Effects of Balance Training on Balance Performance in Youth: Are There Age Differences?

: In youth, cross-sectional studies reported age differences in balance performance that were in favor of adolescents. Thus, trainability of balance performance might be different in children compared to adolescents. The purpose of this study was therefore to compare the effects of balance training (BT) on balance performance between children and adolescents.

Microanatomy of the tympanic membrane in chronic myringitis obtained with optical coherence tomography.

A microscope-based optical coherence tomography (OCT) device was used to assess the microanatomy of the tympanic membrane in patients with chronic myringitis. A prospective study was designed for this purpose. OCT measurements of the tympanic membrane were done on 11 patients with myringitis with a microscope-based spectral domain OCT system.

Fish oil improves endothelium-dependent coronary vasodilation in heart transplant recipients.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether dietary fish oil supplementation enhances endothelium-mediated vasodilator responses in human heart transplant recipients, a group known to have coronary artery disease and endothelial dysfunction.

Background: Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation has been shown to enhance endothelium-dependent coronary vasodilation in animal models of atherosclerosis.

Methods: Endothelium-dependent vasodilator responses to intracoronary acetylcholine infusion and endothelium-independent responses to nitroglycerin were evaluated in heart transplant recipients who received a high dose of dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids for 3 weeks (5 g of eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid/day, n = 7) and compared with responses in a group of matched heart transplant recipients who did not receive fish oil (control patients, n = 7).