In this paper we examine the relationship of serum levels of Ca, P, Ca X P, P/Mg, Ca X P/Mg, alkaline phosphatase, and iPTH to the development or regression of peripheral arterial calcifications (AC) in 44 patients with end-stage renal disease being treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). The average follow-up time of this longitudinal study was 27 months (range 6-67 months). The patients were divided into two groups: Group A, those showing one or more increases of AC; and Group B, patients in whom AC either did not develop or decreased during the follow-up. There was no significant difference in serum Ca, P, Ca X P, alkaline phosphatase of iPTH between the two groups. However, serum Mg was significantly lower in Group A than in Group B (2.69 +/- 0.52 and 3.02 +/- 0.51 mg/dl, respectively, P less than 0.001), while the ratios P/Mg and Ca X P/Mg were significantly higher. Our observations suggest that in end-stage renal disease hypermagnesemia may retard the development of arterial calcifications.

Assessment of roentgenographic measurements of cortical bone of the radius in 196 elderly females, including 63 diabetics, revealed that: (1) in the non-diabetic group there was a significant loss of cortical bone relative to the number of years after the menopause and to body weight; (2) although there was a significant loss of cortical bone relative to years postmenopausal in a group of diabetic patients the cortex in the diabetic group was better preserved than in those non-diabetic controls in whom no vertebral compressions were diagnosed in the roentgenograms; no correlation between bone loss and body weight was found among the dia¬ betics; (3) the thinnest cortical bone and the lowest average body weight was found in the 34 nondiabetics with vertebral compression deformities. It thus appears that involutional osteoporosis will be less prevalent among old women suffering from diabetes mellitus than in comparable non-diabetic subjects, and more prevalent among non-diabetics of low body weight than in old women who are obese or of normal weight. THE relentless and progressive course of skeletal demineralization in nearly all post¬ menopausal women and the accompanying morbid manifestations have attracted increasing attention among those concerned with the health and welfare of our ageing population as well as among those engaged in bone research. In this remarkable situation, where virtually the whole ageing female population loses as much as 20 to 60% of its bone mineral content over the age span from about 50 to 80+ years,13 the question is not so much one of distinguishing between the "normals" and the "osteoporotics", but rather one of comparing and analyzing groups of sub¬ jects whose bone mineral losses are marked, moderate or slight. It may be possible, by such an approach, to find certain factors influencing the rate of decrease in bone mass and thereby to help solve the problems of its etiology. Clinical cross-sectional studies aimed at such subtle skeletal differentiation associated with ageing obviously require a large number of sub¬ jects, ideally of similar racial background, and matched as far as possible for sex, age and other relevant determinants. The prerequisite for this approach is the availability of some quantitative

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