The epidemiology of ankle fractures was examined among Rochester, Minnesota, residents during the 3-year period 1979-1981. Ankle fractures occurred with an overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate of 187 per 100,000 person-years; this is higher than in earlier population-based studies. The most frequent cause of ankle fractures was sports-related trauma. The incidence of fractures associated with moderate trauma, on the other hand, increased markedly in middle-aged women, but declined in elderly women. Diabetes mellitus and obesity were associated with fractures in middle-aged and older adults. Of accepted classifications, the Lauge-Hansen system provided the most clinically relevant information.

The role genetic factors play in ventilatory control was examined by challenging eight inbred strains of mice to acute hypercapnia under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Age-matched mice were exposed for 3-5 min to inspired gases of the following composition (FICO2:FIO2) 0.03:0.10, 2) 0.03:0.21, 3) 0.08:0.10, and 4) 0.08:0.21, with intermittent room air exposures. Breathing frequency (f) and tidal volume (VT) of unanesthetized, unrestrained mice were assessed by whole body plethysmography. During room air breathing, significant (P < 0.01) interstrain differences were noted in the pattern, but minute ventilation (VE) did not differ among the strains. Relative to room air, mild hypercapnia with hypoxia (0.03:0.10) significantly (P < 0.01) elevated VE in each strain, and the percent increase in VE of the DBA/2J strain was significantly (P < 0.05) greater than the other strains. The ventilatory response to these conditions was achieved primarily by a significant (P < 0.01) increase in f among the strains. During severely hypercapnic normoxia (0.08:0.21) and hypoxia (0.08:0.10), the increase in VE was significantly (P < 0.01) greatest in the C57BL/6J (B6) mice and least in the C3H/HeJ (C3) mice. The difference in hypercapnic VE between B6 and C3 strains was largely due to a significantly (P < 0.01) greater increase in VT by B6 mice. On the assumption that environmental factors were identical, these data suggest that genetic determinants govern interstrain variation in the magnitude and pattern of breathing during hypoxia and hypercapnia. Moreover, hypoxic and hypercapnic ventilatory responses appear to be influenced by different genetic mechanisms.

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The purpose of the present study was to determine the genetic control of baseline breathing pattern by examining the mode of inheritance between two inbred murine strains with differential breathing characteristics. Specifically, the rapid, shallow phenotype of the C57BL/6J (B6) strain is consistently distinct from the slow, deep phenotype of the C3H/HeJ (C3) strain. The response distributions of segregant and nonsegregant progeny were compared with the two progenitor strains to determine the mode of inheritance for each ventilatory characteristic. The BXH recombinant inbred (RI) strains derived from the B6 and C3 progenitors were examined to establish strain distribution patterns for each ventilatory trait. To establish the mode of inheritance, baseline breathing frequency (f), tidal volume, and inspiratory time (TI) were measured five times in each of 178 mature male animals from the two progenitor strains and their progeny by using whole body plethysmography. With respect to f and TI, the two progenitor strains were consistently distinct, and segregation analyses of the inheritance pattern suggest that the most parsimonious genetic model for response distributions of f and TI is a two-loci model. In similar experiments conducted on 82 mature male animals from 12 BXH RI strains, each parental phenotype was represented by one or more of the RI strains. Intermediate phenotypes emerged to confirm the likelihood that parental strain differences in f and TI were determined by more than one locus. Taken together, these studies suggest that the phenotypic difference in baseline respiratory timing between male B6 and C3 mice is best explained by a genetic model that considers at least two loci as major determinants.