C-peptide, insulin-like growth factors I and II, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 in umbilical cord serum: correlations with birth weight.

Objective: Our purpose was to determine the correlation between birth weight and hormones or growth factors believed to be involved in fetal growth: insulin, insulin-like growth factors I and II, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1.

Study Design: Five hundred thirty-eight cord serum samples were analyzed for insulin-like growth factor-I, insulin-like growth factor-II, C-peptide, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 by immunoassay. Samples included all gestational ages in the third trimester and a large range of birth weights.

Calcium metabolism, plasma parathyroid hormone, and calcitriol in transient hypertension of pregnancy.

In order to know if abnormalities of calcium metabolism may be involved in the pathophysiology of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), as it has been incriminated in essential hypertension, we measured plasma and urinary calcium and phosphate as well as plasma PTH and free calcitriol index (ratio of total calcitriol on the D binding protein) in normotensive pregnant women (n = 25), in women with PIH after the same duration of amenorrhea (> 28 wk, n = 21:preeclampsia and 20 transient hypertensions), and in age-matched nonpregnant women (n = 15). The severity of PIH was mild since blood uric acid was not increased and plasma volume, measured with the Evans blue technique, was found only moderately decreased (-10.5 +/- 3.

Characterization of gastric antral motility disturbances in diabetes using a scintigraphic technique.

In this study, food distribution in the stomach and gastric antral motor activity in patients with longstanding diabetes have been evaluated. With use of a standard gastric emptying test with an acquisition protocol and a refined Fourier algorithm to analyze the data, antral contractions have been characterized and gastric motility parameters were correlated to gastric retention in 20 diabetic patients with or without gastroparesis and in 10 healthy subjects. The results of this study show that, in longstanding diabetes, gastric emptying retardation is accounted for by a retention of food in the proximal stomach, which is reflected by a prolonged lag phase as well as by a reduction in antral motor activity that is determined by a decrease in the amplitude of the antral contractions.

Serum levels of growth hormone-binding protein and insulin-like growth factor I in children and adolescents with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus.

Serum levels of insulin-like growth factor I are reduced in patients with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. To evaluate the role of the hepatic growth hormone receptor in the decreased serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I, serum levels of the high affinity growth hormone-binding protein, which is qualitatively and quantitatively related to the hepatic growth hormone receptor, and of insulin-like growth factor I were measured in 70 children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and 105 healthy control children. Analysis of variance revealed a significant negative effect of Type 1 diabetes on serum levels of the growth hormone-binding protein and of insulin-like growth factor I.

[Quality of induction and adrenocortical function. A clinical comparison of Etomidate-Lipuro and Hypnomidate].

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was to compare etomidate in a lipid emulsion (Etomidat-Lipuro; Braun, Melsungen) and in propylene glycol (Hypnomidate, Janssen Pharmaceutica) in 90 patients in terms of anaesthetic induction characteristics with special reference to injection side effects, haemodynamic changes, and quality of induction. Adrenocortical hormones were determined in 30 patients who received either Etomidat-Lipuro, Hypnomidate, or propofol (Diprivan, ICI Pharma) for induction of anaesthesia.

Methods: One hundred twenty patients gave their informed consent to the study.

Five-year follow-up of growth hormone antibodies in growth hormone deficient children treated with recombinant human growth hormone.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the long-term evolution of circulating growth hormone antibodies (GH-AB) during and after treatment with methionyl-recombinant human growth hormone (met-rhGH).

Design And Patients: The investigation was performed on serum samples of 46 growth hormone deficient children, treated for at least 12 months with met-rhGH. Twenty patients had never been treated with hGH (previously untreated patients, Group I).

The measurement of fecal thyroxine in the diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis factitia.

Two patients with prolonged thyrotoxicosis are presented with low radioiodide uptake, low-normal serum thyroglobulin concentrations, and low iodide content of the neck on x-ray fluorescence studies. The surreptitious intake of thyroid hormone was directly proven by a high fecal concentration of T4 (12.38 and 23.

Lack of disease recurrence in diabetic BB/Pfd rats after syngeneic islet transplantation.

Restimulation of autoreactivity in two different BB rat sublines of the same origin (Ottawa, Canada) was investigated by syngeneic islet transplantation into diabetic animals. Despite identical methods and conditions recurrence of hyperglycaemia was observed in BB/OK rats (Karlsburg, Germany) but not in BB/Pfd rats (Leuven, Belgium). Pancreatic morphology at the time of transplantation revealed significant differences in islet volume density and the degree of insulitis.

Effects of sex steroids on hepatic and lipoprotein lipase activity and mRNA in the rat.

In humans, sex steroids have been implicated in the regulation of hepatic and lipoprotein lipase activity. Therefore, the effects of orchidectomy and subsequent androgen or estrogen administration on hepatic lipase (HL) and adipose tissue and heart lipoprotein lipase (LPL) were examined. Relative to intact controls, orchidectomy of male rats resulted in no significant change in HL activity and mRNA, or in heart and adipose tissue LPL activity and mRNA levels.

Bone and mineral metabolism in the adult guinea pig: long-term effects of estrogen and androgen deficiency.

The effects of androgen and estrogen deficiency on skeletal homeostasis were studied in the guinea pig. Male and female adult (7 months old) guinea pigs were either sham operated (9 females and 7 males) or gonadectomized [9 ovariectomized (OVX) females and 6 orchidectomized (ORX) males] and sacrificed 4 months later for evaluation of bone mass, bone turnover, and serum calcium homeostasis. Parameters of bone turnover, calcium homeostasis, and vitamin D metabolites were similar in all groups except for increased serum IGF-I concentrations (+30%) in males compared to females.

Serum growth hormone (GH)-binding protein and insulin-like growth factor-I levels in Turner's syndrome before and during treatment with recombinant human GH and ethinyl estradiol.

Serum levels of GH-binding protein (GH-BP) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were measured in 14 adolescent girls with Turner's syndrome (TS) before and during treatment with recombinant human GH (rhGH) and oral ethinyl estradiol (EE2). Before treatment, the mean +/- SE GH-BP level in TS patients was 33.2 +/- 2.

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 prevents insulitis in NOD mice.

The active form of vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D3, can prevent various forms of experimentally induced autoimmune disorders. The aim of this study was to confirm these findings in NOD mice that spontaneously develop an autoimmune type of diabetes mellitus. Therefore, the effect of a long-term 1,25(OH)2D3 treatment on the incidence of insulitis, the histological lesion preceding diabetes, was studied.

Effects of short-term growth hormone treatment on PTH, calcitriol, thyroid hormones, insulin and glucagon.

We measured changes in serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), calcitriol, parathyroid hormone (PTH), thyroid hormones, insulin, and plasma glucagon in response to seven days of treatment with a pharmacological dosage of recombinant human growth hormone (r-hGH) (0.1 IU/kg sc twice daily) or placebo in 20 normal male volunteers to evaluate whether the effect of r-hGH on biochemical bone markers could be attributed to changes in these hormones. Serum IGF-1 (p < 0.

Homologous radioimmunoassay of human osteocalcin.

Osteocalcin or bone gamma-glutamic acid-containing protein (GLA protein) was isolated from human bone and used to develop a homologous radioimmunoassay of human osteocalcin. The effect of age on serum osteocalcin was studied in 380 normal children and adolescents and 330 normal adults. The mean (+/- SD) values in adults were higher in men [25 +/- 5 micrograms/L (4.

Vanadate potentiates the glycogenic action of insulin-like growth factors on isolated diaphragm.

Na3VO4 (6.5 mumol/100 g rat weight), co-injected with a trace amount of [14C]glucose, increased within 15 min the incorporation of radiolabel in diaphragmal glycogen. After 2 h the vanadate-induced increases were 12-fold in the diaphragm and 7-8-fold in heart and liver.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids decrease the apparent affinity of vitamin D metabolites for human vitamin D-binding protein.

The affinity of purified human vitamin D-binding protein from serum (DBP) for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-OHD3) and 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] was measured in the presence of free fatty acids (FFA), cholesterol, prostaglandins and several drugs. Mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids markedly decreased the affinity of both 25-OHD3 and 1,25-(OH)2D3 for DBP, whereas saturated fatty acids (stearic and arachidic acid), cholesterol, cholesterol esters, retinol, retinoic acid and prostaglandins (A1 and E1) did not affect the apparent affinity. Several chemicals known to decrease the binding of thyroxine to its plasma-binding protein did not affect the affinity of DBP.

The effects of systemic insulin, insulin-like growth factor-I and growth hormone on bone growth and turnover in spontaneously diabetic BB rats.

Spontaneously diabetic BB rats have a markedly depressed longitudinal bone growth and bone formation/turnover. In this study, male diabetic BB rats were infused intraperitoneally or subcutaneously for 2 weeks with hormones that are believed to stimulate skeletal growth and/or trabecular bone formation: insulin (3 or 4 U/day), human GH (hGH; 400 mU/day), recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-I (rhIGF-I; 300 or 600 micrograms/day) and testosterone (80 micrograms/100 g body weight per day). Saline-treated diabetic BB rats had decreased plasma concentrations of IGF-I and osteocalcin (OC) (OC, 3.

Influence of vitamin D on parathyroid function in the elderly.

Unlabelled: The effect of age and vitamin D status on parathyroid function was studied in 129 healthy subjects between 20 and 89 yr old, with normal serum creatinine (less than 0.11 mmol/L), and living in Cordoba, Spain. Serum calcium and phosphorus as well as 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25-(OH)2D] decreased, whereas serum alkaline phosphatase increased, with age.

Serum levels of growth hormone-binding protein and insulin-like growth factor-I during puberty.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the effect of pubertal development on serum levels of growth hormone binding protein (GHBP) and IGF-I, and to study the relationship between GHBP levels and height standard deviation score (SDS), nutritional state and IGF-I levels.

Design And Patients: The investigation was performed on serum samples from 72 healthy adolescents of different pubertal stage. Results were compared to those obtained in 46 prepubertal children.

Effect of erythromycin on gastric motility in controls and in diabetic gastroparesis.

The effect of three doses of erythromycin on interdigestive gastrointestinal motility and on plasma motilin levels was studied in healthy volunteers and patients with diabetic gastroparesis. Abnormalities of interdigestive motility were observed in 40% of the patients. In healthy volunteers, 40 mg erythromycin elicited a premature phase 3 that started in the stomach.

Regulation of calbindin D 28K and its mRNA in the intestine of the domestic hen.

Intestinal calbindin synthesis in laying hens was analyzed to assess controlling factors operating during egg formation. In the absence of vitamin D, calbindin was not induced by estrogen and testosterone. In immature vitamin D-replete pullet, blood levels of 1,25(OH)2D3 increased in response to estrogen but the duodenal concentration of calbindin and its mRNA were increased only when testosterone was given together with estrogen.

Relation between 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, apolipoprotein A-I, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol.

In a survey of cardiovascular risk factors in 185 men and 173 women of a Belgian population group, an independent and highly significant positive correlation was found between the serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and apolipoprotein A-I (p less than 0.001 in both sexes). 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 also showed a positive correlation with high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (p less than 0.