Donald E. Pickering

The Hypothyroid Infant and Child The Role of Roentgen Evaluation in Therapy

Periodic roentgenograms, in conjunction with repeated serum hormonal iodine determinations, represent useful and important guides to clinical evaluation of therapy in the hypothyroid infant or child. This opinion rests largely upon studies, conducted at the University of California Medical Center, on the role of thyroid in growth and development of athyroid infant monkeys (1-8). These investigations revealed that (a) doses of sodium l-thyroxine sufficient to promote continuing central-nervous-system growth and skeletal growth and maturation at normal rates were similar in quantity and (b) that these doses were significantly larger than those required merely to reverse superficial signs of thyroid privation and bring about a more normal metabolism of skin, liver, muscle, and the cardiovascular system. Wilkins (9) had previously stressed the relationship between mental and skeletal development during therapy of the hypothyroid child. Hypothyroid infants and children under treatment in the Endocrine and Meta...

I. Normal Chemical Composition and Growth

Introduction This publication relates to the chemical dynamics of skeletal growth in the normal immature male rat. Data presented are introductory to a combined chemical, radiological, and histological interpretation of skeletal growth in this animal from birth through 75 days of age.* During this period of life in the rat, individual skeletal parts as well as the skeleton as a whole undergo continuous and often disproportionate changes in growth and development.† The following studies were undertaken to correlate chemical growth and turnover of the entire skeleton with serial changes in the chemical anatomy and linear growth of long bones. Methods and Materials Male Wistarwere used throughout this study. Litters were arranged at birth to contain approximately 8 to 18male animals. All animals were weaned at 21 days of age to a standard diet (Diet 1),‡ which contained 0.76% calcium and 0.44% phosphorus by wet weight, with a calcium-phosphorus ratio of 1.7.onstant source of