Arthritic patients who regularly do aerobic exercise make significant gains in aerobic and functional status, and in subjective areas like pain tolerance and mood. Still, they are often advised to curtail physical activity. Guidelines are presented for physicians prescribing aerobic exercise. An exercise tolerance test is recommended. (SM)

Autopsy analysis of eight dyslexic brains found that the ordinary asymmetry in a language-relevant area of the temporal lobe was missing. The greater development of the right side may reflect an increase in the total number of neurons involved in language processing, resulting in changes in interhemispheric interactions. (JDD)

No differences were observed between six adults and six six-year-olds in measures of frequency selectivity and comodulation masking release. Children were less able to detect signals in noise backgrounds where the signal had perceptual qualities similar to the noise or in noise backgrounds having high degrees of fluctuation. (Author/JDD)

Averaged cortically evoked potentials to frequency-modulated tones were obtained from 12 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 12 controls. Responses from SLI children were not significantly different from those of normal language learners, indicating no difference between groups with respect to neural systems involved with…

One experiment determined that the minimum angle at which infants can discriminate 2 sound presentations decreases substantially toward 48 weeks of age. In 3 succeeding experiments, infants aged 16, 20, and 28 weeks were able to discriminate sounds presented to each ear between 50 and 75 microseconds apart. (BC)

Thirty-eight healthy females measured maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) on the cycle ergometer and treadmill to compare five exercise tests (run, walk, step, and two tests using heart-rate response on the bicycle ergometer) in predicting VO2max. Results indicate that walk and run tests are satisfactory predictors of VO2max in 30- to 39-year-old…

A theory of the physiology of motivation is presented. The basic assumption is that the amount of motivated behavior is a direct function of the amount of activity in certain excitatory centers of the hypothalamus. Activities of these centers are determined by factors in four general classes. (SLD)

Study determined whether three proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation flexibility maneuvers (to increase hamstring length) were as effective in 31 older females as in younger subjects. Cryotherapy intervention was also employed. Results indicated contract-relax and slow-reversal-hold-relax procedures were superior to static stretching;…

Sensitivity and specificity of static acoustic admittance (SAA) and tympanometric width (TW) were assessed for 116 pediatric patients. A statistically significant change in SAA was observed in immediate repeat measures. No significant change across the two sequential measures was observed for TW, peak pressure, or the estimate of ear canal volume.…

Presents exercise guidelines for elderly individuals, noting that people of all ages receive physical and emotional benefits from appropriate exercise programs. These programs must be carefully evaluated for each individual's physical limitations; type of exercise, as well as its frequency, duration, and intensity, must be considered. (SM)

Eleven male triathletes were studied to determine the relationships between selected metabolic measurements and triathalon performance. Oxygen uptake, pulmonary ventilation, and heart rate were measured during freestyle swimming, cycling, and treadmill running. Economy of effort was an important determinant of performance. (JD)

Eight young adult males with Down syndrome received a 16-week rowing ergometry training regimen. Following training, no changes in cardiovascular fitness were found but participants did achieve significantly higher levels of work performance on both treadmill and rowing ergometer tests than did a control group. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

In Sweden, winter survival is taught to children from age 3 upwards. Bollerup College students learn extreme survival and then teach the skills to children. Two students from Duchy College (Cornwall, England) and their professor describe a week they spent at Bollerup College learning winter survival skills and the effects of winter conditions on…

Suggests that poor U.S. women and children are marked by signs of discipline and punishment that cannot be erased. These are systematically produced through current forces of socialization and discipline and 18th-century exhibitions of public mutilation. Poor single welfare mothers and their children are physically inscribed, punished, and…

Introduces the SPICES curriculum of the Manipal College of Medical Sciences in Nepal, which is student centered, problem based, integrated, community-based, elective oriented, and systematic. Reports that the majority of students opined that the combination of didactic lectures and problem-based learning sessions were definitely beneficial.…