An historical review of anorexia nervosa includes diagnosis, etiology, treatment and prognostic indicators. Little has been proved about the prevalence of the condition but from available information in Britain there are probably more than 10,000 severely affected patients with the fatality rate about 1 in 20. Anorexia nervosa appears to be the most common cause of longlasting emaciation in the young adult and diagnosis is difficult because of the anorectic's need for secrecy. Definitive diagnosis depends upon recognition of abnormal behaviors and the underlying terror of weight gain. Theories of etiology lean toward the psychogenic causes. Treatment involves both the physiological and psychological aspects (e.g., refeeding and counseling). Prognostic indicators are described. Although people of lower socioeconomic status are less prone to develop anorexia, when it occurs in this group, the outcome is poor. Family behavior appears to influence greatly the development of anorexia in those of higher socioeconomic status with outcome based on behavior changes. (kbc)

A review of literature findings substantiated that a positive correlation exists between total cholesterol level and saturated fatty acid intake in young children and that risk factors for coronary heart disease and arteriosclerosis are more prevalent in children of parents with premature myocardial infarction compared with those of unaffected fathers. Based on these results, it is recommended that pediatricians track children who are determined to be in upper lipid level percentiles in follow-up measurements of body weight (vs. height), skinfold thickness, blood pressure, and other clinical indicators (especially for children determined or suspected to be at high risk). (wz)

The major activities of 5 inpatient clinical dietitians were examined to identify time management factors (the average amount of time spent on each activity, the number of dietitian consultations, the time spent per patient consultation) and to establish indicators for workloads, performance, and productivity. The results of this study indicated that the dietitians spent 44, 20, 6, 4, 3, 1, and 7% of their time on direct patient care, patient care support activities, non-patient teaching, community-related activities, research and special projects, interdepartmental activities, and other tasks, respectively. A formula was developed to identify the number of dietitians needed for patients' nutritional care, based on the percentage of direct patient care time available, the percentage of patients needing nutritional support, and the patient turnover rate. (wz)

There are numerous approaches a restaurantuer can use to foresee and prevent business failure. Useful predictors are the financial ratios of liquidity, leverage, solvency, activity and profitability. The best approaches used to predict failure are classified as either the univariate or multivariate approaches. In this study the univariate approach, which is based on liquidity and cash flow ratio, is stressed. Three multi-unit food service operations that had failed were examined, and data were collected and compared to an operation considered successful. The data were ratio analyzed for liquidity, leverage, profitability and asset-utilization for both the successful and unsuccessful restaurant. The ratios between the 2 types of operation were then evaluated to determine their predictive power. The data of selected ratios for 2 different successful/unsuccessful pairings were plotted. The graphs visualized the data, which reinforced the findings of the indicators. More information is needed to determine the full impact of ratio analysis as a predictor of failure in the restaurant business. (kbc)

If there is an economic crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, as is now generally accepted by the worldwide community, Mauritania falls in the category of most severely affected countries. The most severe consequence of the crisis has been the death of thousands of people from starvation, in Mauritania and elsewhere. Domestic policy issues have been singled out by Eicher in his "Africa's Food Crisis" as being at the heart of the problem. In search of solutions, governments have failed to consider population growth and "agrarian socialism" as possible sources of their problem. Based on the conclusions of most reports, the governments' search procedure for courses of action might best be described as one of "tatonnement,' or trial-and-error experimentation. The colonial legacy, the drought cycle, and migration are cited in the literature as the major causes of the African economic crisis. Whether these arguments hold or not, a famine has occurred in much of Western Africa, and that is a fact. How the famine came about and how it has been perpetrated is still subject to investigation. Overall, the intellectual community seems to agree upon the existence of a self-sustaining agriculture on the eve of the independence era. This agriculture was characterized as rudimentary, but granaries were never empty. Rarely in the past did people starve. Why should the post-independence period be distinguished by so many failures: 1) a negative growth rate of agricultural production; 2) an increasing foreign exchange deficit; and 3) desertification and general environmental degradation. A glance at selected economic indicators suggests that the negative trends will continue if appropriate actions are not taken at once.

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) are potentially a genetically vulnerable crop in the United States because of their narrow genetic base. To broaden the base, breeders must identify exotic parents for inclusion in programs of hybridization and selection. Parental, F₁, and/or F₂ performance could be used as indices to predict performance of inbred lines derived from crosses of adapted by exotic parents. Twenty-seven exotics representing five South American centers of diversity, Africa, and China were testcrossed to an adapted Virginia (ssp. hypogaea var. hypogaea) breeding line. The parents had been previously sorted into five morphological groups,. Parents, F₁'S, and F₂'s were tested in 1979. Twenty F₂ families per cross were bulked in the F₄ and tested in 1981. Variation among bulks for pod and seed yield and other characters was due predominantly to differences among morphological groups. Exotics of ssp. hypogaea produced higher yielding bulks than those of ssp.fastigiata. Spanish (var. vulgaris Harz.) parents produced the hightest yielding fostigiata-derived bulks. Variation among bulks within morphological groups was significant for pod and seed size parameters and meat content, but not for yield. Performance of parents per se and F₂'s were the best indicators of F₄ bulk performance, based on product moment and rank correlations. F₁ performance, heterosis, inbreeding depression, and epistatic effects were largely unrelated to F₄ performance. It was proposed that exotics' performance per se could be used as a criterion for selection of parents for yield, although inclusion of F₂ yields in a multiple-variable index was more accurate in predicting F₄ bulk means. Selection should be practiced within morphological groups of parents in order to retain parents from ssp. fastigiata.