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Biomedical subjects

R B Reed

Publications and source records attributed to R B Reed.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Delayed menarche and amenorrhea of college athletes in relation to age of onset of training.

Age at menarche and menstrual periodicity of 21 college swimmers and 17 runners were studied in relation to the age of initiating training. The 18 premenarche-trained athletes had a mean menarcheal age of 15.1 +/- 0.5 years, whereas the 20 postmenarche-trained athletes had a mean menarcheal age of 12.8 +/- 0.2 years, similar to that of the college control subjects, 12.7 +/- 0.4 years. Each year of training before menarche delayed menarche by five months (0.4 years). Of the premenarche-trained athletes, 61% had irregular menstrual cycles and 22% were amenorrheic, whereas 60% of the postmenarche-trained athletes had regular menstrual cycles and none were amenorrheic. Training increased the incidence of oligomenorrhea and amenorrhea among both premenarche- and postmenarche-trained athletes. Metabolic and hormonal changes consequent to an increased lean/fat ratio may explain these findings.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1981

Nutritional supplementation, maternal education, and cognitive development of infants at risk of malnutrition.

Infants born to families at risk of malnutrition were studied prospectively from the beginning of the 3rd trimester of the mother's pregnancy until the child reached 3 yr of age to ascertain the effects of nutritional supplementation and/or a maternal education program on their cognitive development. Four hundred thirty-three families were assigned randomly to six groups: group A served as a control; group B received the supplement from the age of 6 months to 3 yr; group C received the supplement during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and the first 6 months of the child's life; and group D received the supplement throughout the entire study period. In addition, group A1 was enrolled in a maternal education program but received no nutritional supplement and group B1 received both treatments. The Griffiths test of infant development was administered at 4, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age, and the Corman-Escalona Einstein scale was administered at each age up to 18 months. Children who received food supplementation performed better than those who did not, especially on subtests that were primarily motoric. The effect of food supplementation on behavior appeared to be contemporaneous. In addition, the treatment effects were more pronounced for girls than for boys in this sample. Although these interventions reduced the gap in cognitive performance between lower and upper socioeconomic classes, a disparity nevertheless remained by the end of the study.

Child Development↗
PubMed1981

Social development and feeding milestones of young Down syndrome children.

During an interdisciplinary longitudinal study, the social development and mastery of feeding skills of 89 young Down syndrome children were investigated. Sex, cardiac status, and muscle tone of subjects and parental follow-through data were examined for potential influence on Vineland Social Maturity Scale scores and on a selected subset of feeding milestones. The revealed that young Down syndrome children attained significantly higher scores on the Vineland and achieved most feeding milestones much earlier if they had no or only mild congenital heart disease, if their parents followed-through appropriately with furnished guidance, and if they had "good" muscle tone.

5-Hydroxytryptophan↗
PubMed1980

5-hydroxytryptophan and pyridoxine. Their effects in young children with Down's syndrome.

In a double-blind study, 89 children with Down's syndrome were given 5-hydroxytryptophan or pyridoxine hydrochloride in the first three years of life. The analysis of 5-hydroxyindole blood levels revealed that 5-hydroxytryptophan, pyridoxine, and the combination of 5-hydroxytryptophan and pyridoxine raised blood levels of 5-hydroxyindole equally well in 40% of the children. The assessment of muscle-tone ratings showed no significant difference among the study groups once children with moderate and severe congenital heart disease were excluded. Detailed studies of cognitive-adaptive function of children in the various groups found a significant difference ont the Vineland Social Maturity Scale at ages 6, 12, 18, and 36 months; yet the source of significance was a negative interaction affecting children whose parents were able to comply with furnished guidance; these children showed consistently higher levels of accomplishment.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1980

Air pollution and human health: a review and reanalysis.

Since 1970, Lave and Seskin have published a series of articles dealing with the question, "Does air pollution shorten lives?" Their recent book reports revised and extended analyses of their previous studies emphasizing policy implications. We have undertaken a review of Lave and Seskin's book to evaluate the methodology used and hence gain some insight into the strength of the conclusions reached. This review concentrates on methodology and its application to establishing and quantifying the association between air quality and health. Beyond simply reviewing the analyses reported in Lave and Seskin's book, we have duplicated and expanded two of the reported analyses. Our detailed reanalysis is presented both to verify reported results, and to illustrate the difficulties encountered in such an analysis. Our overall conclusion is that Lave and Seskin have done a thorouth job of reporting and interpreting the various analyses that they performed. Lave and Seskin have made a pioneering effort in showing an association between mortality rates and air pollution. We do not disagree with the conclusion of the existence of an association but have some reservations about their methods of estimating its magnitude. We were particularly concerned that Lave and Seskin did not fully investigate how well their models fit these data. Our reanalysis results in estimated effects which differ considerably from the values reported by Lave and Seskin. Thus, we conclude that the regression coefficients are quite unstable and so must be used with care. Assessing the relative costs and benefits of reducing air pollution without extensive sensitivity analysis could, therefore, be misleading.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1980

Size, obesity, and leanness in vegetarian preschool children.

Alterations in a series of anthropometric measurements taken on 142 vegetarian preschool children adhering to macrobiotic or other vegetarian regimens were studied. Length, subscapular skinfolds, and arm-muscle cirumferences differed from expectations. Dietary group and age, but not sex, were associated with these variations. Measurements were more likely to be depressed among children on a macrobiotic diet. Differences were significant among children twelve to thirty-five months of age for length and subscapular skinfolds and among children thirty-six months or older for arm circumference and subscapular skinfolds. Fewer vegetarian children were obese, and more were lean, than would be expected from norms.

Aging↗
PubMed1979

Physical growth: National Center for Health Statistics percentiles.

Anthropometry is an effective and frequently performed child health and nutrition screening procedure. The value of physical growth data depends on their accuracy and reliability, how they are recorded and interpreted, and what follow-up efforts are made after identification of growth abnormality. The new National Center for Health Statistics percentiles can be used to improve identification of potential health and nutritional problems and to facilitate the epidemological comparison of one group of children with others.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Associations in emergence age among permenent teeth.

Associations in the timing of emergence among the permanent teeth of Boston children were obtained from a mixed longitudinal growth study of 414 Caucasian twin pairs examined annually. Correlations were estimated by the method of maximum likelihood for corresponding left-right teeth, upper-lower teeth, and all paired combinations from central incisor to second molar in a jaw quadrant of each sex. Strong positive correlations in emergence timing prevailed throughout the dentition. Principal component analyses on correlation matrices of jaw quadrant relations for boys and girls in the maxilla and mandible showed that three components effectively explained the emergence associations among the seven permanent teeth in each jaw quadrant. Factor analytic techniques further illustrated the nature of the three components and showed the emergence relations to be essentially the same in the maxilla and mandible for both sexes. The first component was a general maturation factor influencing all of an individual's teeth to be simultaneously early or late in emerging. The remaining two components were a molar factor, affecting almost exclusively the emergence timing of the permanent first and second molars, and a duration factor that affected the duration of the emergence process for non-molar teeth, contrasting particularly the incisors and premolars.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Preschoolers on alternate life-style diets. Associations between size and dietary indexes with diets limited in types of animal foods.

One hundred nineteen vegetarian preschool children whose parents volunteered were studied in their homes. Length, weight, triceps and subscapular skinfolds, and head circumference were measured. Information on extensiveness of avoidances of animal food groups, parental dietary group, birth weight, parental heights, and the child's status with respect to breast feeding at the time of measurement was obtained by parental report. All infants under six months old were breast fed. More of the children's measurements were below the Harvard 50th percentiles for length and weight than would have been expected after six months of age, but not until then. Vegetarian children were also leaner (triceps and subscapular skinfolds) after six months of age than would be expected from Tanner-Whitehouse standards. Head circumferences were similar to standards and within normal limits at all ages. An association between smallness, lightness, and leanness was found among the vegetarians, with these characteristics being more pronounced among the older, non-breast fed, macrobiotic children on diets with limited variety in terms of animal food. While smallness and low weight-for-length were associated with leanness, largeness and high weight-for-length did not imply obesity in these subjects.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1977

Environmental correlates of pediatric social illness: preventive implications of an advocacy approach.

A control prospective study of child abuse and neglect, failure to thrive, accidents and poisonings included 303 inpatients and 257 outpatients. Analysis of maternal interview clinical data demonstrated significant differences between cases and controls in summative indices of environmental stress, including housing, employment, and access to essential services. The associations with a postulated common causal underpinning of these illnesses argue for a broadened, ecologic conceptualization of etiology and a wider range of preventive approaches. A family advocacy program addressing the stress issues and utilizing community based individual was offered to families with pediatric social illness and to a comparison group. Indirect corroboration of the impact of environmental crisis is idicated by the prevalence of requests for this help in impatient cases of abuse (38 per cent) and ingestions (38 per cent) vs. controls (14 per cent). Discrimunant function regression analysis of data from the meternal interview demonstrates similarity between the attributes which most saliently describe the abuse group and those which decribe the users of advocacy.

Boston↗
PubMed1977

Velocities of growth in vegetarian preschool children.

The growth velocities (weight and length) of vegetarian preschool children were compared to norms established from the Harvard growth study. At first measurement vegetarian subjects weighed less and were shorter than expected from Harvard standards. Growth velocities of children under 2 years of age were depressed, while among those over the age of 2 growth velocities were generally comparable to Harvard norms. Vegetarian boys over age 2 exhibited a higher mean weight velocity. Macrobiotics' mean weight and length velocities were not significantly different from those of nonmacrobiotics before age 2. However, the mean weight velocity of macrobiotics over age 2 was significantly greater than the mean weight velocity of nonmacrobiotics over 2 years. Low growth velocities of vegetarian children are more apparent in infants under the age of 2. When breast-feeding, possibly inadequate supplemental feeding may be present past 6 months of age. Since it is then that the velocities are more likely to be depressed, this may be the most appropriate time for surveillance and possible intervention.

Birth Weight↗