20
shown in Figure 8. Because of language barriers,
such tests are difficult to carry out. Cultural,

Table 13

social, and educational variables also complicate
the scoring. The figures are being analyzed with

Assay for Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
in Exposed Marshallese Children

Subject
No.
2

Timeafter
insulin, min
25

Blood glucose,
mg/100 ml
31.6

3
6
8
33

30
25
25
25

89.6
26.9
29.0
34.0

34

30

35.6

B3

30

54

65
65

15

15
27

HGH,
ng, mil*
4.0

<2.0
<2.0
5.0
<2.0

67.1

<2.0

33.6
22.6

4.0
2.0

38.1

3.0
3.0

*Assayed by Dr. J. Roth, NationalInstitutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland. The norma!fasting level is 0 to 3.0
nanograms/ml, with at least a 3- to 5-fold rise 60 min
after insulin injection.

tosplenomegaly. Another child (No. 1055), also

born to nonexposed parents, had diagnostic stigmata of mongolism. The results of examinations of
the neck and thyroid gland are summarized elsewherein this report. With the exception of the
thyroid nodules; no correlation betweenthe devel-

opment of abnormalities in children and exposure
to radiation could be suggested.
In 1965 assays for human growth hormone

levels were done on blood specimensobtained from
8 exposed Marshallese children. After an overnight fast, crystalline insulin was injected intra-

venously at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg body weight.
Blood was drawnat 15 and 30 min. The existing

circumstances in the field precluded the continua-

tion of the hypoglycemic state beyond 30 min. The
hormone values were determined by the method

of Glick et al.'* The results are summarizedin
Table 13. Even thougha higherlevel of growth
hormonesecretion might have occurred if hypogly-

cemia had been prolonged, measurable amounts

of human growth hormonewerefoundin all children tested. The 2 markedly physically retarded

boys were amongthe 8 studied. When1t is noted
that TSH secretion ts also adequate in these chil-

dren (see section on thyroid gland), the results
qualitatively document the existence of anterior

pituitary gland function.
Goodenough “Draw a Man” tests’° were taken

by a number of children. Some of the drawingsare

the hope that numerical scores may provide some
measure of mental development in the growth-

retarded children.
A detailed analysis of the growth and development data on the Marshallese children during the

period 1958 through 1963 has been published.”'
The analysis has been extended to include the
growth measurements for 1964 and 1965. In 1966

the unexposed (control) children were not exam-

ined. The trends revealed previously have continued. Amongthegirls, there is no significantdifference between exposed and unexposed children

in either the statural or weight curves (Figures 9
and 10). There is no significant difference in body
weight between exposed and unexposed boys(Fig-

ure 11). Among the boys only, the statural growth

of the exposed lags below that of the unexposed
subjects (Figures 12 and 13). This difference in
stature is better delineated when age at expo-

sure is considered (Figure 13). Thus, boys exposed
at ages >6 years show no difference in statural
growth from that of unexposed boys. Boys exposed
at ages 2 years and youngershow the most prominent retardation. Analysis this year indicates that
boys exposed at 3 to 5 years of age are also showing some lagin statural growth. Children born to

exposed parents have demonstrated nosignificant
difference in statural and weight growth as compared with children born to unexposed parents

(Figures 14 to 17).
Skeletal age assessmrents by the method of
Greulich and Pyle’? have been plotted against

chronological age in boys (Figure 18) andin girls

(Figure 19). The lines represent the best fitting

linear relationships by the least-squares method.
While the curvesfor the exposed group (both boys
andgirls) fall to the right of the curves for the unexposed, the differences are notstatistically significant. The points representing the markedly growth-

retarded boys are immediately apparent from inspection. The graphsalso indicate that the skeletal
age assessments at given chronological ages for the
Marshallese boys and girls are lower (by about 6
to 12 months) than the Greulich-Pyle standards for
American children.

Since September 1965 the exposed children
have been given courses of thyroid hormone.

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