Aldose reductase inhibitors in the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a review.

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to examine how aldose reductase (AR) inhibitors are used in the prevention and treatment of peripheral neuropathy in diabetes, specifically focusing on efficacy.

Methods: Medline searches were used to identify clinical trials investigating AR inhibitors and their proposed mechanism of action, efficacy, and adverse effects. Additionally, the references of the articles returned by the Medline search were examined for pertinent publications.

[Hypothyroidism in the elderly of advanced age].

Thyroid function tests were performed on 445 in-patients over a four month period at the Department of Medicine of a teaching hospital attached to the University of Kiel. Excluding those severely ill, moribund or known to have abnormal thyroid function, the study included all patients over 60 years of age. Diagnostic criteria were clinical symptoms, results of the TRH test and of T4-RIA, in addition to nonspecific tests of blood sugar, serum cholesterol and blood count.

[Objectivation of psychic alterations in patients after hypophysectomy (author's transl)].

17 patients who had undergone transfrontal hypophysectomy were compared as regards their performance in the MMPI Saarbrücken and the Rosenzweig-Picture-Frustation Study with an equal number of patients who had undergone comparable head surgery. The results suggest that the psychic alterations revealed in these tests may be regarded as unspecific consequences of the operative method.

[Treatment of thyroid storm with plasmapheresis (author's transl)].

The conventional treatment of thyrotoxicosis is based on central and periphery therapeutic measures which respectively block the thyroid hormone production and subdue the hormone effect in the tissue. On account of long biological hal-life of thyroxine conventional methods of treatment fail to achieve a rapid reduction of the excessively high serumhormone level. As the overwhelming proportion of thyroid hormone is boud to serum proteins, plasmapheresis presents itself as a possibility of achieving this therapeutic aim.

[Diagnosis and control of therapy of thyroid disorders by TRH-test (author's transl)].

TSH-measurement before and after stimulation with TRH proved to be of good value in the diagnosis of thyroid dysfunctions, better than other parameters including J-131-test. During treatment of hypothyroid disorder TRH-test, often repeatable, allows estimation of T4 substitution dosis. In Graves disease therapy, furthermore, should be judged by in-vitro or clinical parameters.