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OBJECTIVE: To determine the patterns of change and the best anthropometric indicators of intra-abdominal fat deposition in young adolescents from ages 11 ± 13 y. SUBJECTS: Subjects were 25 boys (mean age 13.7 AE 0.32 y) and 17 girls (mean age of 13.7 AE 0.23 y) who had taken part in a similar study 2 y earlier at ages 11.5 AE 0.33 y and 11.5 AE 0.27 y, respectively. METHODS: Intra-abdominal (IA) and subcutaneous adipose (SA) tissue areas and IAaSA ratio were determined through four tranverse magnetic resonance imaging scans on two occasions. Differences were investigated using t-tests and ANOVA. Skinfolds, girths and circumferences, body mass index and hydrostatic weighing were also recorded. Pearson correlation coef®cients and regression equations were calculated to determine the best anthropometric indicators of intra-abdominal fat deposition. RESULTS: Intra-abdominal fat and subcutaneous fat areas had signi®cantly increased in boys and girls by the second measure. Boys had deposited greater amounts of fat in intra-abdominal depots so that their intra-abdominalasubcutaneous ratio had increased signi®cantly from 0.31 to 0.39. This had reduced in girls from 0.39 to 0.35. However, patterns of change were variable within sexes. Truncal skinfold sites (r 0.54 ± 0.70) emerged as the best ®eld indicators of intra-abdominal fat deposition. CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat distribution are identi®able in pubescent children using magnetic resonance imaging. An acceptable indication is provided by truncal skinfolds.

The aims of this study are to assess the reliability of two office techniques, the ophthalmoscope and the Dermlite dermatoscope, and to detect nailfold capillaroscopy abnormalities in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Two separate studies were performed. In the first, the nailfolds of two fingers on one hand of 13 SSc patients and two normals were examined by four rheumatologists using an ophthalmoscope. In the second, the nailfolds of the two fingers of each hand of six SSc patients and two normals were examined by six rheumatologists with a Dermlite dermatoscope. Widefield capillary microscopy was performed by one observer in the ophthalmoscope study to assess validity. The examiners determined the presence or absence of dilated loops, giant capillary loops, and/or avascular areas on each digit. The kappa coefficient was calculated to demonstrate agreement. With the ophtalmoscope, the inter-observer kappa coefficients were 0.43, 0.54, and 0.19; the average intra-observer agreements were 0.61, 0.56, and 0.31; and the ophthalmoscope-microscope agreement were 0.63, 0.52, and <0.1 for dilated capillaries, giant capillaries, and avascular areas, respectively. With the dermatoscope, the kappa values for inter-observer reliability were 0.63, 0.40, and 0.20; and intra-observer reliability was 0.71, 0.55, and 0.40 for dilated capillaries, giant capillaries, and avascular areas, respectively. The ophthalmoscope and the dermatoscope provide moderate to substantial reliability to detect the presence of giant and dilated capillaries but poor inter-observer agreement for avascular areas. The ophthalmoscope is valid when compared to the microscope for detecting giant or dilated capillaries. We conclude that these techniques are useful office tools to detect capillary abnormalities in SSc.

From early pubescence, both degree and distribution of fatness have been related to health risk factors. Measures that are capable of providing estimates of overall fatness and the extent of high risk fat patterning are, therefore, advantageous. The objective of this study was to compare estimates of body fatness and fat distribution using magnetic resonance imaging with the traditional methods of hydrostatic weighing, skinfolds, and anthropometry in 11-year-old boys and girls. Subjects were 25 boys and 25 girls, representative of their age cohort's body mass index (BMI) range. Total fat using MRI was obtained by summing subcutaneous and internal fat areas from four transaxial scans at the chest, waist, hips, and thigh. Mean MRI total fat (MRI FAT) was 357 (±152) cm with a range of 172-739 cm for boys and 427 (±174) cm with a range of 209-995 for girls. Correlation analyses revealed strong relationships between MRI FAT and UWW FAT (r = 0.73 boys, r = 0.77 girls), and the sum of four skinfolds (r = 0.94 boys, r = 0.88 girls). Analysis of the MRI data alone revealed that MRI FAT variation is largely explained by subcutaneous fat deposition at the waist in boys and at the level of the buttocks in girls, with most skinfolds correlating highly with MRI FAT in both sexes. Results of stepwise multiple regression showed that an abdominal skinfold and thigh circumference explained 95% of MRI FAT in boys, and 86% of the variance in girls. These data show that magnetic resonance images can provide useful information for the identification of discriminating field measures of fatness and its distribution in 11-year-old children. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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