Effects of minocycline on endogenous neural stem cells after experimental stroke.

Minocycline has been reported to reduce infarct size after focal cerebral ischemia, due to an attenuation of microglia activation and prevention of secondary damage from stroke-induced neuroinflammation. We here investigated the effects of minocycline on endogenous neural stem cells (NSCs) in vitro and in a rat stroke model. Primary cultures of fetal rat NSCs were exposed to minocycline to characterize its effects on cell survival and proliferation.

Hypogonadism in congenital adrenal hypoplasia: evidence for a hypothalamic origin.

Two unrelated boys with congenital adrenal hypoplasia were followed from birth for 20 yr. In spite of continuous treatment with hydrocortisone and fluorocortisone both patients had delayed growth and bone maturation since early childhood and failure of spontaneous puberty. Tests of the hypothalamic-pituitary function showed low basal plasma LH and FSH levels and blunted LH and FSH responses to standard GnRH tests and increased basal and TRH-stimulated PRL levels.

Adult height of patients treated in childhood for undescended testes.

101 patients successfully treated for undescended testes with human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) or with HCG followed by surgery reached normal adult heights. Deviations from normal growth in individual patients did not appear to be related either to their earlier undescended testes or to the successful therapy, but rather to their genetic background. Therefore, apart from patients with chromosomal abnormalities and other primary causes for maldescent of the testes, boys with undescended testes show a normal distribution for height and do not represent a different population with regard to growth.

Maldescent of the testes--an epidemiological study.

The case histories of 2,362 newborn boys were evaluated for congenital testicular maldescent. These data, obtained from the prospective follow-up study "Pregnancy and Child Development" sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, are discussed in the light of new findings on morphological changes in this disorder. The aetiology of maldescent of testes is considered to be heterogenous and could not be clarified by investigating 26 factors which might be regarded as possible causes of the abnormality.

Congenital hemihypertrophy and malignant giant pheochromocytoma - a previously undescribed coincidence.

This is apparently the first report on connatal hemihypertrophy with malignant pheochromocytoma. The coincidence of hemihypertrophy with other diseases, particularly neuroectodermal dysplasias on the one hand and the frequent association of neuroectodermal dysplasias with pheochromocytoma on the other, are emphasized. Furthermore, basically known particularities of this case as malignancy of the tumor, the unusual size of the tumor in children, and the normal catecholamine levels in serum as well as the normal excretion of vanillylmandelic acid are discussed.