Statistical assessment of two methods of measuring scoliosis before treatment.

Regression analysis has shown that the Ferguson and Cobb methods of measuring spinal curvature give comparable results, at least before the scoliosis is treated. When the Cobb angle was calculated by multiplying the Ferguson angle by 1.38, the results were accurate to within 5 degrees in 28 (76%) of 37 cases. Any further debate over the merits of the two methods should focus on their inter- and intraobserver reproducibility and their applicability after corrective treatment.

Formation of methionine from alpha-amino-n-butyric acid and 5'-methylthioadenosine in the rat.

Adult rats may utilize two metabolites of methionine for the biosynthesis of this essential amino acid. In separate experiments methionine, labeled with 14C or with 35S was observed in plasma and urine following the administration of [2-14C]-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid or [35S]-5'-methylthioadenosine by stomach tube. Although alpha-amino-n-butyric acid (ABA) or homoserine, alone or with dietary sodium sulfate, choline, and/or S-methylcysteine, was not utilized for growth, weight loss in weanling rats was decreased by dietary cysteine when fed as an additive to a basal methionine-free, cysteine-free, labile methyl-free, sulfur-free diet. Following the addition of 10 mg ABA and 28 mg 5'-methylthioadenosine/day to the basal diet, growth response was equivalent to that occurring in rats receiving 27 mg of methionine/day with the basal diet. The implications of these findings for adaptation to protein restriction and a discussion of equilibrium and steady state conditions related to the increase in methionine content in the blood are presented.