[Television in a child's bedroom--a possible risk factor for expressive language impairment in 5- and 6-year-old children]. / Fernseher im Kinderzimmer--ein möglicher Risikofaktor für expressive Sprachstörungen bei 5- und 6-jährigen Kindern.

OBJECTIVE: There are a number of established risk factors for expressive language-impairment. Does reading aloud with children reduce the risk? Are extensive TV viewing and a TV set in the child's bedroom associated with an increased risk in preschool kids? PATIENTS AND METHODS: Testing for expressive language impairment was carried out as part of the school entrance health examinations in four Bavarian districts. Testing included: correct use of the plural, comparative/superlative forms, syntax, verb flexion and use of articles (a maximum of 5 mistakes could be made). Parents were asked to answer a questionnaire on a number of biographic, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors potentially related to expressive language impairment. RESULTS: The participation rate in the 4 districts was 88.3 % on average. Complete data were acquired for 3234 children. The prevalence for expressive language impairment (more than one mistake) was 12.2 (95 % CI: 11.3-13.2 %). Children who did not speak German predominantly at home were more often affected than children of German nationality: 44.4 % (95 % CI: 32.3-54.6 %) versus 9.9 % (95 % CI: 8.9 %-10.8 %). Logistic regression analyses identified only a TV set in the child's bedroom as an independent risk factor for expressive language impairment: OR 1.82 (95 % CI: 1.15-2.88). CONCLUSIONS: Possession of an own TV in a child's bedroom appears to be an important, independent risk factor for expressive language impairment in preschool children.

Curvilinear increase in methanol concentration after inhibition of oxidation by ethanol: significance for the investigation of endogenous methanol concentration and formation.

Endogenous methanol production was assessed over a period of 5 h in subjects given an infusion of ethanol to inhibit methanol oxidation in the liver after a period of fasting and abstinence from alcohol. Ethanol was administered to each of five subjects at rates of 0.35 g/kg per hour and 0.70 g/kg per hour. The rise in methanol concentration was biphasic regardless of the rate of ethanol administration, with a steeper gradient in the first 10-30 min. This may be due to the existence of a deep compartment from which methanol can be displaced by ethanol. This could take the form of loose binding of methanol to the hepatic oxidation enzymes as an enzyme-substrate complex, or a shift of the oxidation-reduction equilibrium between methanol and formaldehyde. The biphasic nature of the increase, with an initial steeper rise, means that the values obtained in the first 30 min should be excluded from the calculations when the rate of endogenous methanol production is determined by linear regression analysis. Endogenous methanol concentrations to be taken into account after ethanol administration are on average 0.4-0.6 mg/kg higher than those detectable in the absence of ethanol due to the additional method displaced from the deep compartment.