No abstract

In order to estimate stature from the length of cervical, thoracic, lumbar, thoraco-lumbar (T-L) and cervico-thoracolumbar (C-T-L) segments of the spine, measurements were made on white and black Americans, both male and female, autopsied during 1977–1993. Sample sizes were as follows: white males = 167; white females = 58; black males = 43; black females = 31. Separate measurements were made of the vertebral segments along the anterior surface of the spine. Regression formulae were calculated for each segment in each of the four groups. Standard errors of estimate ranged from 2.60 to 7.11 cm. Comparison was made with previous work published for Japanese. The Japanese formulae could not predict stature of the American populations using our data. The method is useful for estimating the stature of severely burned or multilated bodies.

The present study administered a 15-item handedness questionnaire to 129 college students and their next-of-kin. This questionnaire was similar to the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, except that a 7-point scale was used instead of a 2-choice scale. Test-retest reliability was evaluated with a second administration of the handedness questionnaire to each subject. Analysis showed a high test-retest reliability for all items and a high correlation between subjects and next-of-kin responding for most items. However, some items on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory showed much higher correlations than others when comparing subject and next-of-kin responding. The contribution of these data is that subjects' handedness can be accurately estimated from next-of-kin responses if a subset of these questionnaire items are used.