Evolutionary pathway of child development : Lifestyles of adolescents and adults from father-absent families.

An evolutionary theory of socialization suggests that children from father-absent families will mature earlier, and form less-stable pair bonds, compared with those from father-present families. Using a sample of about 1,000 persons the recent study focuses on elements of father-absent children's behavior that could be better explained by a Darwinian approach than by rival social science theories. As a result of their enhanced interest in male competition, father-absent boys were found to engage in rule-breaking behavior more intensively than father-present boys. Compared with father-present children, adolescents from widowed households (both boys and girls) showed a higher intensity of various kinds of noncompliant behavior, which can be linked to their earlier maturation. School attendance, age at marriage, and marital success proved to be influenced by the children's early family experiences, governed by adapted evolutionary strategies. Father-absent daughters conceived more children than those whose fathers were present during their childhood. As evolutionary theory predicts, reproductive behavior of individuals from divorced households differed from that of individuals who grew up in widowed households. Finally, the strong correlation found between spontaneous abortion/stillbirths and family arrangement indicates that father absence has certain direct impacts on the neurohormonal processes of child development.

[Use of xeroradiography in cervical pneumomyelography]. / Anwendung der Xeroradiographie bei zervikaler Pneumomyelographie.

For diagnosing lesions of cervical intervertebral disks, pneumomyelography is carried out in addition to diskography in cases with an indication for surgery. The application of xeroradiography in pneumomyelography is discussed for the first time. In contrast to the conventional X-ray film technique, xeroradiograms yield shraper contours at the gas/tissue interface.

Experiences with L-deprenyl in Parkinsonism.

In about 2/3 of the cases studied (152 patients), the combination of deprenyl and the substitution-therapy has a favourable effect as it tends to normalize motor activity. Although the administering of deprenyl renders neither L-Dopa nor the decarboxylase inhibitor superfluous, their side effects can be slightly reduced as their dose is reduced. Therefore it is advised to give all patients a trial with this drug.

[Xeroradiography in the radiological diagnosis of the extremities and soft tissues (author's transl)]. / Xeroradiographie in der Röntgendiagnostik von Extremitätenweichteilen.

The authors carried out comparative examinations on 30 patients in order to determine whether xeroradiography had any advantages over film techniques in the examination of the soft tissues of the extremities. The xerograms show fatty degeneration of muscle fibres margins of individual muscles, calcification, oedema and so on, more clearly and are therefore of more value in diagnosis. The saving in time, using xerograms, is significant and conventional photo-copies can be obtained without logetronics.