The purpose of this study was to determine whether the accumulation of substantial levels of fluoride in the skeleton during bone formation would significantly reduce, or prevent, the occurrence of osteoporosis experimentally induced at a later time with a low mineral-containing diet. Male weanling rats were pretreated for 15 weeks with either 0 or 50 ppm F in their drinking water, followed by treatment for four to twelve weeks with diets either optimal or deficient in both Ca and P. Intake of the Ca and P deficient diet resulted in a progressive loss of bone mass (per unit volume of femur), with little effect on the remaining bone. High skeletal F offered no protective effect. Ca and P depletion caused a significant decrease in bone breaking strength but produced only slight reduction in percentage ash in bone. Fluoride offered little protection against either. Neither skeletal F nor dietary Ca and P levels influenced the concentration of Ca, P or Ca/P ratios in bone ash. Skeletal Mg levels were slightly lower in the Ca and P depleted rats; however, F treatment essentially eliminated this. Ca and P depletion resulted in higher F levels in both incisors and bone. We conclude that osteoporosis was produced by feeding the Ca and P deficient diet. High skeletal F did not prevent nor reduce the severity of this dietary-induced osteoporosis.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Epidemiological and genetic studies of myotonic dystrophy type 1 in Taiwan.

To investigate the prevalence and genetic characteristics of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) in Taiwan, DM-suspected patients and their families identified during the period of 1990-2001 had their clinical records reevaluated and the CTG repeat sizes at the DM1 locus examined. A total of 96 subjects belonging to 26 families were identified as DM1 patients, which gave a minimal disease prevalence of 0.46/100,000 inhabitants. Clinical anticipation was frequently observed in affected families, even in some parent-child pairs with transmission contraction of the CTG repeat size. The inverse correlation between age at onset and CTG repeat length was significant only in patients with small expansions. In addition, a DM1 carrier with a childhood-onset son was found to have CTG length heterogeneity in the range of 40-50, indicating that premutation alleles could be unstable during gametogenesis as well as in somatic tissues. Our data demonstrated that DM1 is a rare disease in Taiwan and showed that transmission contraction of repeat size is more likely to occur in alleles with large repeats.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Analysis of anthropometric growth trends and prevalence of abnormal body status in Tainan elementary-school children.

Objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence of over/underweight or obesity in Chinese children and investigate the trend of anthropometric change through the years. Cross-sectional measurements on randomly selected 6,373 Tainan elementary-school children were conducted in 1997. Anthropometric parameters such as height, weight, body mass index (BMI), triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), mid-arm circumference (MAC) and body-fat percentage (%FAT) were measured. Girls and boys had an average of 4.8 cm and 5.1 cm, or 3.7% and 3.9% increase in height, and 5.5 kg, 6.2 kg, or 19.9% and 22.2% increase in weight when compared to data of nationwide survey in 1986-88. If the height and weight were compared to the data of nationwide survey in 1993-1996, Tainan girls and boys would have similar height but have averaged 3.4% and 4.7% heavier weight. Mean BMI reached 19.4 kg/m2 for girls and 19.6 kg/m2 for boys of age 12 to 13. Mean %FAT of girls was 24.3% and of boys was 23.7%. When using weight-for-length index (WLI) larger than 1.2, mean weight exceeding 120% of age-and-sex specific mean weight, %FAT exceeding 30% to evaluate prevalence of obesity, results would be 42.1%, 17% and 22.0% respectively. In conclusion, both sexes had faster growth in weight than in height in recent 10 years. Boys had significantly higher weight, WLI, BMI, MAC than girls, while girls had significantly higher TSF and %FAT than boys. Prevalence of obesity is highly method-dependent. Appropriate index and cutoff values need to be developed.

Body Height↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Fluoride levels in human rib bone: a preliminary study.

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Adult↗