TOOTH RING ANALYSIS IN MINIMAL BRAIN DYSFUNCTION

Poor growth prior to early childhood: decreased health and life-span in the adult

Previous studies in animal populations have shown that stunted neural and thymolymphatic growth early in development may result in permanently impaired neural and immune function, decreased body growth, vertebral wedging, and decreased life-span. In the human adult, small vertebral neural canal (VNC) diameters may reflect early stunted neural and immune development and impaired function that leads to decreased health (inferred by greater vertebral wedging) and life-span in the adult. VNC, which complete their growth by early childhood (age 4), are markers of early development in adults. On the other hand, features following general body growth, such as height, weight (represented here by vertebral body height) continues to grow until young adulthood. They are less reliable, because they readily experience catch-up growth (even in chronically stressed populations) and, unlike VNC, may mask poor early growth. To test associations between early growth and adult health and life-span in humans, we measured 2,060 VNC, vertebral heights, vertebral wedging, nerve-root tunnel lengths, severity of vertebral osteophytosis, and ages at death in 90 adult (aged 15-55 years) prehistoric skeletons (950-1300 A.D.). Tibial lengths were also measured in a subsample (n = 30). Multivariate, bivariate, and nonparametric analyses showed that small VNC are significantly associated with greater vertebral wedging and decreased life-span (P less than 0.05-0.00001). VNC are independent of vertebral body heights and tibial lengths (general body growth). VNC, but not statural components, are useful in predicting adult health, presumably because they reflect neural and immune development and do not readily experience catch-up growth. Thus, longitudinal retrospective measures of early growth and adult health were systematically linked within individuals regardless of confounding factors operating over the 350-year time period. Since this research was completed, this model has repeatedly been independently confirmed in four living urban industrial populations. Longitudinal retrospective analysis was employed together with direct measures of VNC, neural and immune function. Together these results suggested that it may be essential to improve growth prior to early childhood in order to maximize adult health and life-span.

Maternal diabetes and changes in the hard tissues of primary teeth. III. A histologic and microradiographic study

According to clinical studies, infants of diabetic mothers (IDM) seem to run a higher risk of mineralization disturbances in the enamel than normal healthy infants. In order to evaluate this observation at the histologic level, exfoliated primary incisors were collected from 74 IDM, representing two types of care during gestation and the perinatal period, and from 52 healthy children. The width of the neonatal line was evaluated in the enamel and the dentin by study of bucco-lingual undemineralized sections. Pre- and postnatal enamel was classified according to discolorations, deviations of prisms and hypoplasia. Microradiographic studies included measurements of the neonatal lines and classification of the degree of mineralization in the pre- and postnatal dental hard tissues. Irrespective of treatment, the IDM showed a significantly higher incidence of widened neonatal lines and also an increased frequency of postnatal disturbances compared to the controls. The observations are discussed against the background of the neonatal hypocalcemia reported in IDM.