Dutch Males Research Articles

Post-1950 mortality trends and medical care: gains in life expectancy due to declines in mortality from conditions amenable to medical intervention in The Netherlands.

In order to assess the impact of medical care innovations on post-1950 mortality in The Netherlands, we analysed trends in mortality from a selection of conditions suggested by Rutstein et al.'s lists of "unnecessary untimely mortality". This selection covers 11 types of innovation, and includes 35 conditions which have become amenable to medical care. Loglinear regression analysis shows that for most of these conditions mortality declined during each of two subperiods (1950-1968; 1969-1984). Mortality decline accelerated in the second subperiod for many conditions. Reductions in mortality from these conditions between 1950/54 and 1980/84 added 2.96 and 3.95 years to life expectancy at birth of Dutch males and Dutch females respectively. A priori evidence indicates that these mortality reductions are due to some extent to 'spontaneous' incidence declines. Although the exact contribution of medical care innovations to these changes in mortality thus cannot be determined, the impact of medical care on post-1950 mortality in The Netherlands could well have been substantial.

Acoustic properties of the subglottal system us determined from recordings of subglottal pressure

A complete model of the speech production system should include a model of the subglottal part. For the construction of such a model measurement data are needed. The most extensive and comprehensive data available today are the input impedance measurements on five laryngectomized Japanese subjects made by Ishizaka et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 60, 190–197 (1976)]. We have made wideband recordings of the subglottal pressure variations during speech production in five normal adult Dutch males. It appears that the resonances of the subglottal system are excited by the glottal source in much the same way as the supraglottal resonances. Thus, it seems feasible to determine the frequencies and bandwidths of the subglottal resonances from the subglottal pressure signals. Using this procedure we have consistently found a frequency of the lowest resonance which is considerably lower than the one measured by Ishizaka et al. We will discuss a number of possible explanations for the different measurement results and their implications for improving the model of the subglottal system. [Work supported by the Dutch Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research ZWO.]

Sign Stimuli in the Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus Aculeatus): a Re-Examination and Extension of Some Classic Experiments

1. Both Long Island and Dutch territorial male Gasterosteus aculeatus exhibited considerable variation in their responses to dummies. Such responses were generally consistent within the same individual presented with the same dummy: male dummies evoked primarily aggressive behavior and female dummies evoked primarily courtship. However, males from both Long Island and Dutch populations sometimes directed courtship to male dummies and aggression to female dummies. 2. Males from both populations generally directed more aggression (bites) to the silver male dummy than to the dummy male bearing red undersides and blue eyes (i.e. , nuptial coloration). However, exceptional males from both populations showed the opposite trend. In trials with Dutch males in which backoffs could be measured, this behavior was more often directed to the nuptially colored dummy male than to the silver one. 3. Males from the Long Island population directed more activities, especially bites, to the horizontal dummy male than to either the headup or headdown dummy male. These males exhibited no difference in frequencies of behaviors directed to headup and headdown dummy males. Dutch males were only tested with headup vs horizontal dummy males and they too directed more activities, especially bites, to the latter. 4. Males from the Long Island population directed more courtship (zigzags and leads) and aggression (bites) to the dummy female with the greater abdominal distention, even when such distention was extreme (supernormal). Dutch males were only tested with (normally) gravid vs supergravid dummy females and they directed more activities, especially zigzags, to the latter. 5. Males from the Long Island population directed more courtship (zigzags and leads) and aggression (bites) to the horizontal dummy female than to either the headup or headdown one. Dutch males were only tested with headup vs horizontal dummy females and directed more courtship to the latter.

OBESITY IN NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD MEN: FAMILY SIZE AND BIRTH ORDER ASSOCIATIONS

The authors analyzed the prevalence of obesity by family size and birth order for a total population of over 280,000 19-year-old Dutch males, who were born between 1944 and 1947 and who were from one- to five-child families. Obesity was defined by a relative weight index, 120% or more of the standard of weight for height. Overall obesity prevalence was 1.83%; sons of manual workers were more prone to obesity than sons of non-manual workers. Individuals from one-child families (only children) were uniquely at risk for obesity, particularly in the non-manual social class. This result was similar to reported findings for childhood obesity.

Birth Order, Family Size and School Failure

The effect of birth order on educational outcome in the Netherlands is reported for two major social classes, manual and non-manual. The rates of school failure (those who attended schools for the mentally retarded and who failed lower school) were studied in a population of some 200,000 young adult Dutch males born between 1944 and 1946 and whose families of origin had from one to six children. The data used were the records of the Dutch military pre-induction examination. Rates of school failure rose both with increased birth order and with increased family-size, with the exception of one-child families. School failure rates for the first, middle-and last-born were examined for the two social classes, with family size controlled. In general, school-failure rates were significantly related to birth-order position. For each family size and in both social classes, the last-born were at greater risk of school failure than were the first-born.

Acclimatization and maximum number of functioning sweat glands in Hindu and Dutch females and males

The number and distribution of thermally (hot water bath method) activated eccrine sweat glands have been measured in Dutch, Hindu and Bushnegro males and in Dutch and Hindu females in Surinam. Results are compared with those for Dutch and Hindu males and females in the Netherlands. The results suggest that the maximum number of functioning sweat glands (F.S.G.) changes during natural acclimatization and that probably the relative magnitude of this change depends on the percentage of "recruitment type" adapters within each racial group. This change was not apparent for all sixteen body areas studied. In these experiments high relative humidity had no influence on the number of functioning sweat glands. No sex differences were observed in body density or in pattern of regional distribution. Only the Hindu and Dutch males differed significantly in body density. A positive relationship was observed between body density and extremities-weight ratio in the three male groups.