to me by a medical student for examination of her blood and urine. She said she was now putting on weight but to me she appeared thin and pale. She has had three live births and one abortion. The first and the second children are now 22 and 20 years old respectively; the third was an abortion at the seventh month and the fourth died at the age of 7 years. This happened about 6 years ago. Soon a...

TO THE EDITOR: Hakim et al. (3) examined the passive mechanical properties of fast-twitch extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from young and old mdx dystrophic mice. They elegantly showed that by increasing passive strain on the dystrophic muscle from 110% of optimal length (Lo) to 160% of Lo, the muscle physically ruptured in a manner that got progressively worse with age. At the oldest ag...