Anthropometry of patients with osteogenesis imperfecta.
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Standing height, sitting height, armspan, subischial leg length, head circumference, and growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis were determined in 86 patients with osteogenesis imperfecta. The aim of this study was to determine standing height and body proportions and their variability among osteogenesis imperfecta types and collagen defects. Mean standing height was reduced in all groups of patients, to the greatest extent and variability in osteogenesis imperfecta type III/IV and in those with qualitative collagen defects. The mean standing height of patients with osteogenesis imperfecta was lower than that of their unaffected first degree family members. Truncal height of patients with osteogenesis imperfecta was reduced; head size was increased, and this was more pronounced in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta type III/IV and qualitative collagen defects than in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta type I and quantitative collagen defects. Mean concentrations of IGF-I and IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) were low, but most values were within age specific reference values. The reduction of standing height appears to correlate with osteogenesis imperfecta type and the type of collagen defect. A relatively short trunk is typical and head circumference and body length are disproportionate. (+info)
Predicting composition of leg sections with anthropometry and bioelectrical impedance analysis, using magnetic resonance imaging as reference.
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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate and compare with anthropometry a fundamental bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method for predicting muscle and adipose tissue composition in the lower limb. Healthy volunteers (eight men and eight women), aged 41 to 62 years, with mean (S.D.) body mass indices of 28.6 (5.4) kg/m2 and 25.1 (5.4) kg/m2 respectively, were subjected to MRI leg scans, from which 20-cm sections of thigh and 10-cm sections of lower leg (calf) were analysed for muscle and adipose tissue content, using specifically developed software. Muscle and adipose tissue were also predicted from anthropometric measurements of circumferences and skinfold thicknesses, and by use of fundamental BIA equations involving section impedance at 50 kHz and tissue-specific resistivities. Anthropometric assessments of circumferences, cross-sectional areas and volumes for total constituent tissues matched closely MRI estimates. Muscle volume was substantially overestimated (bias: thigh, -40%; calf, -18%) and adipose tissue underestimated (bias: thigh, 43%; calf, 8%) by anthropometry, in contrast to generally better predictions by the fundamental BIA approach for muscle (bias: thigh, -12%; calf, 5%) and adipose tissue (bias: thigh, 17%; calf, -28%). However, both methods demonstrated considerable individual variability (95% limits of agreement 20-77%). In general, there was similar reproducibility for anthropometric and fundamental BIA methods in the thigh (inter-observer residual coefficient of variation for muscle 3.5% versus 3.8%), but the latter was better in the calf (inter-observer residual coefficient of variation for muscle 8.2% versus 4.5%). This study suggests that the fundamental BIA method has advantages over anthropometry for measuring lower limb tissue composition in healthy individuals. (+info)
Reappraisal of the relation between blood lead concentration and blood pressure among the general population in Taiwan.
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OBJECTIVES: The relation between blood lead concentration (PbB) and blood pressure was examined in a Taiwan nationwide population survey of PbB from July 1993 to June 1994. METHODS: After multistage sampling procedures, 2800 subjects (1471 males and 1329 females) with a mean (range) age of 44 (15-85) years were enrolled in this study. Anthropometric, blood pressure, and lifestyle factors were measured during household visits. The PbB was measured with a flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometer and all specimens were analysed in triplicate. RESULTS: The mean (range) PbB among all study subjects was 6.5 (0.1-69.1) micrograms/dl; among males it was 7.3 (0.1-69.1) micrograms/dl and among females 5.7 (0.1-40.1) micrograms/dl). The mean (range) systolic blood pressure among all subjects was 123 (80-210) mm Hg, among males it was 127 (80-200) mm Hg and among females 119 (80-210) mm Hg. The diastolic blood pressure among all subjects was 78 (40-150) mm Hg; among males it was 80 (40-130) mm Hg; and among females 75 (40-150) mm Hg. Age, body height, body weight, and body mass index (BMI) were significantly correlated with systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure in both sexes. The PbB (or the natural logarithmic transformed PbB) was not significantly correlated with blood pressure among males or females. After adjustment for the potential confounders of age, age2, BMI, milk intake, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking, systolic blood pressure was significantly associated with PbB among males with a regression coefficient (beta) of 0.185 (p = 0.015). No significant association between PbB and blood pressure was found among females. CONCLUSIONS: From this study, only a weak association between systolic blood pressure and PbB was found among males. There was no strong evidence that PbB was a good predictor of blood pressure. However, the possibility that long term high body lead burden could cause high blood pressure could not be ruled out on the basis of this survey. (+info)
Variation in physical fitness between ethnic groups in nine year olds.
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BACKGROUND: There is little information on cardio-respiratory fitness of children, especially in ethnic minorities in Britain. In this study we assess the associations of social factors, ethnicity, parental health related factors, child's anthropometry, blood pressure and cholesterol measurements with cardio-respiratory fitness. METHODS: Power output against load at 85% of the maximum heart rate (PWC85%), was measured, using a cycle-ergometer test, in children aged 8-9 years in 22 randomly selected areas in England, 14 in Scotland and in 20 inner city areas in England. The subjects were 317 boys and 310 girls from the English sample, 152 boys and 140 girls from the Scottish sample and 242 boys and 261 girls from the inner city sample. RESULTS: Short stature (P < 0.001), fatness (P < 0.001), and Indian subcontinent origin (OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.68 in boys and OR = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.40 in girls) were associated with inability to finish the test. In those who finished the test PWC85% was greater in taller children and in those with lower skinfold values (P < 0.001, except height in boys P = 0.017). The PWC85% in those originating in the Indian continent was lower (-0.17 watt/kg, 95% CI :-0.32, -0.01 in boys and -0.29, 95% CI: -0.43, -0.14 in girls) than in white children. CONCLUSIONS: Shorter and obese children have poorer physical fitness than other children. Physical fitness is lower in children originating in the Indian subcontinent than other British children. This seems to be unrelated to socioeconomic disadvantage. Physical inactivity and lack of cycling skills may explain our findings. (+info)
Obesity: does it occur in African children in a rural community in South Africa?
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BACKGROUND: Total body fatness and a centripetal fat patterning are recognized as risk indicators of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. In this study, the development of these risk factors in rural South African children during the preschool years and first years of formal schooling is explored. METHOD: The initial cross-sectional data from the Ellisras Longitudinal Investigations in Rural Community Children Project, ongoing since 1996, were used, involving 684 boys and 652 girls, aged 3-10 years, in the Ellisras rural community. Overweight was measured using the body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2). Overfatness was based on the sum of the triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses. A centripetal fat patterning was measured by the sum of trunk skinfolds relative to limb skinfolds and the ratio of the subscapular to triceps skinfold. Further, the ratio of the subscapular to supraspinale skinfold was used as an indicator of lower body fat patterning. The 85th percentiles of the NHANES III were used as cutoff values for overweight, overfatness and a centripetal fat patterning. RESULTS: At ages 7 and 8 years, mean BMI was statistically significantly higher in males compared to females (P < 0.05). The log transformed supraspinale skinfold thickness was larger in females compared to males at ages 4-7 years; the log transformed subscapular skinfold was larger in girls compared to boys aged 7-10 years. Less clear patterns were found for the extremity skinfolds and the skinfold ratios. Very few children (0-2.5% in males and 0-4.3% in females) had BMI values above the NHANES III 85th percentiles, indicating a very low prevalence of overweight children in the area. About 15% of the males showed overfatness at ages 3-4 years, while low prevalence was found at older ages. CONCLUSION: Few Ellisras rural children had above normal values for BMI, indicating a low prevalence of obesity in this population. In the 3- and 4-year-old group more subjects were found to have excessive fat, as indicated by the sum of the triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses. (+info)
Thickness of human articular cartilage in joints of the lower limb.
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OBJECTIVES: (a) To determine the topographical variations in cartilage thickness over the entire surfaces of cadaveric lower limb joints, and (b) to examine the correlations between: cartilage thickness and its site specific modulus; cartilage thickness and donor age, weight, height, and body mass index. METHODS: The cartilage thickness of 11 sets of cadaveric human joints each comprising an ankle, knee, and hip was measured using a needle probe technique. Statistical analysis was used to compare the cartilage thickness of the different lower limb joints and the differences in cartilage thickness over the surface of individual joints. It was further examined whether cartilage had a correlation with its stiffness, and any of the details of the specimen donors such as age, weight, height, and body mass index. RESULTS: The mean cartilage thickness of the knee was significantly greater than that of the ankle and hip (p < 0.001) in all 11 sets of joints, while the cartilage thickness of the hip was significantly greater than that of the ankle in 10 sets of joints (p < 0.001). The mass of specimen donors was found to correlate with the mean cartilage thickness of all three lower limb joints. A correlation was also found between the height of donors and the mean cartilage thickness of the knee and hip joints, while only in the ankle joint was a correlation found between the mean cartilage thickness and the body mass index of the specimen donors. A further correlation was found between cartilage thickness and its modulus; the thinner the cartilage, the higher the modulus. CONCLUSIONS: The thickness of articular cartilage seems to be related to the congruance of a joint; thin cartilage is found in congruent joints such as the ankle, whereas thick cartilage is found in incongruent joints such as the knee. The correlations in this study imply that the larger and heavier was a donor the thicker was the cartilage in the lower limb joints. The data further suggest the presence of an inverse relation between the mean cartilage thickness and mean compressive modulus in each of the joints examined. (+info)
Biometric, optical and physical changes in the isolated human crystalline lens with age in relation to presbyopia.
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The biometric, optical and physical properties of 19 pairs of isolated human eye-bank lenses ranging in age from 5 to 96 years were compared. Lens focal length and spherical aberration were measured using a scanning laser apparatus, lens thickness and the lens surface curvatures were measured by digitizing the lens profiles and equivalent refractive indices were calculated for each lens using this data. The second lens from each donor was used to measure resistance to physical deformation by providing a compressive force to the lens. The lens capsule was then removed from each lens and each measurement was repeated to ascertain what role the capsule plays in determining these optical and physical characteristics. Age dependent changes in lens focal length, lens surface curvatures and lens resistance to physical deformation are described. Isolated lens focal length was found to be significantly linearly correlated with both the anterior and posterior surface curvatures. No age dependent change in equivalent refractive index of the isolated lens was found. Although decapsulating human lenses causes similar changes in focal length to that which we have shown to occur when human lenses are mechanically stretched into an unaccommodated state, the effects are due to nonsystematic changes in lens curvatures. These studies reinforce the conclusion that lens hardening must be considered as an important factor in the development of presbyopia, that age changes in the human lens are not limited to the loss of accommodation that characterizes presbyopia but that the lens optical and physical properties change substantially with age in a complex manner. (+info)
The face of Smith-Magenis syndrome: a subjective and objective study.
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We report a study of 55 subjects with Smith-Magenis syndrome, aged 9 months to 35 years. Each person has been evaluated with an assessment of "gestalt" and detailed facial measurement, using previously published methodology, with compilation of Z score pattern profiles. The facial phenotype of SMS is quite distinctive, even in the young child. The overall face shape is broad and square. The brows are heavy, with excessive lateral extension of the eyebrows. The eyes slant upwards and appear close set and deep set. The nose has a depressed root and, in the young child, a scooped bridge. With time, the bridge becomes more ski jump shaped. The height of the nose is markedly reduced while the nasal base is broad and the tip of the nose is full. The shape of the mouth and upper lip are most distinctive. The mouth is wide with full upper and lower lips. The central portion of the upper lip is fleshy and everted with bulky philtral pillars, producing a tented appearance that, in profile, is striking. With age, mandibular growth is greater than average and exceeds that of the maxilla. This leads to increased jaw width and protrusion and marked midface hypoplasia. Craniofacial pattern analysis supports these subjective impressions. After mid-childhood, mandibular dimensions consistently exceed their maxillary counterparts. Craniofacial widths are greater than corresponding depths and heights. Nasal height is reduced while nasal width is increased. There is mild brachycephaly. The most marked age related changes are increased width of the nose and lower face (mandibular width) with reduction in nasal height and midfacial depth. (+info)