Growth tracks in pre-pubertal children.

The present investigation characterizes common growth tracks in pre-pubertal children. Growth tracks denominate areas of probability within which subsequent measurements of the body height (or body height SDS) of a healthy individual will predominantly be found. Growth tracks are defined over several years and they are insensitive to the timing of measurements. The concept of growth tracks was developed to improve separating aberrant patterns from normal growth. Longitudinal data on height were obtained from six large national growth studies, performed at Berkeley, USA, Jena, Germany, Lublin, Poland, Paris, France, Prague, Czech Republic and Zurich, Switzerland with a total of 515 healthy boys and 532 healthy girls. Four hundred and two series of annual height measurements were available in pre-pubertal boys (aged 3-11 years), 416 series in pre-pubertal girls (aged 3-10). Body height was converted into height SDS. Thereafter, average personal height SDS was determined, and subtracted from height SDS, resulting in individual series of residual height SDS. These were sorted by cluster analysis and distributed into groups (clusters) according to similarity or dissimilarity (squared difference). We identified similar clusters, and named them 'growth tracks'. We found five pre-pubertal male growth tracks, each containing between 4 and 37% of the boys. Twenty boys could not be assigned to either one of the five tracks. Very similar results were obtained in girls, with five pre-pubertal growth tracks also, each containing between 3 and 50%. Twenty-three individuals grew irregularly and could not be assigned. Growth tracks are narrow, with an average width between 12.1 and 14.8% of the SD of body height. Most children exhibited almost horizontal height SDS patterns. Others showed linearly declining, rising, or intersection -shaped patterns. None of the patterns were predominantly found in particularly short or tall children. Preliminary data support the practical advantages of the concept of growth tracks.

Historical note: Early history of the anthropometry of body composition.

A pioneering paper outlining an anthropometric approach to the study of body composition, written by the Czech anthropologist Jindrich Matiegka, was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 1921. For a long time we have searched for information about the history of the idea and of the paper itself. In recent years, we were able to identify relevant correspondence in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington.

Dr. T. Dale Stewart's travels.

Renowned forensic physical anthropologist Dr. T. Dale Stewart traveled extensively to countries all over the world. The reasons for his journeys were manifold. He did fieldwork, took part in congresses, visited scientific institutions, and lectured by invitation at various universities. This paper deals with his journeys in general and with his four visits to Czechoslovakia in particular. Three of them were undertaken in connection with scientific congresses dedicated to Dr. Ales Hrdlicka. Dr. Stewart, as Hrdlicka's successor in the Smithsonian Institution, always chose an appropriate topic for his lecture. His visits to Hrdlicka's native country and town contributed to better mutual understanding and exchange of ideas between physical anthropologists and anatomists from both countries, the USA and Czechoslovakia (the today separate Czech and Slovak Republics).

Trends in stature in the South Australian Aboriginal Murraylands.

Millennial and secular changes in body height of prehistoric and recent Aboriginal South Australians are investigated. Skeletal remains of 55 male and 40 female individuals who were excavated at Roonka on the River Murray were dated from 9800 to 100 years BP. Stature was reconstructed by using humerus, femur, and tibia ratios to stature derived from Abbie's (1975) data on living Aborigines and the Trotter-Gleser method for blacks. The respective averages were 1,652 mm and 1,665 mm for males and 1,527 mm and 1,549 mm for females. In 1996/1997, statures of 27 adult males and 21 adult females were measured in Aboriginal centers of Gerard and Raukkan (Point McLeay) on the Lower River Murray. These people, as far as it can be ascertained, are the descendants of the people from Roonka. Their statures were adjusted for the stature loss with age, so that the data represent young individuals (< or = 30 years of age). The average male stature was 1,712 mm, and the average female stature was 1,567 mm. Data collected by Wood Jones and Campbell in 1924 for Aboriginal South Australians show that young adult male stature was 1,668 mm (n=6), and female stature was 1,552 mm (n=4). Slopes of regressions of individual statures on radiocarbon dates and on dates of birth are not significantly different from zero. The same is true for regressions of individual long bone lengths on radiocarbon dates. It can be concluded that there was little change in stature of Aboriginal South Australians from prehistoric to recent times. Regressions of individual age-corrected heights on birth dates (1860-1980) of Aboriginal men and women measured in 1924 and in 1996 further indicate no significant increase in height in either sex.

Ossification of the sesamoid bone at the base of the first finger in Czech boys and girls.

Ossification of the sesamoid bone of the first finger was studied in left hand-and-wrist X-rays of 296 Czech boys and 272 girls 9 to 15 years old using data collected between 1962 and 1966. The logit and the YES or NO methods were used in treating the data. A sesamoid bone, clearly visible to the naked eye, was considered as positive and when it was not yet visible, as negative. The sesamoid bone was developed in 50 per cent of boys at the age of 13.6 years and in 50 per cent of girls at the age of 11.2 years. This stage preceded the age at onset of menarche in Czech girls by 1.9 years. Boys showed a greater variability (SD = 1.4) than girls (SD = 0.8). Both sexes with clearly visible (ossified) sesamoid bones in their first fingers showed to be, on the average, taller and heavier in comparison with the Czech standard and with those boys and girls of corresponding ages without the sesamoid bone. In contrast to the still continuing secular trend in stature in Czech youths, the age of menarche remained in the last cca 30 years unchanged. In view of the close link between bone age and onset of menarche which remained unchanged for the past 30 years, we may consider our finding as still applicable to present-day adolescents.

Vth nation-wide anthropological survey 1991 in the Czech Republic comparison with 1981 data.

The objective of the survey was to assess whether a secular trend still affected growth of the Czech child population and, if necessary, to update national growth standards. The study was designed in such a manner so that trends in child growth, obtained from comparisons of body height, body weight and head circumference from the two successive nation-wide representative surveys (1981, 1991) of the Czech child population, could be followed. Representative random samples of the Czech child population from 0 to 18 years of age were studied with the following number of examined subjects: 86,846 in 1991 and 117,643 in 1981. Nation-wide standards and growth charts for assessment of growth and development of both individuals and specific groups present main outcome of the survey. Statistically significant differences were found in body height (both sexes) and weight (more in boys). No highly significant differences were registered in head circumference. Based on newly assembled data growth charts for assessment of body height, proportionality and head circumference were designed. The findings of this study did not support the hypothesis that the secular trend in Czech child population has already ceased.

Adiposity in Czech children followed from 1 month of age to adulthood: analysis of individual BMI patterns.

In Czechoslovakia, overweight and nutrition-associated pathologies are frequent. The body mass index (BMI) is often used in the clinical assessment of adiposity in children and adults. Its variations during growth are well documented. A cohort of 300 newborns were selected at random in Prague between 1956 and 1960. Weight and height were collected in these subjects at the ages of 3, 6, 9, and 12 months and twice a year from 1 to 20 years. Charts of longitudinal variations of the BMI were drawn for males and females. The three expected phases of BMI development were observed: initial rise until 12 months, subsequent decrease, and second augmentation (the 'adiposity rebound', 'AR') between 4 and 8 years of age. The inverse relationship between age at AR and the BMI in adulthood was confirmed: in the leanest adults, AR had happened by age 7.6 years, in the heaviest adults, age at AR was around 5 years. Many lean (44%) and fat (58%) infants developed into average-size adults. The risk of becoming a heavy adult was increased in fat infants (31%) as opposed to non-fat (22%) ones. The relative risk of fat infants to become obese adults as compared to non-fat infants is 31/22 = 1.8. Individual growth curves of children with very high or very low adult BMI values illustrate the relationships between BMI at 12 months, age at AR and adult BMI. The Czech BMI distribution was higher than a comparable French one at all percentiles after age 7 years.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[The effect of heredity and environment on growth, body weight and physical proportions in children and adolescents]. / Ovlivnení rustu, hmotnosti a telesné proporcionality detí a mládeze dedicností a zivotním prostredím.

Thirty-seven characteristics of children examined during the IVth nation-wide anthropological survey in 1981 were evaluated in relation to variables to body weight, height and Rohrer's index. For processing consecutive regression analysis was used which makes it possible to list individual factors (independent variables) according to their ability to explain the variability of dependent variables. The most important signs explaining the variability of all three dependent variables assessed by this method were signs described as genetic (height and body weight of parents) and maturity, birth length and weight which can be conceived in the wider sense of the word also as genetic characteristics which can be influenced by the environment.

[Comparison of basic physical measurements in Czech and Slovak children and adolescents]. / Srovnání základních telesných rozmeru ceských a slovenských detí a mládeze.

The authors compared the Slovak and Czech part of the IVth nation-wide anthropological survey of children and youth from birth to the age of 18 years and evaluated the revealed differences in height, body weight, head and chest circumferences. The results confirm the assumed further approximation of growth values of the two child populations and the gradual equalization recorded in particular in the youngest age groups.

[Individual variation in growth in healthy children--long-term study]. / Individuální variace rustu zdravých detí--dlouhodobý výzkum.

A wide range of variously intermingled individual curves of 159 Prague boys and girls is the result of systematic investigations of children from birth to the age of 20 years. The original group of 300 children was created in 1956-1960. All children are healthy and their growth curves display the normal range of variability. In the turmoil of lines a certain order and several basic types of growth can be differentiated. The most striking feature is the wide range due to marginal cases of short or tall stature. The common sign of all curves is the pubertal growth wave which begins in some sooner, in others later. The authors selected groups of children who at the age of 18 years were tallest and shortest and who started the pubertal accelerated growth early or late. These four groups comprising six children each (three of each sex) were subjected to growth analysis and it was revealed that the extreme types of growth can be readily explained genetically and that they can be differentiated already at the age of 4 or even 2 years and that children who markedly differ from the average as regards height and longitudinal measurements have widths and circumferential measurements closer or close to average values. Early maturing children are, as compared with late maturing ones, taller and more developed at the age of 11-14 years, their growth stops, however, sooner and in the end late maturing children catch up with them and some are even taller.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Graphic aids for the evaluation of growth in children]. / Grafické pomucky pro hodnocení rustu detí.

New values of basic anthropological parameters of children and adolescents aged 0-18 years (nation-wide survey of 120,000 children and adolescents in the CSR in 1981) made it possible to design graphic aids for paediatric practice.

A probable case of euthanasia amongst prehistoric aborigines at Roonka, South Australia.

Amongst skeletons recovered from an archeological survey at Roonka on the lower Murray River in South Australia was that of a pregnant woman. The position of the full term foetus and evidence of head trauma to the woman suggests that a mercy killing took place following failure of childbirth. The study of this burial provides an insight into Aboriginal society which would not be available from other sources.

[Some factors influencing performance at school of Czech children (author's transl)]. / Einige Faktoren, die die Schulleistung tschechischer Kinder beeinflussen.

In the 1971 survey 29,682 boys and 30,464 girls in the Czech region of CSSR had been measured and investigated otherwise. The average of their school marks is taken as a measure of performance (success) at school. Interrelations between this value and the education resp. profession of the parents, number of inhabitants in their residence, number of siblings, laterality a. s. o. are analyzed. It seems, that children were as better successfull in the school, as better had been the education of their parents, and as fewer are their siblings. Concerning the quality of the school report, the activity of the mother is more important than the activity of the father.