Early changes in cardiovascular structure and function in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at higher risk of early adult-onset cardiovascular disease. We assessed cardiovascular structure and function in adolescents with T1D compared with healthy controls and the relationships between peripheral vascular function and myocardial parameters. METHODS AND RESULTS: 199 T1D [14.4 ± 1.6 years, diabetes duration 6.2 (2.0-12.8) years] and 178 controls (14.4 ± 2.1 years) completed endothelial function by flow mediated vasodilatation (FMD), arterial stiffness using pulse wave velocity (PWV) along with M-mode, pulse wave and tissue Doppler, and myocardial deformation echocardiographic imaging. Systolic (113 ± 10 vs. 110 ± 9 mmHg; p = 0.0005) and diastolic (62 ± 7 vs. 58 ± 7 mmHg; p < 0.0001) blood pressures, carotid femoral PWV and endothelial dysfunction measurements were increased in T1D compared with controls. Systolic and diastolic left ventricular dimensions and function by M-mode and pulse wave Doppler assessment were not significantly different. Mitral valve lateral e' (17.6 ± 2.6 vs. 18.6 ± 2.6 cm/s; p < 0.001) and a' (5.4 ± 1.1 vs. 5.9 ± 1.1 cm/s; p < 0.001) myocardial velocities were decreased and E/e' (7.3 ± 1.2 vs. 6.7 ± 1.3; p = 0.0003) increased in T1D. Left ventricular mid circumferential strain (-20.4 ± 2.3 vs. -19.5 ± 1.7 %; p < 0.001) was higher, whereas global longitudinal strain was lower (-19.0 ± 1.9 vs. -19.8 ± 1.5 % p < 0.001) in T1D. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with T1D exhibit early changes in blood pressure, peripheral vascular function and left ventricular myocardial deformation indices with a shift from longitudinal to circumferential shortening. Longitudinal follow-up of these changes in ongoing prospective trials may allow detection of those most at risk for cardiovascular abnormalities including hypertension that could preferentially benefit from early therapeutic interventions.Funding was provided by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation- Canadian Clinical Trial Network (JDRF-CCTN), the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Sick Kids Labatt Family Heart Center Innovation fund. Funding was also provided by the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Representations of sport in the revolutionary socialist press in Britain, 1988–2012

This paper considers how sport presents a dualism to those on the far left of the political spectrum. A long-standing, passionate debate has existed on the contradictory role played by sport, polarised between those who reject it as a bourgeois capitalist plague and those who argue for its reclamation and reformation. A case study is offered of a political party that has consistently used revolutionary Marxism as the basis for its activity and how this party, the largest in Britain, addresses sport in its publications. The study draws on empirical data to illustrate this debate by reporting findings from three socialist publications. When sport did feature it was often in relation to high profile sporting events with a critical tone adopted and typically focused on issues of commodification, exploitation and alienation of athletes and supporters. However, readers’ letters, printed in the same publications, revealed how this interpretation was not universally accepted, thus illustrating the contradictory nature of sport for those on the far left

Cerebral processing of speech presented monaurally to left-handed subjects

In a series of reaction-time experiments two groups of minimal pairs of English words were presented monaurally to the right and left ears of left-handed subjects. The minimal pairs were /bit/ : bet/ and /splei : sprei/ recorded in natural speech. The group of left-handed subjects did not show any evidence of an ear-advantage on either of the two groups, indicating that the lateralization of speech perception processes could not be demonstrated using monaural stimulation. The performance of left-handers continues to give equivocal results on tests of speech lateralization processes

Dichotic listening in stuttering and dyslalic children

In a dichotic listening experiment, three groups of right handed subjects, stutterers, dyslalics and normal children were found to have right ear preference for the reporting of verbal material. The stutterers showed no significant differences from the other two groups, indicating that cerebral dominance is not a significant factor in the aetiology of the disorder in right handed subjects. The dyslalic children were not able to maintain the right ear preference under ordered recall. This important finding has implications for the understanding of the aetiology of functional articulatory disorders

The language development of pre-preschool hearing children of deaf parents

Oral language skills were studied in the communication of hearing children of deaf parents. Six children, who were in their pre‐preschool year, were given a battery of tests. A 45 minute session of each child's speech was tape‐recorded. The children's oral utterances were then compared with what is known about early utterances of children growing up in a hearing environment. The results indicated that the children's cognitive development is far ahead of their language development. This was reflected in the creation of sentences which were syntactically deviant. The children had poor vocabulary development, and compensated by frequent use of the words “thing” and “there”. The present study found a significant correlation between the extra help these children were receiving (from playgroup, kindergartens, relatives and neighbours) and their cognitive development; and also between the extra help and their development of semantic relations. 1983 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapist