Treatment of high blood pressure in overweight patients.

Weight reduction was compared with metoprolol (200 mg daily) in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of first-line treatment of mild hypertension (diastolic blood pressure 90-109 mm Hg) in 56 overweight patients aged under 55 years. After 21 weeks of follow-up the weight-reduction group had lost an average of 7.4 kg.

Experience with adolescents with phenylketonuria returned to phenylalanine-restricted diets.

In order to test the feasibility of returning older children with classical phenylketonuria (PKU) to therapeutically and nutritionally adequate phenylalanine-restricted diets after 8 to 13 years of unrestricted diets, 7 adolescents (13 to 19 years old) of normal or near-normal intelligence with classical PKU were returned to phenylalanine-limited diets for periods of 8 to 10 weeks. During a 4- to 5-week period when the phenylalanine-restricted diet was supplemented with added L-phenylalanine to mimic pretreatment conditions, plasma phenylalanine levels were 1,327 +/- 282 microM on total phenylalanine intakes of 2,794 +/- 248 mg/day (55.3 +/- 11.

Interactive effects of estradiol and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin on hepatic cytochrome P-450 and mouse uterus.

Weanling C57B/6 female mice treated with 6 micrograms/kg 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) 3 times a week for one month (total dose 72 micrograms/kg) were observed to have greatly reduced relative uterine weights and histopathological changes in the uterus. Weanling CD-1 female mice were then treated with estradiol (E2) subcutaneously daily for 2 weeks. Half the mice also received 10 micrograms/kg TCDD in corn oil: acetone (9:1) by gavage 4 times during the second week.

The ectopic ureter in men.

The ectopic ureter is less common in male than in female patients. It usually terminates proximally to the external sphincter in the seminal vesicle or vas deferens, and usually involves a nonduplicated drainage system of a dysplastic kidney. Men characteristically present with lower tract symptoms, often epididymitis, a cystic or boggy periprostatic mass on rectal examination and ipsilateral nonvisualization on excretory urography.

Topographic organization of peripheral trigeminal ganglionic projections in newborn rats.

Retrograde transport of fluorescent tracers (true blue and diamidino yellow) was employed to delineate the topography of the peripheral projections of trigeminal ganglion cells in newborn (less than 12 h of age) rats. Identical injections were made in adult animals for comparison. In neonates, both inter- and intradivisional topography of ganglionic projections were adult-like.

Progesterone and testosterone production by dispersed rat placental cells.

Isopycnic separation and unit gravity sedimentation were employed to identify the rat placental cell types capable of producing progesterone and testosterone. Subdivision of Day 12-dispersed placental cells in Percoll gradients revealed that fractions (less than 1.048 g/ml) containing giant cytotrophoblast cells produced greater quantities of progesterone (p less than 0.

Antihypertensive treatment and plasma lipoprotein levels. The associations in data from a population study.

In clinical trials, antihypertensive therapy with beta blockers and methyldopa has resulted in adverse changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. To investigate whether such effects can be observed in a general population in which beta blockers and methyldopa are prescribed widely for the treatment of high blood pressure, plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels were compared in subjects receiving antihypertensive treatment, subjects with untreated high blood pressure, and subjects with normal blood pressure; these subjects were drawn from a random sample of 5,603 men and women screened in a national study of risk-factor prevalence in Australia. In both sexes, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were lower in the group receiving treatment for hypertension than in the other groups (p less than 0.

The effect of weight reduction on left ventricular mass. A randomized controlled trial in young, overweight hypertensive patients.

We compared the effects of weight reduction, metoprolol, and placebo on M-mode echocardiographic measurements of the thickness and mass of the left ventricular wall in a 21-week, randomized controlled trial that enrolled 41 young, overweight patients with hypertension. At the end of the follow-up period, the patients in the weight-reduction group had lost an average of 8.3 kg, and their blood pressure had decreased by an average of 14/13 mm Hg, as compared with 12/8 mm Hg in the metoprolol group and 9/4 mm Hg in the placebo group.

Verapamil prevents post-transplant oliguric renal failure.

Verapamil has proven effective in preventing acute renal failure in animal models if given prior to the insult and hence possibly has a role in the preservation of cadaveric renal tissue for transplantation. Twenty renal donors were randomly assigned to treatment (receiving verapamil 20 mg intravenously) and control groups. Recipients were monitored for renal failure by urine output and serum creatinines on days 1 and 7 and dialysis requirement to one week.

Preoperative laparoscopic localization of the nonpalpable testis.

Laparoscopic examination was performed successfully on 14 patients with 17 nonpalpable testes. The procedure was successful in determining the location in 16 of 17 nonpalpable testes, and this information was beneficial for selecting the subsequent operative approach. Laparoscopy was safe in the younger child (10 patients were 3 years old or less and 7 patients were less than 2 years old), and it added an insignificant increase in operative time.

Antigen-antibody analyses in neurocysticercosis.

In this report we show that there are 37 polypeptides of larval Taenia solium which react with antibodies from humans with neurocysticercosis. Six of these 37 polypeptides are recognized by antibodies present in the sera of both patients and control individuals. Thus, a minimum of 31 antigens are specific for cysticerci.

Chondrodysplasia punctata in an infant with duplication 16p due to a 7;16 translocation.

This paper describes a newborn with a number of clinical manifestations compatible with duplication 16p due to a 46, XY, -7, +der (7), t(7;16) (p22;p13) pat karyotype. In addition, the baby had chondrodysplasia punctata, whose distribution of lesions did not match any of the well-documented forms of these disorders. The baby also had microcornea and lacked a gallbladder, two features, in addition to chondrodysplasia punctata, that have not previously been noted in cases of duplication 16p.

Plasma lipoprotein levels in treated and untreated hypertensive men and women. The National Heart Foundation of Australia Risk Factor Prevalence Study.

Experimental studies have reported that common antihypertensive drugs such as diuretics, beta-blockers, and methyldopa have adverse effects on plasma lipids and lipoproteins. To investigate whether such effects can be observed in the general population, plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels were compared in subjects receiving antihypertensive treatment, subjects with untreated high blood pressure, and subjects with normal blood pressure in a random sample of 5603 subjects screened in a national study of risk factor prevalence in Australia. In both sexes, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was lower in the group receiving treatment than in the others (p less than 0.

Sports injuries in children. Necessary consequence of competition?

Evaluation of the benefits and risks of organized children's sports is difficult, but even play activities carry risks. The benefits of participation--eg, physical conditioning, accomplishment, and enjoyment--need to be weighed against the physical and/or psychological disadvantages. Social consciousness has been raised, studies are under way, and statistics are accumulating.

Use of antisera to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to detect non-FSH factors in human serum which modulate rat granulosa cell steroidogenesis.

We measured the ability of serum from women to stimulate steroidogenesis in cultured granulosa cells. Serum promoted estradiol and progesterone synthesis in proportion to its FHS content measured by RIA [i.e.

Comparison of weight reduction with metoprolol in treatment of hypertension in young overweight patients.

Weight reduction was compared with metoprolol (200 mg daily) in a randomised placebo-controlled trial of first-line treatment of mild hypertension (diastolic blood pressure 90-109 mm Hg) in 56 overweight patients aged under 55 years. After 21 weeks of follow up the weight-reduction group had lost an average of 7.4 kg.

(TAA)n within sequences flanking several intrachromosomal variant surface glycoprotein genes in Trypanosoma brucei.

In Trypanosoma brucei telomeric copies of intrachromosomal variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes are produced through a gene conversion mechanism and are expressed if the telomere is or becomes transcriptionally activated. We have analyzed a sequence that occurs 1 to 1.5 kb 5' to several intrachromosomal VSG genes.

Placental steroid production by the basal and labyrinth zones during the latter third of gestation in the rat.

Progesterone (P) and testosterone (T) production were investigated in minced rat placental preparations on Days 16, 18, 20, and 22 of pregnancy. Whole placentae were minced or dissected into basal and labyrinth zones and minced prior to a 2-h incubation. Production of P from whole placental minces (pg X mg tissue-1 X 2 h-1) was greatest on Day 16 (P less than 0.

A randomized controlled trial of weight reduction and metoprolol in the treatment of hypertension in young overweight patients.

The effects of weight reduction and metoprolol (100 mg, b.d.) in the treatment of hypertension (diastolic blood pressure 90-109 mmHg) in 56 young, overweight patients were investigated in a randomized placebo controlled trial.

The effects of hypophysectomy and administration of pituitary hormones on luteal function and uptake of high density lipoproteins by luteinized ovaries and adrenals of the rat.

The role of plasma lipoproteins and hypophyseal hormones in the maintenance of progesterone secretion by the rat corpus luteum was investigated. In the first experiment, rats were treated daily from days 1-6 of pregnancy with 5 mg/kg 4-aminopyrozolopyramidine (4APP), a blocker of hepatic lipoprotein secretion, or with 5 mg/kg 4APP and 1 or 2 mg ovine PRL or 0.1 ml 0.

Extracranial vasodilation mediated by vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP).

Pooled antisera to vasoactive intestinal polypeptide were used to block neurogenic extracranial vasodilatation elicited from either brainstem (locus coeruleus) or pterygopalatine ganglion stimulation in the cat. Vasodilatation was not inhibited by sham immune sera, or by antisera to bradykinin or substance P. The efferent pathway for vasodilatation from the locus coeruleus traverses the facial nerve (greater superficial petrosal branch) and the pterygopalatine and otic ganglia.

Role of etoposide-based chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with refractory or relapsing germ cell tumors.

Forty-nine patients with metastatic germ cell tumors were treated with etoposide 100 mg/m2 and cisplatin 20 mg/m2 intravenously each day for five days as "salvage" chemotherapy. Forty-seven patients had received standard induction regimens for metastatic germ cell tumors before receiving etoposide and cisplatin. Four patients were treated after surgical resection of a single site of relapse (Group I).

The effect of infusion of various peptide antisera on vasodilatation in the cat common carotid vascular territory.

Electrical stimulation of the locus coeruleus leads to a frequency-dependent vasoconstriction in the internal carotid vascular bed and a frequency-dependent vasodilatation in the external carotid vascular bed. This latter dilator response is mediated via the facial nerve, and then more peripherally through the pterygopalatine and otic ganglia, and employs the neuropeptide vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) as its transmitter.