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Three three-year-old Rocky Mountain mule deer were studied for a year to determine the role of skeletal mineral in antler growth. Costal biopsy material, which was obtained at four-week intervals, was analyzed histologically and histometrically. There was a cyclic mobilization of costal cortical bone during antler growth despite the dietary access to high quantities of elements essential for bone development. Following antler growth the ribs returned to a stable configuration with few resorption spaces. Corresponding to the period of possible weakening from the internal remodeling, there also appeared to be a thickening of the cortical bone by circumferential lamellar addition. A cyclic physiological osteoporosis was produced.The annual shedding, regeneration and maturation of the cervine antler constitutes a cyclic phenomenon with which few other periodic processes compare. This rhythmic formation, growth and maintenance imposes demands for a greatly increased supply of minerals.The relationship of antler growth to skeletal dynamics has evoked considerable research and speculation and it has been suggested that many factors influence the antler cycle. Dietary calcium plays a significant role in the size of the antlers. Taft, Hall and Aub ('56) found that a two-yearold white-tailed deer, fed a 2 gm supplement of calcium phosphate a day, grew a larger rack than older animals. Dietary calcium may be a limiting factor in the determination of the size of the antlers (French, McEwen, Magruder, Ingram and Swift, '55; Magruder, French, McEwen and Swift, '57).The influence of the endocrine glands upon antler growth is complicated by the reciprocal effect of this growth upon the soma. Radiocalcium deposited in the skeleton during the winter and early spring was mobilized from the body for deposition in the antlers (Taft, Hall and Aub, '56 The high metabolic requirements for inorganic salts during antler growth seem obvious. Although Meister's observations on a limited number of animals over an incomplete range of the cycle indicated that osteoporosis appeared to have been an inevitabIe result of excessive bone salt mobilization during antler growth, this conclusion remained open to challenge. Young animals of unknown age were considered to have shown evidence of osteopork Moreover, the nature of the investigation did not allow for any evaluation of the effects of dietary minerals.It was the purpose of this study, therefore, to determine the full-cycle, antler-bone relationship through the utilization of mature animals on a diet known to support antler growth. MATERIALS AND METHODSThe original test group consisted of three three-year-old Rocky Mountain mule deer. Animals 42 and 45 were used throughout the entire study, but animal 47

We sought to define a weight independent, highly sensitive and specific measurement to diagnose hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. A retrospective review of 87 children was performed. We determined the pyloric ratio (wall thickness/pyloric diameter) and its relationship to weight and compared it to standard criteria. The average pyloric ratios in normal children and in those with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis were 0.205 and 0.325, respectively (P < 0.001). A pyloric ratio of 0.27 yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 96% and 94%, respectively. The pyloric ratio maintained a linear relationship to weight in normal patients and those with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. We conclude the pyloric ratio can be a highly sensitive, specific, and weight independent indicator of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

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