized sports.

Responses to reprint requests: form letters versus preprinted cards.

Nine hundred ninety-four reprint requests were made for almost all the original articles that appeared in five pediatric journals between August and October in 1985, 1986, and 1987. Half of the reprint requests were made with form letters and the other half with preprinted cards. A total of 636 (64%) reprints were received within 6 months of mailing the request. The return rates for reprints solicited by form letters and preprinted cards were 68% and 60%, respectively. The response to reprint requests was greater for more recent articles. The number of articles that came in the form of photocopies was directly proportional to the time interval between the publication and the reprint request. Forty-one requests (4.1%) were returned by the authors because their reprint supply was exhausted. Thirty-eight requests (3.8%) were returned undelivered. We conclude that letter requests solicit a slightly better response than card requests and that the response is greater for more recent articles.

Zinc, carotene, and retinol in melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer.

Serum zinc, beta-carotene, retinol, retinol binding protein and prealbumin were measured in 22 cutaneous melanoma patients at diagnosis and in 17 patients with 1 or more basal cell carcinomas of the skin recently removed. The indices measured were found to distinguish melanoma patients from non-melanoma patients with a high level of accuracy. Moreover, the predictability of zinc depends on the level of beta-carotene, and this dependence differs between melanoma and non-melanoma patients.

Serum carotene concentrations in normal infants and children.

The blood of 444 healthy Canadian children (246 males and 198 females) aged 6 days to 18 years was analyzed to determine the concentration of serum carotene. The serum carotene concentration was very low in the first six months of life. In the first three months of life, breast fed infants had significantly higher serum carotene concentration than infants who were formula fed. Infants 7 to 12 months of age had the highest serum carotene concentration. The serum carotene concentration dropped off after the age of one year and remained low until two years of age. After two years of age, the serum carotene concentration showed a progressive and small rise until the age of six to seven years and then fell until the age of 14 to 18 years. The serum carotene concentration did not appear to vary according to the sex of the child except for infants 7 to 12 months of age. In infants 7 to 12 months of age, girls had a higher serum carotene concentration. The measurement of the serum carotene concentration is a simple screening test for fat malabsorption. Our study provides the normal range of serum carotene concentration for children of various age groups.

Palpebral fissure length. In Chinese newborn infants. Comparison with other ethnic groups.

The palpebral fissure length was measured in 60 normal Chinese term infants in the first 48 hours of life. The measurement of the palpebral fissure length was performed with a vernier caliper by placing it across the greatest horizontal axis of the eye from the medial to the lateral canthus. The head circumference was measured by placing a tape anteriorly just above the eyebrows and posteriorly at the maximum point of the occiput. There was no difference according to sex or between the measurements in the right and the left eye. The palpebral fissure length was 1.94 +/- 0.17 cm (mean +/- standard deviation (SD)) and the head circumference was 34.0 +/- 1.3 cm (mean +/- SD). These data suggest that Chinese neonates have a shorter palpebral fissure length than do black American neonates and a longer palpebral fissure length than do white American and Turkish neonates.

Computerized transcription of searches from MEDLINE to an information manager package, SCI-MATE.

MEDLINE bibliographic files, or searches from MEDLINE, can now be downloaded to personal computers. The materials can then be input to an information manager package, such as SCI-MATE, as a personal library for future updates, sorting, searching, cross-referencing, and reports. The transcription of the downloaded material to the manager package is tedious, however. A program has therefore been written to computerize the transcription.

Hormones in chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, chemoagents or carriers?

The pancreas, particularly when inflicted with cancer, shelters sex hormones and their receptors more abundantly than some reproductive organs. In the laboratory, the anti-androgen cyproterone inhibits tumour growth while the anti-estrogen tamoxifen exhibits no effect. However, it is thought that the lack of effect from tamoxifen was due to the absence of nuclear estrogen receptors in the laboratory animals, which does not obtain in the human pancreas. Thus at least 4 phase II clinical trials with tamoxifen have been completed for CA pancreas. All but one resulted in at least doubling the average survival. On the other hand, because androgen receptors have only recently been identified in human pancreas, no clinical trial with androgens has been done. Also, quite recently, it has been found that the cytotoxic steroid estramustine binds in the pancreas to a protein with an affinity many times higher than that between the estrogens and their binding protein. However, promising results with tamoxifen from the phase II trials and the rareness of acute side-effects from the anti-estrogen promote the furthering of investigation with the agent. It has also been suggested that tamoxifen, while an anti-cancer agent itself in the pancreas, can simultaneously serve as a target specific carrier for other cytotoxic drugs.

Choice vegetables simultaneously for beta carotene. Vitamin C and fibre.

Beta-carotene, vitamin C, and fibre are found mainly in produce, that is, vegetables, fruits and grains. Unfortunately, grains, which have high content of fibre, are not normally consumed whole, and the most fibrous part might actually miss the alimentary tract. Fruits, which have high content of Vitamin C and are usually consumed unrefined, are expensive when not in season. In this article, we examine the possibility of maintaining recommended levels simultaneously of the nutrients mentioned with a short list of more popular vegetables, namely, broccoli, carrot, peas, sweet potato, and spinach.

Subcutaneous versus intramuscular administration of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine.

Four hundred ninety eight children of 15 months to 5 years of age were immunized with 0.5 ml of b-CAPSATM I Haemophilus influenzae type b polysaccharide vaccine (Hib). Every other child received the vaccine subcutaneously (S.C.) and the alternates received the vaccine intramuscularly (I.M.). Two hundred and two (81.1%) children in the S.C. group and 198 (79.5%) children in the I.M. group returned for follow-up visits 48-72 hours after the immunization and had the adverse reactions documented. The rest were contacted by telephone. After matching for sex and age, we had 194 pairs (103 males and 91 females) in each group with a mean age difference between the pairs of 0.4 month. Based on paired comparisons, pain, manifested as crying, at the time of inoculation was more frequent with intramuscular administration (p less than 0.01). Tenderness at the injection site occurred in 4 children in the I.M. group but none in the S.C. group and was of borderline statistical significance (p = 0.06). The occurrence of other adverse reactions was not significantly different between the two groups. The findings of this study suggest that subcutaneous injection is the method of choice for Hib vaccine administration.

Physical growth parameters of chinese children in calgary.

Though ethnic variation in growth is well recognized, little is known about the physical growth of Chinese Canadian children. The objectives of this study were to establish the growth parameters for Chinese Canadian children and to compare them with those of Caucasian Canadians. The authors measured height, weight and head circumference during periodic physical examinations of children who attended their clinic between 1980 and 1984. These children were residents of Calgary, Alberta. Children with congenital anomalies or acquired chronic diseases were excluded. A total of 2,149 children (946 ethnic Chinese and 1,203 Caucasians) were studied. Differences in growth characteristics of Chinese Canadian and Caucasian Canadian children were established. The data suggest that the use of normal growth charts derived from growth data on the North American population may not be appropriate for Chinese Canadians.

The strictures, sinuses, and fissures of Crohn's disease.

One hundred forty-six consecutive specimens of excised bowel from patients with Crohn's disease were studied to determine the relationships between strictures, sinuses, and "fissures." A significant coincidence of sinuses and strictures was observed and sinuses tended to arise proximal to the point of maximal stricture. "Fissures," defined as blind-ending inflammatory tracts that did not penetrate through the full thickness of the muscle coat, were of two types. One type was associated with submucosal fibromuscular hyperplasia and repair and appeared to be an early sinus. The second type was in dilated ileum or colon in the bases of ulcers and is designated an "acute fissure." The anatomic findings suggest that both sinuses and fissures may be due to mechanical factors including intraluminal pressure rather than to any intrinsic quality of the inflammatory process in Crohn's disease.

Test sequences in screening for breast cancer.

Published data of Stark and Way on the screening of 2,684 women at high risk of breast cancer are analyzed to arrive at a preferred sequence of screening tests. In the practical situation where palpation first signals a problem, the analysis suggests thermography to follow. Women with positive thermograms should then be biopsied, and those with negative thermograms should be mammographed. A positive mammogram calls for biopsy, and a negative one calls for close follow-up. For high-risk women whose breasts appear normal on palpation, a subsequent negative thermogram is not definitive enough to terminate investigation, but a negative mammogram after a negative palpation is enough evidence to waive further investigation for some time. A positive mammogram calls for immediate biopsy in any circumstance.

Cineangiographic measurements with the help of a vertebral grid system.

Cineangiographic measurements of cardiac structures require knowledge of the magnification factor due to nonparallelity of the X-ray beams. A new method is presented to determine the magnification factor from cineangiograms based on the patient's height and the height of three vertebral bodies and the adjacent intervertebral distances. The method enables measurement of cardiovascular structures from projected cineangiographic films where the appropriate magnification factor is missing. Furthermore, doubtful magnification factors can be checked out as to their accuracy.