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Biomedical subjects

E Heikkinen

Publications and source records attributed to E Heikkinen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Determinants of isometric muscle strength in men of different ages.

Values of maximal isometric strength of five muscle groups and associated factors including occupational status, life style and health were studied in three groups of men aged from 31 to 35, 51 to 55, and 71 to 75 years. The results indicated significant differences between the age groups in isometric handgrip, elbow flexion, knee extension, trunk extension and trunk flexion strength. In the youngest group, the manual workers tended to have higher strength values in all muscle groups than the lower and higher status white collar workers, whereas among the middle-aged and oldest men the manual workers tended to have the poorest performance. Good self-rated health and the intensity of physical exercise during leisure were positively associated with muscle strength in the youngest and middle-aged groups whereas in the oldest group the most important variable was home gymnastics. The multivariate structural equation models of isometric strength differed somewhat among the age groups and in these models the above-mentioned variables accounted for from 33% to 43% of the variance in isometric strength within the age groups. The results illustrated the most important factors associated with isometric strength in samples of men of different ages and also provided suggestions as to how these determinants might influence comparisons between different age groups in respect of muscle strength.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Muscle strength according to level of physical exercise and educational background in middle-aged women in Finland.

The aim of this study was to examine the role of socio-economic status and the practice of physical exercise in explaining variation in muscle strength in 50 to 60-year-old women. Consequently, four study groups combining education and physical activity were formed: (1) university education, physically active; (2) university education, sedentary; (3) vocational or lower level of education, physically active; (4) vocational or lower level of education, sedentary. Maximal isometric strength of hand grip, arm flexion, body flexion and extension as well as dynamic power of the abdominal muscles were measured in 112 women. The results of the maximal isometric strength measurements were standardised by body mass index. The means of the maximal isometric strength results and sit-up tests were compared between the groups using two-way analysis of variance. The physically active women performed better than the sedentary in both the isometric and dynamic tests. Greater muscle strength was also found among the more highly educated compared with the less educated. The less educated sedentary women showed the poorest performance in the strength tests.

Body Height↗
PubMed1992

Use of drugs by non-institutionalized urban Finns born in 1904-1923 and the association of drug use with mood and self-rated health.

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of drugs by elderly people and to investigate its associations with various other factors. Random sampling was used to select 800 interviewees born in 1904-13 and a further 800 born in 1914-23. The average number of prescribed drugs per person was 2.2. Women used a greater number of prescribed drugs than did men; and this difference increased with age. The use of vitamins and trace elements seemed to decline with increasing age. Among women a significant association between the use of prescribed drugs and depressive symptoms was found. Women in the older age group used prescribed drugs more often than women in the younger age group. One fifth of the subjects had a greater number of drugs in simultaneous use than is generally recommended. It seems that, especially among elderly women, depression often remains undiagnosed and treatments are chiefly provided for the associated symptoms.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Imipenem-cilastatin vs. tobramycin and metronidazole for appendicitis-related infections.

The efficacy of imipenem-cilastatin was compared with that of tobramycin and metronidazole for the treatment of appendicitis-associated abdominal infections in children in an open, randomized trial. Two hundred eighteen patients between 2.5 and 16.8 years of age hospitalized for appendectomy because of suspected acute appendicitis were allocated to 5 treatment groups. The appendix was perforated in 54 (33.8%) of the 160 cases with appendicitis. All patients responded favorably to treatment. Infection in the wound occurred in 15 of 125 (12.0%) of those without preoperative antibiotic therapy and in 5 of 83 (6.0%) of those given imipenem preoperatively (P = 0.12; 95% confidence interval, -2.2 to 14.2%). C-reactive protein decreased significantly faster in those with perforated appendix treated with imipenem than in those treated with tobramycin and metronidazole (58.2 mg/liter vs. 89.4 mg/liter, P less than 0.05 on the third postoperative day). Imipenem-cilastatin was at least as effective and economically comparable as tobramycin and metronidazole for the treatment of appendicitis-associated infections in children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Genetic basis of reduced eyes in the hybrids of Drosophila virilis phylad species.

Structural anomalies were detected in F1 and backcross hybrids of Drosophila virilis and three of its sibling species Drosophila novamexicana, Drosophila americana texana and Drosophila americana americana. Similar but not identical anomalies have been described in D. virilis x D. lummei hybrids. F1 (D. virilis x D. novamexicana) hybrids had only slight disorders in the abdominal cuticula, but 5.3% of the first backcross generation hybrids had reduced eyes. Eye defects in the second generation were due to interaction of the heterozygous fourth chromosome of D. novamexicana with the homozygous D. virilis chromosomes 2 and 3. Reciprocal F1 hybrids between D. virilis and D. a. americana and between D. virilis and D. a. texana had normal eyes, but in the second hybrid generation 4.9% of D. virilis x D. a. americana and 1.6% of D. virilis x D. a. texana hybrids had anomalous eyes. In D. virilis x D. a. texana hybrids, the heterozygous fourth chromosome of D. a. texana was incompatible with homozygous D. virilis chromosomes 2 and 3. Of the D. virilis x D. a. americana hybrids homozygous for D. virilis chromosomes 2 and 3, 10.2% had the eye defect. The incompatibility system of non-conspecific chromosomes causing the eye anomalies in the hybrids of these three species pairs was different from those in D. virilis x D. lummei hybrids and has evolved independently after the diverging of the American lineage from D. lummei.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Bone mineral density and physical activity in 50-60-year-old women.

The bone mineral density (BMD) of the calcaneus was measured utilizing a single energy photon absorption method in 108 women, aged 50-60 years. The women who participated in vigorous exercise two or more times a week or whose total physical activity amounted to 4 h a week had significantly higher BMD values than those who exercised less than two times a week or did less than 4 h physical activity a week. The physically active women also showed higher values for leg extension force and maximal oxygen uptake. BMD and leg extension force were positively correlated, whereas correlations between BMD and body mass, and the width of the calcaneus were negative. When other life-style variables were taken into account, such as smoking and drinking, a significant difference in BMD was found between physically active and sedentary women, but not between the smokers and non-smokers, or the drinkers and non-drinkers.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed1991

Wrinkling of the eye in hybrids between Drosophila virilis and Drosophila lummei is caused by interaction of maternal and zygotic genes.

Hybrids of Drosophila virilis females and Drosophila lummei males have visible developmental anomalies in external adult structures. Reciprocal hybrids are normal, and the anomalies are not found in other interspecific F1 hybrids of the virilis subgroup. Antibiotic treatments with ampicillin, streptomycin and tetracycline did not cure the syndrome. The genetic basis of the wrinkling of the compound eye was analysed in detail. Both male and female F1 progeny of D. virilis mothers were affected, indicating that wrinkling of eyes is maternally determined. F1 hybrid females produced healthy progeny. Backcross hybrid females (D. virilis x F1) with 16 different combinations of autosomes, either heterozygous or homozygous for D. virilis, were crossed with D. lummei males. It was found that homozygous D. virilis chromosomes 2 and 5 together were necessary to induce the maternal effect. The hybrid zygote responded to the maternal effect when the chromosomes 2, 4 and/or 5 were heterozygous. Elimination of the small sixth (dot) chromosome of D. lummei from the hybrids was correlated with the wrinkling of eyes, but was not the cause, as the two phenomena had a different genetic basis and temperature response. Furthermore, the eyes were wrinkled in flies which presumably had had no D. lummei dot chromosome to lose.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Sterility of male and female hybrids of Drosophila virilis and Drosophila lummei.

The sterility of interspecific hybrids between the sibling species Drosophila virilis and D. lummei was tested in reciprocal F1s and different second generation combinations of cytoplasm, sex chromosomes and autosomes. Males with motile sperm and females with at least one mature egg were scored as fertile. When D. virilis was the mother, about 5 per cent of the F1 male progeny was sterile, the reason being that the X of D. virilis was weakly incompatible with the heterozygous second, fourth and fifth chromosomes. The F1 males carrying the X chromosome of D. lummei were all fertile. The X chromosome of D. lummei, and in particular its species-specific double inversion In(1)a + b, nevertheless caused sterility in 70 per cent of males in the presence of homozygous autosomes of D. virilis. Sterility was rare among the females, although some weakly disadvantageous X versus autosome and autosome versus autosome interactions were detected. The male and female hybrid sterilities were based on different genetic systems. The results emphasize the central role of the X chromosome in hybrid male sterility.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Functions and complications of shunts in different etiologies of childhood hydrocephalus.

Shunt function and complications in different etiologies of childhood hydrocephalus were studied in a series of 306 patients involving 1102 shunt operations. Shunts in patients with hydrocephalus caused by neoplasms proved to be most prone to shunt complications. The patency time for shunts in these patients was significantly shorter than for shunts in other patient categories [Standard number of deviations (SND) 5.9; P less than 0.001, Meyer-Kaplan life table analysis]. When the two main groups of infantile hydrocephalus-congenital obstructive hydrocephalus and hydrocephalus caused by perinatal intracerebral hemorrhage-were compared, the latter group proved to be significantly more prone to shunt infections (P less than 0.01), with an infection rate of 17.8% compared with 8.9% for the former group. The importance of this fact is stressed by the observation that these patients appear to constitute an increasing percentage of hydrocephalic patients. According to the present study, patients with congenital intracranial cysts and hydrocephalus are less prone to shunt complications, i.e., the infection rate is 6.8%, which is significantly less than that of patients with other types of hydrocephalus (P less than 0.01; chi-square test).

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1990

Viability of first and second generation hybrids of Drosophila virilis and Drosophila lummei.

F1 hybrids of D. virilis and D. lummei survived significantly worse than the parents. When D. virilis was the mother, larger proportion of hybrids failed to emerge from pupal case, but overall survival rate of reciprocals was about the same. Viability of different heterospecific combinations of sex chromosomes and autosomes was studied in backcrosses. All the sex chromosomes survived well on the background of all-heterozygous autosomes. Hemizygous X was reciprocally subvital with homozygous alien autosomes. The reduced viability was male sex limited. The X-linked factor causing this effect was localized in the area of the large, phylogenetically ancient double inversion In(1)a+b. All four large autosomes were heterotic in backcross hybrids, more strongly in females. Five out of six possible first degree interactions between the autosomes were negative, indicating incompatibility between heterospecific autosomes. This effect was stronger in females. The genetic basis for hybrid subvitality is sex-specific.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Venous drainage of the femoral neck in various stages of activity in Perthes' disease.

The venous drainage of the femoral neck in 73 children with Perthes' disease was analyzed from intraosseous venography films. 55 contralater symptomless hips were used as controls. In active stages of Perthes' disease, i.e. initial and fragmentation stage, the venous drainage was pathological in 46/55 hips (82%). In the restitution stage the finding was pathological in 7/18 (39%) and in healed Perthes' the venous drainage was normal in all six cases. Two out of the 55 symptomless hips showed pathological venous drainage. The disturbances in the venous drainage of the femoral neck seem to correlate with the stage of activity of Perthes' disease. Along with clinical and radiological signs of restitution the venous drainage seems to return to normal.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

General lymphangiomatosis in a child.

The lymphographic findings in a 4 year old girl with general lymphangiomatosis are presented. The number of iliac and lumbar lymphatics had increased markedly and the lymph nodes were enlarged with very loose structure and with contrast medium distributed in scattered droplets and filiform channels.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1978

Physical and chemical properties of skin in habitually trained and sedentary men.

A number of physical and chemical properties of skin were examined in a study of 29 habitually trained and 29 sedentary men. Compared to the control group, the trained subjects had significantly higher values in the weights of skin samples of equal surface areas as well as the contents of hydroxyproline and nitrogen per skin surface area. When measured by a diaphragm method in vivo, the 'elastic stiffness' (uncorrected for thickness) and 'elastic efficiency' (the recovery of the deformation energy) of skin were significantly higher in the trained men compared to those in the untrained men. The results suggest that skin reflects the adaptation to habitual endurance training by increasing its mass and strengthening its structure. The study did not, however, reveal any differences between physically active and sedentary men in changes due to biological ageing.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Physical training and connective tissues in young mice: biochemistry of long bones.

The effect of physical training on collagen, ground substance, and nucleic acid concentrations in long bones was studied in male mice of NMRI strain. The mice to be trained and their controls were about 2 wk old at the beginning of training, which took place on a 5 degrees inclined treadmill 5 days/wk for 3-22 wk. The duration of daily exercise was increased progressively over 3 wk. The final daily exercise bouts were 50 and 80 min for moderate programs and 180 min for the intensive program at a speed of 30 cm/s. Increased concentrations of nitrogen and hexosamines were found at both training intensities, especially after prolonged training. No conclusive changes in nucleic acid concentrations were observed after training. The hexosamine-hydroxyproline ratio was higher and the hydroxyproline-nitrogen ratio lower in the long bones of trained animals compared to the controls. In conclusion these data suggest that prolonged physical activity affects the organic matrix of long bones by maintaining above average concentrations of glycosaminoglycans in matured bones.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Effects of 8 weeks' endurance training on skeletal muscle metabolism in 56-70-year-old sedentary men.

The effects of 8 weeks' endurance training on muscle metabolism at rest and after a submaximal bicycle ergometer exercise were studied in 31 previously sedentary men, aged 56-70. Training consisted of 3-5 one hour exercise bouts per week including walking-jogging, swimming, gymnastics and ball games. The effects of training were similar to those previously reported for younger men. Mean maximal oxygen uptake increased (11%), as did the resting values for muscle glycogen concentration, the enzymes representing aerobic energy metabolism (malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase), and also some of the anaerobic enzymes (creatine phosphokinase, lactate dehydrogenase). Lactate production during submaximal work decreased. The enzyme activities were lower following acute exercise both before and after training.

Aged↗