Changes In Quadriceps Angle (q-angle) With Regard To Gender And Different Anthropometric Parameters

Introduction: The Q-angle is defined as the acute angle formed by the vectors for combined pull of the quadricepsfemoris muscle and the patellar tendon. It has a great clinical and biomechanics significance. The present studywas planned so as to study Q-angle in healthy young adult individuals and establish its relationship withdifferent anthropometric parameters.Material and methods: The subjects for the study were normal healthy young adult medical students from A.C.S.medical college, Chennai, India.148 subjects (80 girls and 68 boys)were studied. Males and females between theage of 18-20 years were included in the study. Q-angle was measured using standard goniometer. The Q-angle indegree was measured on both sides.These Q-angles were correlated with various anthropometric parameters (height, weight, BMI, WHR, pelvicwidth, femur length).Results: The mean Q-angle in males on left side was 8.1+1.83and that on right side was 8.6 +2.20The mean Q-angle in females on left side was 8.8+ 2.33 and that on right side was 8.9 + 2.52. There were nosignificant bilateral differences The Q-angle (Left) and Q-angle (Right) are significantly correlated with Weight(Kg), Waist (cm) and Hip (cm). However, these angles are not correlated with Weight for height or Waist for Hipratio, pelvic width and femur length in females.In case of males, height, BMI, Pelvic width measurements werefound to be correlated with Q-Left and Q-Right angle. Femur length was correlated only with Q-Left angle whilethere was no correlation with Q-Right angle.Conclusion: No significant differences in both gender was also noted, No significant bilateral differences wereseen. According to our study Q-angle does not vary with the age. Several anthropometric measures on correlatingwith Q-angle signify that irrespective of gender higher Q-angles are seen with those having high BMI, increasedwaist and hip-circumference.

Time trend in breast and cervix cancer of women in India - (1990-2003).

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) started a National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) in the year 1982 with the main objective of generating reliable data on the magnitude and pattern of cancer in India. There are about 20 Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCR) which are currently functioning under the network of NCRP. The present paper aims to provide the time trends in the incidence of breast and cervix cancer among females of India. The incidence data collected by Bangalore, Barshi, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai over the period 1990 to 2003 formed the sources of data. In the year 1990, cervix was the leading site of cancer followed by breast cancer in the registries of Bangalore (23.0% vs 15.9%), Bhopal (23.2% vs 21.4%), Chennai (28.9% vs 17.7%) and Delhi (21.6% vs 20.3%), while in Mumbai breast was the leading site of cancer (24.1% vs 16.0%). By the years 2000-3, the scenario had changed and breast had overtaken as the leading site of cancer in all the registries except in Barshi (16.9% vs 36.8%). The time trend analysis for these sites suggested a significant decreasing trend in the case of cervix in Bangalore and Delhi registries, while the registries of Bhopal, Chennai and Mumbai did not show any significant changes. However, in the case of breast cancer, a significant increasing trend was observed in Bhopal, Chennai and Delhi registries with Bangalore and Mumbai registries demonstrating no such significant changes. Histopathologic confirmation for both malignancies was found to be more than 80% in these registries. It is concluded that in India the cervix cancer rates are decreasing while breast cancer is on the increase.

An indirect study of cancer survival in the context of developing countries.

With classical approaches, survival refers to the life of a person after diagnosis of disease, and survival studies deal with measurement of the same to evaluate overall performance of a group of patients in terms of quality and quantity of life after diagnosis/treatment. There are numerous difficulties in the conduct of a population-based survival study in the context of developing countries, including India. Loss to follow-up is a typical problem encountered, causing biased estimates. In view of this difficulty with the classical approach, the objective of this study was to propose an indirect methodology for the study of survival. The proposed methodology is based on life table techniques and uses current data on incidence and mortality from the disease. It involves the estimation of person years free of disease (PYFD), person years with disease (PYWD), person years of life lost (PYLL) and average duration of disease (ADD) and their comparison over a time period. Empirical application was carried out for mouth and lung cancers in males and cancers of breast and cervix in females as well as for all sites combined together in each sex. Cancer incidence and mortality data by age and sex for the years 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2001 were obtained from published reports of Mumbai Cancer Registry, India. All causes of deaths for these years were obtained from Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Three life tables were constructed by applying various attrition factors: (a) risk of death from all causes; (b) risk of incidence and that of death from other causes; and (c) risk of death from other causes only. The expectation of life from the second life table gave PYFD. PYWD and PYLL were calculated by suitable subtractions among three expectations of life. ADD was calculated by dividing person years lived with disease by number developing the disease. It was noted that during 1993-2001, PYFD for all sites increased from 59.4 to 62.1 and from 63.8 to 66 years in males and females respectively. PYLL was about 0.8 year in males and 1 year in females. Similarly, PYWD was 0.6 and 1 year in males and females. ADD for all sites varied from 4 to 4.7 years in both sexes. It was about 6 years for mouth cancers and 2 years for lung cancers in males and 4-5 years for breast and cervical cancers in females. Validation of the ADD was carried out by comparison with published data for calculating median duration of disease. Given the difficulties in conduct of classical survival studies, the proposed method may provide a useful tool for having a regular audit of prognostic factors in the community.