Skeletal and body-composition effects of anorexia nervosa

Eleven female patients (aged 18-46 y) with anorexia nervosa were measured by use of dual-photon absorptiometry for 1) bone mineral content (BMC, in g) and bone mineral density (BMD, in g/cm2) of the total skeleton and its regions, 2) BMD of the lumbar spine and the proximal femur, and 3) total body soft-tissue composition. The patients weighed 44.4 kg, approximately 15 kg less than normal peers (n = 22). The fat mass (3.35 kg) and content of soft tissue (7.8%) were four and three times lower (p less than 0.001) respectively, than those in normal women (15.1 kg and 26%, respectively). The total skeleton mineral (1921 g) was approximately 25% less than that of young normal women. The BMC as a fraction of the lean tissue mass was approximately 4.9% in the patients and 5.9% in normal women. Total body and femoral BMD averaged only 10% and 13% lower than those of normal women, respectively; however, spinal BMD was particularly reduced (approximately 25%, p less than 0.001).

Abnormal auditory evoked potentials in early infancy malnutrition

Computer-averaged auditory evoked potentials were found to be abnormal in infants hospitalized because of severe malnutrition (marasmus). They improved as the infants' somatic growth improved during the course of treatment, but were still deviant at the time of discharge from the hospital and at subsequent outpatient follow-up. Abnormalities in evoked potentials may reflect a long-lasting effect of malnutrition on brain function.

Auditory evoked potential development in early childhood: a longitudinal study

Serial recordings of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to clicks were obtained using a vertex-mastoid derivation from 16 normal children during sleep over an age span from near birth to age 3. The AEP components studied were: N0 (38 +/- 10 msec), P1 (79 +/- 24 msec), N1 (109 +/- 39 msec), P2 (186 +/- 35 msec), N2 (409 +/- 97 msec), P3A (554 +/- 116 msec), P3B (757 +/- 121 msec) and P3 (728 +/- 128 msec). Amplitudes and latencies of the components were calculated and regressions of the measures on age were computed for the group as a whole, for each subject and for subsets of the data based on sleep stage, sex, order of stimulus presentation and a rearing/race factor. For the group as a whole the latencies of P1, P2, P3, and P3B decreased with age. The amplitudes of P1N1 and the N2P3 waves increased with age. Most change occurred during the first year of life. In general, the changes with age were also found to hold across all of the factors examined, although individuals varied widely in the degree to which they conformed to the trends found for the data as a whole. The amount contributed by each of the factors mentioned above to the total variance was estimated. The proportions varied for different EP components but, in general, age, sleep state, and subject factors other than rearing/race and sex accounted for most variance. One half to 5/6 of the unexplained variance in AEP latencies and amplitudes (i.e., that not due to age, sleep state, etc.) occurred across rather than within subjects. For both the group as a whole and for individual children, P2 and N2 latencies were found to exhibit the greatest stability across time. The results of the longitudinal study reported here were in good agreement with those of a previous study from this laboratory which utilized a cross-sectional design.