This was a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group study which included female breast cancer patients, receiving their first of 6 scheduled courses of chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide ≥ 500 mg/m²). Patients received an intravenous dose of 16mg dexa-methasone with either 8 mg ondansetron or 60 mg metoclopramide before chemotherapy, followed by oral dosing with 8 mg ondansetron or 20 mg metoclopramide 3 times daily for 5 days. A total of 93 patients were treated with ondansetron and 94 patients with metoclopramide. On day 1 of their first course of treatment 91 and 60% of patients in the ondansetron and metoclopramide groups respectively were free of emesis (p < 0.001). Over the 5-day treatment period, the corresponding figures were 81 and 48% (p < 0.001). The results for nausea also revealed highly statistically significant treatment differences (p < 0.001) in favour of ondansetron for both day 1 and day 1-5 analyses of the first treatment course. Over the series of courses, 67% of patients receiving ondansetron completed all 6 courses with a maximum of 2 emetic episodes on their worst day, compared with 28% of patients receiving metoclopramide (p < 0.001). A similar analysis for nausea revealed that 49% of patients receiving ondansetron completed all 6 courses with ‘none’ or ‘mild’ nausea compared with 27% of patients receiving metoclopramide (p < 0.001). These differences were reflected in quality of life data (Rotterdam Symptom Checklist). After the first course of treatment, a statistically significant improvement (p = 0.002) in the psychological subscale scores was observed after ondansetron compared with metoclopramide. No differences were observed in the physical or functional activity subscales after the first course. However, the quality of life results over the series of courses revealed a more pronounced difference in favour of ondansetron in the psychological subscale scores (p < 0.001) as well as trends in favour of ondansetron in the physical (p = 0.096) and functional activity (p = 0.056) subscales. Extrapyramidal symptoms were reported in 19 % of patients in the metoclopramide group and resulted in 15 % of patients withdrawing from their randomised anti-emetic schedule, either during or between treatment courses. Other adverse events were generally minor in nature and did not necessitate withdrawal from treatment. In conclusion, this study shows that ondansetron is significantly superior to metoclopramide (each with a single pre-treatment dose of dexamethasone) in the control of emesis over 6 courses of chemotherapy for breast cancer. Importantly, patients given ondansetron had a superior quality of life compared with those given metoclopramide.

In an abattoir survey the stomachs of 1242 pigs from 15 farms were examined. Ulceration of the pars oesophagea was present in 22.95 per cent with a range from 4.7 to 57.4 per cent. The ulcers were graded mild in 9.5 per cent and severe in 13.4 per cent of the stomachs. Bile staining and hyperkeratinisation of the pars were significantly more common in stomachs with ulcers than in those without (P < 0.001), although the difference between the hyperkeratinisation in cases with severe ulcers and cases without ulcers was not significant. The daily liveweight gains of 208 males and 150 females from two units with a high prevalence of ulcers were calculated from their weaning weights at about five weeks of age and their slaughter weights at around 90 kg. At the abattoir their stomachs were examined for the presence of ulcers of the pars. The daily liveweight gain of the males was significantly greater than that of the females (P < 0.001), but the presence of mild or severe ulcers had no influence on the rate of gain of the pigs from either unit. The prevalence of ulcers in the males and females was 57.2 and 49.3 per cent, respectively, but the difference was not significant.

No abstract

SUMMARYDuring submaximal cycling, children demonstrate a different distribution between muscular and non-muscular (gravitational and motion-dependent) forces when compared with adults. This is partly due to anthropometric differences. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that during maximum power cycling, children would construct the task (in terms of the distribution between muscular and non-muscular pedal power) similarly to adults. Eleven children (aged 8-9 years) and 13 adults (aged 20-40 years) performed a maximal isokinetic cycling task over 3 s at 115 r.p.m. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed no significant differences in normalized maximum, minimum and average positive non-muscular pedal power between children and adults (Wilksʼ λ=0.755, F 3,20 =2.17, P=0.124). Thus, maximum cycling is a developmental ʻself-scalingʼ task and age-related differences in muscular power production are not confounded by differences in anthropometry. This information is useful to researchers who wish to differentiate between muscular and non-muscular power when studying developmental motor control. In addition to the similarities in the distribution between muscular and non-muscular pedal power, we found age-related differences in the relative joint power contributions to total pedal power. In children, a significantly smaller proportion of total pedal power was generated at the ankle joint (6.1±5.4% for children and 12.6±3.2% for adults), whilst relatively more power was generated at the knee and hip joints. These results suggest that intermuscular coordination may be contributing to childrenʼs limits in maximum power production during multi-joint tasks.

This investigation was designed to improve reference information and to evaluate the influences of sample distribution and age on the derived reference intervals. Specimens from 127 men were collected after a 12- to 14-hour fast and analyzed by 60 different laboratory procedures. Differences in the reference intervals derived, using three separate statistical methods, appeared to be unimportant clinically, but the percentile method was preferred because it required no assumptions concerning the frequency distribution. Relationships between age and analyte concentrations were examined by linear regression analysis, and the analytes were placed in one of three groups, according to the significance of this relationship: greatest significance (P less than or equal to 0.01), 18 analytes; intermediate significance (0.01 less than or equal to P less than or equal to 0.05), 12 analytes; and least significance (P greater than 0.05), 30 analytes. The age-related changes for each analyte were evaluated according to analytic variation, population dispersion, and clinical relevance. Age-dependent reference intervals for adult males are recommended for albumin, cholesterol, phosphorus, and sedimentation rate.