Perceived actual body weight and perceived ideal weight were assessed in 255 Japanese children and adolescents (130 boys, 125 girls) aged 6 years through 18 years using the drawing test to clarify whether they wanted to be thinner or to gain weight. More than half (68%) of the girls attending high school and 41% of the elementary school girls perceived their ideal weight to be less than the standard. The mean difference between the perceived actual weight and the ideal weight was positive in the high school girls of normal weight as well as in the overweight girls, meaning that even the normal-weight girls wanted to lose weight. The difference was also slightly positive in the underweight girls. The difference in the high school boys was negative, demonstrating that they wished to gain weight. It is suggested that girls want to lose weight even before adolescence; this tendency becomes more prominent in the high school period and is mostly unrelated to their own weight.

We report on a Japanese girl and her mother with brachydactyly. Their 2nd and 5th middle phalanges were short and the latter was fused with the distal phalanx in one of the patients. Length and shape of proximal and distal phalanges as well as metacarpals seemed normal. These findings are consistent with brachydactyly type 4-A, which is a rare subtype and has not been adequately documented. Short stature was reported only in some cases of brachydactyly type A-1, A-6, C, and E, but not in the other subtypes. Our patients with type A-4 brachydactyly also had short stature.

The relation between thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and triiodothyronine (T₃) was evaluated in a girl with the selective pituitary type of thyroid hormone resistance for more than 7 years to clarify whether bromocriptine was an effective treatment or not. Levels of T3 (before: 2.44 ± 0.64 nmol/l, mean ± SD) and TSH (4.81 ± 2.52 mU/1) were significantly decreased during therapy (T₃: 2.15 ± 0.44 nmol/l; TSH: 1.59 ± 0.78 mU/l). T₃ × TSH, calculated as one of the indices of pituitary resistance, on bromocriptine therapy (3.229 ± 1.255 mU/l × nmol/l) was significantly (p < 0.005) smaller than the product before the administration (11.298 ± 5.891 mU/l × nmol/l). The results suggest that bromocriptine should be one of the agents initially considered for the treatment of pituitary resistance to thyroid hormone.

No abstract

Subcutaneous fat was measured using an ultrasonic method (SF-US) in girls with Ullrich-Turner syndrome (UTS) and in height and weight-matched controls. The method is not influenced by changes in cutaneous compressibility, which is frequently abnormal in UTS especially at a younger age. SF-US in the arms was significantly less in UTS patients (ulnar SF-US: P < 0.05; triceps SF-US: P < 0.005) than in the control girls. Results in suprailiac SF-US measurement was also similar (P < 0.05). Though the mean SF-US in the subscapular region was less in UTS patients than the control girls, there was no statistically significant difference. It is demonstrated that subcutaneous fat in UTS patients is less in their arms than in girls without UTS and that trunkal fatness is not increased but rather decreased in the UTS. The ratio of lean body mass to weight seems higher in UTS patients than in girls with similar weight and height.