Prevalence of bowlegs among child and adolescent soccer players.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the interactions of sports-related demands and human body, in particular on musculoskeletal features, during growth. Focusing on the relationship between soccer and lower limb alignment, we examined the hypothesis that varus knee deviation is more prevalent among high-performance pediatric and adolescent soccer players. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with focused sampling. SETTING: First league sports clubs. PARTICIPANTS: 106 male child/adolescent soccer players aged 10 to 21 years and 68 age-matched tennis players. INTERVENTIONS: All athletes completed a demographic questionnaire and underwent physical examinations, which included height, weight, generalized laxity, knee, ankle, foot and spine axis, hip range of motion, tibial torsion, Q angle, foot navicular height, and progression angle. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENT: Varus/valgus axis was determined by the intercondylar intermalleolar distance while standing. Soccer and tennis players were compared on knee axis and other outcome variables by analysis of covariance, adjusting for age and by t-tests within age groups. RESULTS: A significantly higher prevalence of knee varus was found among the soccer players compared to that among the tennis players. The difference in intracondylar distance was statistically significant after the age of 13 years (P < 0.001). In addition, compared to tennis players, soccer players had higher foot arches, decreased hip external rotation and increased external tibial torsion. CONCLUSIONS: Varus knee axis deviation was more common among children and adolescent soccer players than among tennis players. The prevalence was more pronounced among players aged 13 years or older. Further research is needed to explore the rationale of this phenomenon.     

Maturation of long-term potentiation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of the freely moving rat

The ability of the perforant path/dentate granule cell synapse of the hippocampal formation to establish and maintain enhanced levels of synaptic transmission in response to tetanization (long-term potentiation, LTP) was investigated in freely moving rats at 15, 30, and 90 days of age. Measures of (1) the slope of the population excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP), and (2) the population spike amplitude (PSA) obtained before, and at several times following tetanization, were used to evaluate the magnitude and duration of LTP as a function of age. Significant enhancement of both EPSP slope and PSA measures was obtained from animals of all three ages in response to perforant path tetanization. The initial degree of enhancement was essentially the same across the age groups, ranging from +27% to +38% of pretetanization levels for EPSP slope measures and +60% to +75% of pretetanization levels for PSA measures, obtained 15 min after tetanization. The duration of this enhancement obtained from animals of the preweaning group was significantly longer than that obtained from either 30- or 90-day-old animals. Enhanced measures of both EPSP slope and PSA decayed to baseline levels in these older animals 18 to 24 h after tetanization, while animals tetanized at 15 days of age maintained potentiated levels of both measures for a period of 5 days following tetanization. Tetanization of 15-day-old animals resulted in a significant reduction in the latency to EPSP onset without affecting the time-based relationships among the other measured parameters, which included latency of the population spike onset, population spike minimum, and population spike offset. Tetanization had no effect on the latency measure of any of these parameters in either of the two older age groups. The primarily postnatal development of the dentate granule cell population suggests that both functionally immature GABAergic modulation of granule cell activity and the differential development of components of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor complex may be involved in the age-related differences in the induction and expression of the LTP phenomenon. This study represents the first developmental characterization of LTP in the perforant path/dentate granule cell synapse in freely moving rats during early development. The results indicate that LTP can be reliably established and maintained in behaving rats as young as 15 days of age. Whereas the degree of potentiation at this age is equivalent to that obtained from juveniles and young adults, the duration of the effect significantly outlasts that obtained from older animals in which development of the dentate gyrus is more functionally mature. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Post-traumatic stress disorder among the injured of theintifada

The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of PTSD among Palestinians who sustained serious bodily injuries during theintifada, as well as to delineate factors having an effect on the development and attenuation of PTSD symptomatology. Results indicated evidence of high prevalence of PTSD among the injured. No significant differences in PTSD prevalence for demographic, situational, and trauma-related variables were found except for the age factor. Prevalence of PTSD among adolescents was significantly higher than among adults. It seemed that the injury itself was so intensely overwhelming that the other variables were overshadowed. Implications for further research and stress management techniques were discussed.     

Cancer Patterns in the Middle East Special Report from the Middle East Cancer Society

To update its cancer statistics, the newly established Middle East Cancer Society examined the cancer frequency patterns in Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The results revealed differing overall patterns. For men the highest frequencies were found for lymphoma, bladder cancer and cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx in Egypt, and for lung cancer, leukaemia and lymphoma in Gaza. For women, breast cancer had the highest frequency in both areas, followed by cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx in Egypt, and leukaemia and lymphoma in Gaza. The distribution of cancer occurrence by organ system also varied. In the light of the different ethnicities, lifestyles, socioeconomic levels and carcinogenic exposure among the countries of the Middle East, this kind of comparison can provide the background for more sophisticated approaches for discerning risk factors in cancer. We believe that further cooperation among participating countries will overcome the present limitations in data collection, registration and access.     

A CHILD WITH HUMAN PARVOVIRUS B19 INFECTION INDUCED APLASTIC ANEMIA AND ACUTE HEPATITIS: Effectiveness of Immunosuppressive Therapy

Human parvovirus B19 (HPV B19) infections are usually asymptomatic or benign and self-limiting. In immunocompromised patients and patients with chronic hemolytic anemia, it can lead to transient red cell aplasia. Few reports in the literature have implicated HPV B19 as the possible cause of acute hepatitis and severe aplastic anemia in immunocompetent patients. Here, the authors report a previously healthy 6-year-old girl with acute hepatitis and severe aplastic anemia associated with HPV B19 infection diagnosed by serology (ELISA). Other common causes of these manifestations were ruled out. The clinical manifestations subsequently improved significantly with the use of immunosuppressive therapy confirming an autoimmune mechanism.     

Indications and diagnostic outcome of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody testing in hospital medicine: a pattern of over-screening

Clinical Rheumatology - Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) serology can aid in the diagnosis and classification of ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV). However, it is often ordered in...     

Evaluation of the accuracy of implant placement by using fully guided versus partially guided tissue-supported surgical guides with cylindrical versus C-shaped guiding holes: A split-mouth clinical study

Statement of problemThe accuracy of partially guided implant placement protocols in comparison with fully guided protocols is still unclear. C-shaped guide holes have become popular; however, their effect on drilling and implant position accuracy has not been thoroughly investigated.PurposeThe purpose of this split-mouth clinical study was to evaluate the accuracy of implant placement by using fully guided versus partially guided surgical guides with cylindrical versus C-shaped guiding holes.Material and methodsAdopting 80% power of the study in calculating sample size, a total of 48 implants were placed in the mandibular interforaminal area of 12 edentulous participants, who were randomly divided into 2 groups: a fully guided group, comprising 24 implants placed on 1 side by using a fully guided protocol and a partially guided group, comprising 24 implants placed on the other side in a partially guided protocol. Each group was further subdivided into 2 subgroups: cylindrical, including 12 implants placed through cylindrical guide holes, and C-shaped (12 implants) placed through C-shaped guiding holes. Postoperative cone beam computed tomography scans were made, and based on image fusion, the total deviations between the virtually preplanned and actual implant positions were determined and compared between both groups and subgroups. The linear horizontal deviation of the implant hexagon and apex, together with apical depth deviation and angular deviations between the position of the actually placed and virtually planned implants, were analyzed in 3 dimensions. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality was used. Comparisons were carried out by using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Post hoc pair-wise comparisons when the Kruskal-Wallis test was significant were carried out by using the Dunn-Sidak test (α=.05).ResultsNo statistically significant differences were found in coronal linear deviation (P>.05), apical linear deviation (P>.05), apical depth deviation (P=.086), or angular deviation (P=.247), between the fully guided protocol and the partially guided protocol.ConclusionsThe accuracy of partially guided implant placement was clinically comparable with that of fully guided placement whether the guiding holes were cylindrical or C-shaped.