PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

B Mawr

Publications and source records attributed to B Mawr.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Hand strength: normative values.

We studied normal hand strength and the difference between dominant and nondominant hands. Two hundred fourteen volunteers were tested with a calibrated Jamar dynamometer at all five levels. A pinch gauge was used to assess key and pulp pinch. Height, weight, sex, hand dominance, and hobby demands were predictive of maximum grip. Mean maximum grip for women was 81 lb. and for men was 137 lb. Key pinch averaged 22%, while pulp pinch averaged 16% of maximum grip. Only 129 (60%) patients had maximum strengths at level 2. The majority of right-handed subjects were 10% stronger in grip strength on the dominant side. In left-handed subjects, mean grip was the same for both hands; the nondominant hand was stronger in 50% of left-handed subjects.

Adolescent

Two-stage flexor-tendon reconstruction. Ten-year experience.

One hundred and fifty fingers in 136 patients were treated by a two-stage flexor-tendon reconstruction and followed for an average of 2.4 years. A salvage procedure such as this was needed for most of these fingers since 81 per cent of the injuries were in Zone 2 and 45 per cent were Grade 5 in severity. Before reconstruction, the mean total active motion (all joints combined) for each finger was 102 degrees and the mean grip strength was 20 per cent of normal. At final follow-up, the mean total active motion of these fingers was 176 degrees and the mean grip strength was 79 per cent of normal. Three months after tendon-grafting, the results had reached a plateau, and no significant change occurred thereafter. Complications were a flexion contracture of varying degree in 41 per cent of the fingers, especially when a contracture was present preoperatively (40 per cent); rupture of the tendon graft in 14 per cent; and infection in 4 per cent. This review reaffirmed the usefulness of two-stage flexor-tendon reconstruction as a salvage procedure to restore function of flexor tendons.

Adolescent

Dermatomyositis and malignancy. A review of the literature.

Although there appears to be an increased incidence of malignancy among patients with dermatomyositis, demonstration of definitive statistical significance is precluded by the lack of large, controlled series. Patients with the two diseases tend to be older than the general dermatomyositis population and younger than those with cancer alone; and there is a preponderance of female patients. Tumors of the ovary and stomach are more frequently observed than in the general population, while colorectal malignancies are underrepresented. Most reported cases show development of the diseases within a year of one another, and, in some patients, the course of the myopathy follows that of the tumor. No definitive cause for the myopathy in these patients has been established.

Adolescent