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Today, mothers-to-be with an uncomplicated pregnancy are advised to practice sports on a regular basis. If they follow this advice, they put on less weight and recover more quickly from the stresses and strains of parturition, thanks to their higher level of general fitness. In addition, practicing sports helps to prevent postural damage, back pain, varices and thrombosis. The most suitable forms of sport are those of the aerobic type, such as jogging, swimming, cycling or aerobic calisthenics. However, exercises in the fitness studio and moderate strength training are also admissible provided that consideration is given to contraindications and warning signals.

A juvenile gigantomastia with wet tender ulceration in a 13-year-old premenarchal girl (155 cm, 51 kg) developed in only 6 months. Treatment consisted of a bilateral reduction mammoplasty with free transplantation of the areolae and nipples and the removal of 4.2 kg of breast tissue. Macroscopically the resections consisted of "white and solid" tissue. Histologically a fibrous-cystic mastopathia was confirmed. It is thus suggested that the etiology of this disease might be related to a local hypersensitivity to estrogen. Mediactions (Tamoxifen) are mostly ineffective. The treatment consisted of reduction plasty.

The aim of the present study was the non-invasive, sex-specific measurement of bone mass in bovine growth hormone (bGH) transgenic mice and normal controls with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The transgenic mouse constitutes a suitable animal model to study the influence of growth hormone on the skeletal system. We analysed 28 animals, aged 12 weeks (14 transgenic, 14 controls, 7 male and 7 female, respectively), using a peripheral DXA scanner that had been adapted to the measurement of small animals. At a measurement time of 20 min, the precision (RMS average CV%) was 4.4% for bone mass (BMC), 2.5% for areal bone density (BMD), 0.86% for total body weight and 4.5% for the percentage BMC (relative to body weight). While the absolute bone mass was not significantly different between male and female animals, we found a higher percentage of the BMC relative to the total bone mass in females (+21% in controls, +31% in transgenics; p < 0.01). The absolute bone mass was higher in the transgenic animals (+71% in females and +62% in males; p < 0.01), but relative to the body weight the transgenic females yielded similar and the transgenic males lower values (-7.2%; p < 0.05). Using DXA it is possible to non-invasively determine the mass of mineralised tissue in the mouse with relatively high precision and to effectively discriminate between different groups. Although a strong influence of growth hormone on the absolute bone mass is observed, the results show that this increase is not higher than that of the total body mass.

Mechanical irritations of the supraspinatus tendon due to a reduction of the subacromial space are considered to be a potential cause of supraspinatus outlet syndrome. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to provide a method of improved measurement of the acromiohumeral distance and the evaluation of the acromial shape. In seven patients aged 50-60 years with unilateral supraspinatus outlet syndrome, imaging with standardized, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) was performed in order to demonstrate the acromion and the subacromial space three-dimensionally. The acromiohumeral distance was measured in three reconstructed frontal sections, and the two sides of each patient were directly compared. The acromial shape was compared with the classification of Bigliani as derived from conventional radiography. Whereas the Constant Score was found to be significantly reduced in the diseased shoulders (p < 0.01), the acromiohumeral distance was not significantly lower in three standardized frontal sections. In five cases the classification of the acromial form from the conventional radiograph was confirmed by 3D CT, whereas in two cases it was shown to be different. Our results suggest that primary or secondary changes of the acromial form can be more accurately evaluated with 3D CT than with conventional radiography. A direct comparison of the two sides in patients with supraspinatus syndrome does not suggest a reduction of acromiohumeral distance in the diseased shoulder.