Physical fitness of children aged 5 and 6 years

Maximal oxygen uptake (Vo2 max) of 85 healthy kindergarten children, 46 boys and 39 girls, aged 5 and 6 years, was determined by means of track running. Their physique, skinfold thickness, grip and back muscle strength, and performances of 25 m-run, 50 m-run, standing broad jump, and 5 min-endurance run were also measured. Skinfold thickness of girls was significantly larger than that of boys. Boys were significantly superior to girls in all the motor performances. The Vo2 max per unit of body weight was 49.46 ml/kg/min for boys and 46.30 ml/kg/min for girls, the sex difference being significant at the 0.001 level. The correlation coefficient between Vo2 max per kg body weight and 5 min-endurance run performance was 0.417 for boys and 0.049 for girls, while that between absolute Vo2 max and body weight was 0.899 for boys and 0.563 for girls. The regression equation of the absolute value of Vo2 max (liter/min) on body weight (kg) was: Y=0.051X-0.025 for boys and Y=0.024 + 0.408 for girls, the regression coefficient of boys being twice as large as that of girls. It appears that at ages 5-6 sex differences are exhibited ont only in muscle strength and agility but also in endurance run and aerobic work capacity.     

Study of somatotype in Italian children aged 6 to 10 years

The aim of the present research was to study the variations of somatotype, calculated by the Heath-Carter anthropometric technique, during growth in a sample of children (416 males and 402 females), aged 6 and 10 years, attending primary and secondary schools of L'Aquila and its province (Abruzzo, Italy). The sample was subdivided into “urban” and “non-urban” groups, on the basis of the residence of the children, to examine possible differences in growth related to the different environments. This study give an account of the somatotype components between urban and non urban childreen between the age 6 and 10 years. A tendency toward an increase of endomorphy (adipose component) with age was noticed in both sexes. In females, ectomorphy (component of physical linearity) tended to increase and mesomorphy (muscular-skeletal component) showed a slight decrease during growth, while males exhibited a discontinuous trend. The differences between urban and non-urban children were not significant, although generally higher values of endomorphy and mesomorphy were found in males and females of the urban sample. The differences between the sexes consisted of higher values of endomorphy and lower values of mesomorphy in females. Ectomorphy was similar in the two sexes.     

A comparison of cortical bone thickness in the femoral midshaft of humans and two non-human mammals

Fragments of bone shafts that lack diagnostic features can be difficult to identify as human or non-human—an important task in forensic science and archaeology. Some workers have found the thickness of cortical bone in the shaft to be a useful distinction, although the sparse literature in the field is contradictory in how this may be applied.The aim of the present study was to determine whether any difference is discernible between humans, kangaroos and sheep (mammals whose remains are commonly confused with those of humans in Australia) at the femoral midshaft, with a view to a larger-scale analysis if differences were discovered. Cross-sections at the midpoint of the shaft were measured to determine the diameter of the whole shaft and the medullary cavity on each bone; an index describing cortical thickness relative to shaft diameter was calculated. Statistically significant differences were found between all three groups, with humans showing the thickest cortical bone, and sheep the thinnest. These differences may be linked to a higher load on the human femur, due to a larger body mass carried on two legs, as opposed to the sheep's four. Further work now needs to be carried out to determine if differences are present when comparing multiple sites on the skeleton, and between non-human mammals of different sizes.     

Relationship of the body mass index with skinfolds,girths, and bone breadths in canadian men and women aged 20–70 years

The relationships of Quetelet index (w/h²), or body mass index (BMI), with the sum of skinfolds at five sites, two skinfold-corrected limb girths, and two bone breadths were studied in a cross-sectional sample of 12,282 men and 6,593 women aged 20–70 years. The correlations of the BMI with skinfolds (0.50), bone breadths (0.51), and girths (0.58) were too low for individual prediction. Contingency tables of the BMI and sum of skinfold categories further indict its use for the purpose of assessing adiposity status or monitoring change in individuals.     

Prevalence of iron deficiency among Chinese children aged 6 to 36 months in Montreal.

Screening for iron deficiency was undertaken among a group of Chinese children aged 6 to 36 months to determine the prevalence of the condition and its association with infant feeding. Of the 346 children studied, 12.1% were found to be iron deficient. The overall prevalence rate of thalassemia minor was 6.7%. Among the 166 children aged 6 to 12 months, more of those who were breast-fed for at least 2 months than of those who were bottle-fed were iron deficient (27.0% v. 7.0%; p less than 0.001). This difference persisted after controlling for the effect of iron-fortified formula. No such difference was found among those older than 12 months. The observed prevalence of iron deficiency was closer to the rate reported for black children than to that reported for white children in the United States. The findings stress the importance of conducting further studies of iron deficiency among Chinese subpopulations in North America.     

Management and outcome of winter upper respiratory tract infections in children aged 0-9 years.

Age-specific incidences for upper respiratory tract infections in children from a new-town population during 1975-7 were studied, and 965 consecutive upper respiratory tract infections in children aged under 10 during two winters were analysed in detail. Significantly different management plans made by seven doctors did not correlate with the clinical outcome as judged by complications, recall rates, and demand for treatment for similar episodes in the future. Two hundred and thirty-two children (24%) returned for another consultation for the same episode of upper respiratory tract infection. The main reason for these repeat consultations seemed to be that parental expectations about the natural history of the illness were not fulfilled. More realistic parental expectations might be set and safer clinical standards maintained if doctors warned parents about symptoms such as cough and occasional diarrhoea or vomiting that are commonly associated with upper respiratory tract infections in children.     

X-ray semeiotics of changes in the soft tissues and bones of the lower extremities in disorders of the venous outflow

In order to improve radiodiagnosis of chronic and venous insufficiency of the lower limbs, the soft tissues and skeleton of the affected limbs were x-rayed in 120 patients with disturbed venous outflow (60 with varicosity and 60 with the post-thrombophlebitic syndrome - PTPS). The limb soft tissue changes in this disease were shown to be of one type and looked like the thickening of subcutaneous fat; obscure boundaries of the muscles with subcutaneous fat, the narrowing of intermuscular layers, the absence of differentiation of separate muscular groups, visible varices, calcifications of soft tissues and phleboliths. Bone changes appeared later than the clinical signs of disease and were as follows: regional and diffuse osteoporosis, various kinds of periostoses (scaled or partially assimilated linear, multilayer and pectiniform) and hyperostosis. Longitudinal platypodia and transverse foot flattening caused by dysfunction of the musculoligamentous apparatus and increasing venous congestion in the lower limbs were seen in most of the patients.     

Relations of the morphological characteristic latent structure and body posture indicators in children aged seven to nine years

With the aim of determining the connection between the indicators of body posture and latent structure of morphological variables in children aged 7 and 8 years, first and second grade of primary school, a set of 17 morphological measures and 12 body posture indicators were longitudinally applied to a sample of 110 boys and 114 girls. The latent structure of morphological variables in both sexes was defined by three factors but at a different order of significance: in boys, the order was longitudinal dimensionality, voluminosity, mass and subcutaneous fat tissue and transverse dimensionality, whereas in girls the order was voluminosity, mass and subcutaneous fat tissue, longitudinal dimensionality and transverse dimensionality. The latent structure of torax body posture indicator was defined by two factors, the status of body posture of the rear part of the thorax, and status of the body posture of the front part of the thorax. The results obtained by canonical correlation analysis between predictive variables, morphological latent structure and criterion variables, latent structure of thorax body posture indicators with two posture indicators of the chest and one of the foot status, showed two important pairs of canonical roots on each measurement, suggesting a significant association between these two sets of parameters.     

Synthesis of natural allohemagglutinins of the ABO system in healthy children aged 3 months to 3 years

The work was carried out to establish the titre and score of haemagglutination of natural anti-A and anti-B antibodies in healthy children during the first three years of life. The material studied included 900 healthy children aged between 3 months and 3 years and 100 adults serving as controls. The method of test tube haemagglutination was used for determining the titre and score of alloagglutinins in relation to standard erythrocytes always obtained from the same donors. In addition, in 72 children and 10 adults the levels of IgG, IgA and IgM were determined quantitatively. A statistical analysis of the results showed that the levels of anti-A and anti-B alloagglutinins were relatively high at the age of 3 months / about 25% of the adult levels / and increased very rapidly in the first years of life reaching about 90% of the adult level at the end of the 3rd year of life. Besides that, it was demonstrated that it is useful in clinical practice to use the titre and score of natural alloagglutinins as indicators of humoral immunity, especially in children in the first years of life. Acceleration was demonstrated in the intensity of haemagglutination of natural antibodies in the last 40 years since their titre in the contemporary infantile population / up to the age of 1 year / is about 50% higher than that found in 1929. These findings suggest that increased immune reactivity of children observed presently may be due to prophylactic vaccinations.