[Special topics in pediatric orthopedics: options and limits of growth guidance]. / Spezielle Themen der Kinderorthopädie : Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Wachstumslenkung.

BACKGROUND: A main task of pediatric orthopedics is the treatment of legs of different lengths or misshapen legs. Whereas for adult patients complicated and invasive operative interventions are necessary, the growth potential of the epiphysial plate can be utilized in childhood and adolescence to correct leg length differences and leg axis deformities. THERAPY: Epiphysiodesis leads to a guidance of growth via a temporary or permanent and partial or complete blockade of the epiphysial plate depending on the indications. This method is principally a less invasive procedure with few complications. CONCLUSION: Careful preoperative assessment of the indications and planning, precise operative technique and attentive postoperative control investigations are absolutely essential for successful treatment.

[Criteria for socket type prescription: indications and contraindications of a liner system]. / Verordnungskriterien für Oberschenkelschaftsysteme: Indikationen und Kontraindikationen der Linerversorgung.

BACKGROUND: The prescription of socket type for above-knee-amputees is based on clinical experience. There are no official guidelines. On the basis of treatment statistics and a patient survey, this study shows the indications and contraindications of a liner system. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Treatment statistics including data from the medical reports of 183 above-knee-amputees, who were treated in our clinic from 2003 to 2007 were analysed. 32 patients had a system change between liner- and contact-shaft accommodation and were contacted by telephone. The aim was to evaluate satisfaction with the current socket type and thus be able to compare types. RESULTS: A statistically significant relation in the treatment statistics between the quality of the stump and the socket type can be shown. A mesh graft to cover the stump, extreme volume fluctuation, low activity class and co-morbidities are the main reasons for the use of a liner system. Main reasons for a change to a liner system were the preservation of individual independence, better adhesion and skin problems. CONCLUSION: The developed clinical criteria can help physicians decide which socket type is most beneficial for each individual patient.

[Determination of skeletal age : comparison of the methods of Greulich and Pyle and Tanner and Whitehouse]. / Bestimmung des Skelettalters : Vergleich der Methoden nach Greulich und Pyle sowie Tanner und Whitehouse.

PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and the time required to determine skeletal age (SA) in healthy children by the methods of Greulich and Pyle (GP) and of Tanner and Whitehouse (TW). Based on these results recommendations for routine clinical practice is to be established. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study a total of 63 children between the ages of 5 and 18 years were included. Each conventional radiographic image of the left hand was assessed under blinded conditions by 5 or 6 examiners and the time needed was recorded. The assessments were repeated after 2 months. RESULTS: The average chronological age was estimated slightly too low by the GP method and clearly too high by TW. The mean deviation between the results of two examiners tended to be higher with the TW method than with GP. Repeated assessments of SA by the same examiner deviated only slightly for both methods. The time taken to assess the SA by GP was less than half as long as for TW. An improvement in accuracy of SA estimation after repeated use was only observed for GP. CONCLUSION: Of the two methods tested neither proved to be superior. Determination of SA by the GP method was found to be more suitable for routine clinical practice.

Associations of HDL phospholipids and paraoxonase activity with coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women.

A low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) is an established indicator for increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Multiple functional relationships between HDL and CHD have been discussed. We tested the clinical relevance of some of these relationships in a cross-sectional coronary angiography (CA) study of 87 post-menopausal women between 48 and 73 years. In addition to established cardiovascular risk factors we measured concentrations of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingomyelin (SPM) in HDL as indirect markers of cholesterol efflux capacity, the serum activity of the paraoxonase (PON) as a measure of the antioxidative capacity and serum concentrations of insulin/C-peptide and C-reactive protein (CRP) as indirect markers of insulin sensitivity and inflammation, respectively. Upon multivariate analysis of data from 55 women with angiographically assessed CHD differed from 32 women with angiographically excluded CHD, HDL-SPM had the strongest association with the presence of CHD among all HDL-related parameters. It was also the only HDL-related parameter which had a significant and independent correlation with the number of coronary stenoses. As HDL-SPM was previously shown to correlate with cholesterol efflux capacity of plasma, we conclude that reduced cholesterol efflux capacity is an important factor accounting for the inverse association between HDL-cholesterol and CHD.

[The applied time interval as a learnable dimension]. / Der Anwendungszeitraum als lernbare Grösse.

The possibility of learning time intervals was examined. 7 male BDE-rats (70 days old at the beginning of the experiments) were trained (shock avoidance learning) in a modified test chamber to learn bar-pressing only in distinguished time periods (LD 12 : 12). In a second part of the experiment it was examined with 5 rats what effect an extension of the light phase has. The results show that there is a possibility of learning time intervals and of maintaining this behaviour under these specific conditions of training.

[Age-specific learning ability in Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica)]. / Altersabhängiges Lernen bei der Japanischen Wachtel (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

The main question of our investigation is: Do there exist age-specific learning abilities in animals? 120 QUAILS (Coturnix coturnix japonica) of 12 different age groups (between one day and 20 weeks) were tested in a combination apparatus 0y using two training methods. 60 quails were trained with decreasing (1), 60 other quails with increasing learning assistance (2). In each case the learning period lasted 5 days after which the animals were tested in a two-way choice apparatus and in a simple maze. Retention was tested 3 weeks later. - The 2 methods led to different results. In general the younger animals learnt better than the other ones when trained by method 1. No differences in learning performance between the 12 age groups were obtained by method 2.