A Relationship between 2nd to 4th Digit Length Ratio and Aggression Related-Sports Entries Characteristics in Female Athletics of Korean National Teams

OBJECTIVES: The 2nd to 4th digit length ratio(2D : 4D) is a sexually dimorphic trait regardless of ethnicity and shows sex differences. According to previous research, men usually have a relatively shorter 2nd digit than 4th digit. There is tendency that men with lower 2D : 4D are perceived as being more masculine and tend to perform better in some physical sports. Furthermore, 2D : 4D is negatively associated with trait aggression. In this study, we examine gender difference of 2D : 4D and compare 2D : 4D of female Korean national team members to 2D : 4D of control subjects. Besides that, we also compare 2D : 4D of female Korean national team members according to their sports entries. METHODS: The sample of this study is 396 people, 67 female Korean national team member, 216 control women and 113 control men. We measured 2nd to 4th digit length of their right hand. In addition, we collected demographic information of female Korean national team members using a self-report questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean 2D : 4D of female Korean national team members is 0.96(SD=0.04), smaller than control women's 2D : 4D(0.97, SD=0.03) and significantly higher than control men's 2D : 4D(0.95, SD=0.03). We also found differences between control men and women. Non-martial arts related sports athletes have significant difference with control men in 2D : 4D. However, martial arts related sports athletes' 2D : 4D is not significantly different from other groups, including control men. CONCLUSION: These results are consistent with the findings of previous research that there is a significant difference between men and women in their 2D : 4D. Furthermore, 2D : 4D of martial arts related sports athletes have not shown any difference from the 2D : 4D of control men that 2D : 4D of non-martial arts related athletes have shown. This fact is important in consideration of masculine characteristics. For further research, it is necessary to examine 2D : 4D difference according to sport ability and gender differences.

The Correlations between Pulse Pressure and Functional Outcomein Acute Middle Cerebral Arterial Ischemic Stroke

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between the pulse pressure (PP) and functional outcome in acute middle cerebral arterial (MCA) ischemic stroke. METHOD: We reviewed the medical records of 52 first-ever hemiplegic MCA ischemic stroke patients (age 61.5+/-9.7 years; 35 men, 17 women). Functional outcomes were evaluated with Korean-modified Barthel index (K-MBI), functional independence measure (FIM), Korean-national institutes of health stroke scale (K-NIHSS), and Korean-mini mental state examination (K-MMSE) on 3 days and 3 months after the onset of stroke in all the subjects. The PP was measured six times within initial 24 hours after stroke onset and then the highest PP was selected for the analysis. RESULTS: The degree of PP elevation revealed the significant correlations with male gender, over the age of 55 years, diabetes mellitus, and current smoking history, respectively (p<0.05). In TOAST (Trial Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) classification, the large artery atherosclerosis group showed significantly the higher PP rather than the other groups (p<0.05). There were inverse correlations between the PP and each of FIM and K-MBI scores on 3 months after stroke onset (p=0.000, 0.009; r=- 0.479, -0.358). There was an inverse correlation between the PP and the change of FIM (p=0.000, r=-0.532). CONCLUSION: The PP within initial 24 hours after stroke onset revealed significant correlation with functional outcome. The management for the proper PP gives the favorable effect on the functional outcome in acute MCA territory ischemic stroke.

The Effectiveness of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program on Functional Improvement in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation program on functional improvement in patients with spinal cord injury and the difference between tetraplegics and paraplegics. METHOD: Twenty one patients without previous history of pulmonary pathology were recruited for this study. Fourteen patients were tetraplegic (12 males, 2 female; mean duration of disease, 42.2+/-7.9 days; mean age, 52.7+/-3.4 years old), seven patients were paraplegic (6 males, 1 female; mean duration of disease, 48.8+/-6.3 days; mean age, 42.1+/-3.7 years old). All patients received pulmonary rehabilitation composed of respiratory muscles strengthening exercise, positive inflation exercise, and breathing exercise with Breather(R) for 30 minutes a session, twice a day, five days per week for 4 weeks. We evaluated arterial blood gas analysis, pulmonary function test (PFT), modified Borg scale (MBS), Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM), and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) as outcome measures at the beginning and 4 weeks after treatment. RESULTS: After the pulmonary rehabilitation program, both of PaO2 and SaO2 increased in tetraplegia and paraplegia groups. MBS improved at rest and on exercise in both of paraplegia and tetraplegia groups (p<0.05). FEV1 and FVC increased in both groups (p<0.05). Both SCIM and FIM scores increased in both groups (p<0.05). The difference of the improvement ratio of PFT, MBS and functional scales between tetraplegia and paraplegia groups was not significant. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that pulmonary rehabilitation program would be useful to improve the functional improvement including of pulmonary function and subjective dyspnea scale in both of tetraplegia and paraplegia groups.

Correlation between Functional Evaluation Scales and Cognitive Evoked Potentials in Patients with Chronic Stroke

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between functional evaluation scales and cognitive evoked potentials (CEPs) in chronic stroke patients. METHOD: Ten chronic stroke patients with middle cerebral arterial infarction (age 53.6+/-15.7 years, 5 men, 5 women, duration 210.5+/-143.2 days) were recruited. Korean mini-mental status examination (K-MMSE) scores of the subjects were ranked between 15~24 points and the grades of Rancho Los Amigos level of cognitive function of the subjects were VI or VII. They received physical therapy using neuro-developmental technique and cognitive rehabilitation twice a day, 5 times a week, for total 4 weeks. Before and after the treatment, cognitive function tests including K-MMSE, Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment (LOTCA) and motor-free visual perception test (MVPT) and functional ability tests including functional independence measure (FIM) and Korean version of National Institutes of Health stroke scale (K-NIHSS) were done and CEPs were recorded. RESULTS: The scores of K-MMSE, LOTCA, MVPT, FIM and K-NIHSS showed significant improvement, respectively (p<0.05). The P300 latencies significantly decreased from 420.2+/-34.8 msec to 391.5+/-36.4 msec (p<0.05). There were significant correlations between the percentage of change of P300 latencies and each percentage of change of K-MMSE, LOTCA and MVPT (r=0.863, p=0.001; r=0.745, p=0.013; r=0.806, p=0.005). There were significant correlations between the percentage of change of P300 latencies and each percentage of change of FIM and K-NIHSS (r=0.758, p=0.011; r=0.743, p=0.014). CONCLUSION: The CEPs would be a useful method for reflecting the effect of neuro-cognitive rehabilitation treatment and predicting the functional recovery in chronic stroke patients.