Relationships between some psychological assessments, body-build, and physiological stress responses.
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A number of physiological responses to the psychological stress of an oral academic examination were observed, including heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, urinary 17-oxogenic steroid excretion, and plasma corticosteroid concentration. The results were related to body-build and to four psychological tests: Eysenck Personality Inventory, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, IPAT Anxiety Scale, and Stimulus-Response Inventory. No significant associations were found between the psychological test results and anticipatory physiological activity just before the examination began, including excretion of 17-oxogenic steroids. Respiration rate was not increased by anticipatory stress, unlike the other variables, which were significantly higher than control values taken under resting conditions three months later. The students of primarily linear physique had significantly higher plasma corticosteroid values than the predominantly muscular subjects at the time of the examination, as found previously. They also had significantly higher analogue measures of the degree of anxiety experienced at the examination (assessed both by the subject and by an observer). Therefore, linear subjects appear to experience more anxiety than muscular students in a similar situation of psychological stress. Both the IPAT Scale and S-R Inventory results were significantly higher for the linear group but there were no significant differences for the EPI and TMAS scores, as used in previous studies. The importance of constitutional factors associated with body-build in relation to at least some aspects of personality is strongly suggested by the findings. (+info)
Cholelithiasis: a clinical and dietary survey.
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Cholelithiasis among male and female patients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital was studied, and the incidence of the disease in relation to various clinical and dietary factors is discussed. The patients are distinguished by sex and country of origin, a distinction being made between patients born in Australia and those born in southern Europe and now living in Australia. Appropriate control groups were also studied.It was shown that the incidence of cholelithiasis is higher in women than in men (3.0% as opposed to 0.7% in the Melbourne Hospital group), and higher among patients born in southern Europe than in Australia. A correlation was also established between marriage and the disease, and, in women, between having had children and the disease. The dietary investigations showed that in Australia those patients with cholelithiasis were fatter than the control patients. Equally well there seemed to be a strong family tendency to develop gallstones. No association was found between cholelithiasis and blood grouping. In the comparison of the southern European group and the Australian-born group it was shown that the former group had a higher incidence of the disease (9.3% as opposed to 2.3%), and that the overall incidence of cholelithiasis increased with age in men and was constant in women. However, when taken separately, the incidence in Australian female patients did increase with age, the higher proportion of women from southern Europe with the disease where the incidence was, in fact, evenly distributed in all age groups, accounting for this apparent constancy. It was also shown that a woman born in southern Europe increased the risk to herself of developing gallstones within two to five years of moving to Australia, and the contributory factors are discussed. (+info)
Determination of a splenic volumetric index by ultrasonic scanning.
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In a prospective study carried out to determine spleen size by a rapid and simple ultrasonic method, 45 normal subjects, 20 men and 25 women, average age 54 +/- 17 years (range 17-78) were studied. The three principal dimensions of the spleen, breadth, thickness, and height, were obtained with a compound scan technique; each dimension was measured at its largest point. The values obtained were multiplied by each other and the product arbitrarily divided by 27, which is the cube of the three values. This gave a splenic volumetric index (SVI), which, in 95 per cent of normal subjects, was between 8 and 34. There were no statistically significant differences related to age, sex, or morphotype when endomorphs, ectomorphs, and mesomorphs were examined. This SVI determination, based on standardized measurements, allows the distinction of normal from abnormal spleens in 10 minutes. (+info)
A simplistic approach to structural dysplasia assessment: description and validation.
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The purpose of this study was to formulate a simplistic method of assessing human structural dysplasia and to validate a classification system that would objectively categorize the type and extent of such dysplasia through the use of indices. Anthropometric measurements were taken from a sample of 222 male college students, length/breadth ratios were formulated, and upper/lower body classifications were made in terms of type and subtype dysplasia. Correlation validation results were highly significant. Body composition data information was also provided for descriptive purposes. (+info)
Elbow breadth as a measure of frame size for US males and females.
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Correlation coefficients of weight, bitrochanteric and elbow breadth to the log-transformed skinfold thickness and age were calculated using 16,494 adult Black and white samples derived from the data sets of the US Health and Nutritional Examination Survey I of 1971 to 1974. Among the variables, elbow breadth exhibited the lowest correlation with skinfold thickness and changes little with age. The analysis shows that elbow breadth can be used as an indicator of frame size. Based on sex-, race-, and age-specific percentiles of elbow breadth the subjects were classified into categories of small, medium, and large frame size. It is suggested that these categories be used for the evaluation of weight for height and frame size. (+info)
The bony chest breadth as a frame size standard in nutritional assessment.
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As shown in 2201 males from western Scotland, the roentgenogrammetric bony chest breadth measurements provide a useful indication of frame size. Bony chest breadth is more highly correlated with weight than is true for stature. Weight corrections approximate 3.7 kg/cm of bony chest breadth and weight differences of 12 kg separate the average weight of males in the "small," "medium," and "large" bony chest breadth categories, respectively. Virtually unrelated to fatness per se, the bony chest breadth measurement provides a useful indication of fat free mass and, expressed as the weight/bony chest breadth ratio, it provides an independent estimate of relative fatness. Differences in frame size as measured by the bony chest breadth also relate to the 16-yr cardiovascular mortality. (+info)
Autosomal dominant iridogoniodysgenesis with associated somatic anomalies: four-generation family with Rieger's syndrome.
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A family extending over 4 generations showed iridogoniodysgenesis accompanied by somatic malformations inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. Iridogoniodysgenesis was present in 10 members, of whom 5 had established glaucoma; 4 youthful members are likely to develop glaucoma. Somatic malformations were present in 5 members from the 3rd and 4th generations who did not manifest iridogoniodysgenesis. A possible polygenic basis is discussed, though the variable expression of an autosomal dominant inheritance is still the more likely explanation. (+info)
Diagonal earlobe creases, type A behavior and the death of Emperor Hadrian.
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Classical writings suggest that the Roman emperor Hadrian died from congestive heart failure resulting from hypertension and coronary atherosclerosis. This diagnosis is supported by the identification of bilateral diagonal ear creases on sculptures of several busts of Hadrian as well as literary evidence of behavior pattern A. (+info)