The effect of labour on somatotype of males during the adolescent growth period.

Although the effect of labour and physical stress on the height and weight of growing children is relatively well known, rather limited information concerning the influences of the work environment on the physique of working children and adolescents is available. The purpose of this study was to increase our knowledge of the effects of mechanical stress on the human physique via somatotype during the adolescent growth period. Anthropometric measurements of 509 male apprentices aged 13.50-18.49 years and measurements of 451 nonworking youth (control group) of the same age group were taken. The members of both groups were from the lower socioeconomic strata and had similar living conditions. The apprentices were working an average of 11h per day in vocations requiring intense physical effort. The subjects were somatotyped using the Heath-Carter anthropometric protocol. The overall mean somatotypes were 2.3-4.4-3.3 for working adolescents, and 2.5-3.9-3.6 for the nonworking controls. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated significant differences between the groups. Working adolescents were more mesomorphic and less ectomorphic than their nonworking peers. In both groups, endomorphy decreased with age up to age 15; then remained stable for the labourers but increased for the nonworking peers. In both groups, mesomorphy was stable, but decreased with ectomorphy. These results indicate that physical stress not only causes retardation in linear growth, but also produces changes in human physique during the growth period.

Effects of taurine in glucose and taurine administration.

Taurine has several biological processes such as hypoglycemic action, antioxidation, detoxification, etc. To assess the effect of taurine administration on the guinea pigs with hyperglycemia, blood glucose, C-peptide levels together with morphologic alterations in the pancreatic ultrastructure were investigated in terms of hypoglycemic action and malondialdehyde and total sulfhydryl group levels with regard to oxidation-antioxidation relation. Animals were divided into four groups of six. Glucose supplementation group was administrated a single dose of glucose (400 mg/kg, i.p.) injection. Glucose and taurine supplementation group was administrated glucose treatment (a single dose, 400 mg/kg, i.p.) following taurine (a single dose, 200 mg/kg, i.p.). Taurine and glucose supplementation group was administered taurine treatment (a single dose, 200 mg/kg, i.p.) following glucose treatment (a single dose, 400 mg/kg, i.p.). Control animals received no treatment. Blood samples were collected at the end of the experiments for the determination of glucose, C-peptide (indicator of insulin secretion), lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances), and total sulfhydryl groups levels. Pancreatic tissue samples were then collected and processed for transmission electron microscopy. The findings showed that glucose supplementation following taurine administration significantly decreased blood glucose level by increasing C-peptide level and the pancreatic secretion stimulated morphologically and insignificantly changed thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and total sulfhydryl group levels. These observations suggest that taurine administration may be useful in hyperglycemia because of its hypoglycemic and protective effects.

The effect of taurine administration on vitamin C levels of several tissues in mice.

Taurine (2-aminoethane sulphonic acid), a sulphur-containing beta amino acid, is the most prevalent free intracellular amino acid in many human and animal tissues. Vitamin C metabolism is also fluenced by sulphur-containing amino acids. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of taurine administration on the vitamin C levels of plasma and several tissues (brain, liver, kidneys) in mice with incisional skin wounds. Animals were divided into two as control and taurine groups. Taurine was freshly dissolved in sterile saline and administered daily (60 microl, ip) for five days in the taurine group. At the end of the fifth day, the animals were killed by decapitation. The brain, liver and kidneys were immediately removed. Vitamin C levels were measured in plasma and several tissues. The administration of taurine had no effect on the plasma vitamin C levels (P>0.05) but significantly increased in liver and kidneys (P<0.001). In conclusion, taurine may affect the vitamin C metabolism in tissues by different mechanisms.

A new approach for calibrating dental caries frequency of skeletal remains.

It is a fact that researchers make use of various calibration methods for calculating and correcting dental caries frequency. The lack of standardization and accuracy of such methods has made it difficult for the researchers to draw reliable and differentiated conclusions from caries frequencies. Besides, the number of studies on how far the calculation methods reflect the "real" caries frequency is very limited. In this study, various methods for calculating caries frequency in skeletal samples are discussed and a new calculation method is proposed for estimating "real" caries frequency. The Hardwick's correction, which is one of the methods discussed in this study, is not successful in estimating "real" caries frequency as it proposes standard values for different life styles and dietary habits. The decayed and missing index is also considered inefficient as it assumes that all antemortem tooth loss is due to caries. The caries correction factor, proposed by Lukacs, achieves more successful results by considering factors other than caries in antemortem tooth loss, but because it does not differentiate between the anterior and posterior tooth groups during calculation, the results to be obtained therefrom may deviate from actual figures. In order to correct any such deviation, the caries correction factor must be applied separately for the anterior and posterior teeth groups since the resistance of each group to cariogenic factors is different. All the methods outlined above do not consider the effects of postmortem tooth loss on caries frequency. As a result, these methods are still far from reflecting a reliable caries frequency. The application of a proportional correction factor--as a technique newly introduced here--corrects the deviation caused by postmortem tooth loss and achieves more realistic results.

A new correction procedure for calibrating dental caries frequency.

The incisors and canines and the premolars and molars show differential resistance to cariogenic factors. The anterior teeth have a lower caries frequency than the posterior teeth. However, these tooth classes are lost differentially in postmortem stages due to their anatomical structures. This differential postmortem tooth loss distorts proportions between the anterior and posterior tooth classes. The disproportionality can affect the calculation of total caries prevalence. In this paper, we propose a new calibration procedure which removes this disproportionality and call it the proportional correction factor. For this procedure, the caries rates of anterior and posterior teeth are corrected by multiplying the anterior teeth by three-eighths and the posterior teeth by five-eighths. These fractions are derived from the human dental formula which contains three anterior and five posterior teeth by side. The correction factor is more effective if the proportion of anterior to the posterior teeth is extremely distorted. When this procedure is used with the caries correction factor, it provides a useful way to approach to an almost true caries prevalence.

The frequency of multiple births in central Anatolia.

The purposes of the present study were to contribute additional data regarding the frequency of multiple births in Ankara, and to reassess both the relation between maternal age and twinning, and the inter-relation between twinning and seasonality. The frequency of twinning was found to be 0.0084858 +/- 0.00028 (0.85%), triplets 0.0001087 +/- 0.000031 (0.011%), and quadruplets 0.000009 (0.0009%). It is observed that there is a correlation between the frequency of twinning, maternal age and parity, and that the rate of twinning increases with maternal age. The twinning rate varies according to the month of the year in which birth takes place. Accordingly, the frequency of twin births is greater between May and August, and lower between September and December.