SUMMARY:Anthropologists recognized the tallness of nations in the Dinaric Alps long time ago. As the modern Serbians fall more into the Dinaric racial classification than any other does, the purpose of this study was to examine the body height in Serbian adults as well as the relationship between arm span as an alternative to estimating the body height, which vary in different ethnic and racial groups. The nature and scope of this study analyzes 394 students (318 men, aged 20.13±1.47 and 76 women, aged 19.59±1.46) from the University of Novi Sad to be subjects. The anthropometric measurements were taken according to the protocol of the ISAK. Means and standard deviations were obtained. A comparison of means of body heights and arm spans within each gender group and between genders were carried out using a t-test. The relationships between body height and arm span were determined using simple correlation coefficients and their 95% confidence interval. Then a linear regression analysis was performed to examine the extent to which the arm span can reliably predict body height. The results have shown that male Serbians are 181.96±6.74 cm tall and have an arm span of 184.78±8.41 cm, while female Serbians are 166.82±5.88 cm tall and have an arm span of 164.67±8.09 cm. Compared to other studies, the results of this study have shown that both genders make Serbian population one of the tallest nations on the earth. Moreover, the arm span reliably predicts body height in both genders. However, the estimation equations, which were obtained in Serbians, are substantially different alike in other populations, since arm span was close to body heights: in men 2.82±4.89 cm more than the body height and in women 2.15±4.68 cm less than the body height. This confirms the necessity for developing separate height models for each population.

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AD is associated with a functional vasoregulative deficit possibly due to decreased levels of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Augmenting levels with AChEI normalized flow regulation possibly leading to a better blood supply to active neurons.

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After evaluating the results, we determined that the most likely place for the rotational axis is on the median-sagittal plane, in the anterior portion of the spinal canal.

Background/Aims: In our previous study, impaired visually evoked flow velocity response was demonstrated in young chronic smokers. Our aim was to study whether impaired cerebrovascular reactivity is reversible 6–18 months after smoking cessation. Methods: Flow velocity changes, evoked by visual stimulus, were recorded in the posterior cerebral arteries in 15 smokers, 15 former smokers and 15 nonsmokers. The stimulation protocol consisted of 10 cycles with a resting phase of 20 s (baseline) and a stimulating phase of 40 s for each cycle. Relative changes of flow velocity were expressed in relation to baseline. Breath holding index, visual evoked potential and intima-media thickness were also examined. Results: Repeated measures ANOVA revealed marked difference in the flow velocity time courses between the 3 groups (p < 0.01). The flow response was significantly worse in former smokers than in nonsmokers (p < 0.002), however, no significant difference was found between former and current smokers (p = 0.0556). Conclusion: This is the first transcranial Doppler study demonstrating long-term impairment of visually evoked cerebrovascular response after smoking cessation. These findings indicate that the impairment of neurovascular coupling caused by smoking is due to structural changes of the vessels, rather than acute effect of smoking.

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Smoking has been known to cause endothelial dysfunction and is an important risk factor for ischemic stroke. In our study we investigated whether chronic cigarette smoking affects the cerebral blood flow velocity response to a physiological, visual stimulus. By using a visual cortex stimulation paradigm, the flow velocity response in the posterior cerebral arteries (PCA) was measured bilaterally, in 32 young healthy adults (16 smokers, 16 non-smokers). Infectious disease and hyperlipidaemia were also ruled out by measurement of sensitive Creactive protein and serum lipids. This is the first functional TCD study demonstrating impaired visually evoked flow velocity response caused by chronic cigarette smoking in otherwise healthy, young subjects. The impaired cerebral vasodilatory mechanism together with atherosclerosis may influence stroke occurrence and outcome in chronic smokers.3