Hyperglycemia in stressed small premature neonates.

The metabolic responses to a constant glucose infusion were measured in 30 premature infants, 700 to 1,550 gm. The study included 18 stressed premature infants who needed assisted ventilation, and 12 control premature infants. Metabolic measurements were similar in both groups in the cord and preinfusion samples.

Nonuniform distribution of occult blood in feces.

Inhibition of anti-Rh29 by erythrocytic stroma in feces was devised as a specific test for fecal occult blood. The sensitivity of this test was equivalent to that of a standard Hemoccult test, namely, 10(8) erythrocytes/g feces. Comparison of results of this test with results of Hemoccult tests of random stool specimens and of stools following ingestion of autologous blood revealed nonuniform distribution of occult blood in feces.

Prevention of hypocalcemia in children due to parathyroid infarction after thyroidectomy.

A high incidence of hypercalcemia was found in children after subtotal thyroidectomy for thyrotoxicosis in 17 patients. The most common cause of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia was not glandular extirpation but, seemingly, infarction due to devascularization. This complication has been eliminated by a change in the operation technique.

Direct inhibition of Leydig cell function by estradiol.

Suppression of plasma testosterone levels from a mean of 760 ng/dl to a mean of 295 ng/dl could be induced in normal young adult men 24 h after a single injection of 2 mg aqueous 17 beta-estradiol. Maximum suppression to 123 ng/dl was noted 36 h after estradiol administration. Neither LH nor FSH levels were similarly affected.

Antigenic determinants of C3 and C4 complement components on washed erythrocytes from normal persons.

Well-washed erythrocytes from normal persons were agglutinated by antisera to C3, C3d, and C4, and this agglutination was specifically inhibited by the corresponding C3 or C4 protein. C3 and C4 antigenic determinants were present on the red blood cells of freshly shed blood promptly anticoagulated with EDTA, heparin, ACD, or CPD, and no significant changes in degree of agglutination were observed on storage of EDTA or CPD blood for two weeks at 4 C. Marked differences in degree of agglutination by anti-C3, anti-C3d, and anti-C4 were observed when erythrocytes of 16 normal persons were assayed, and significant correlations were obtained when the quantitative results with any two antisera were compared.

Partial gonadotrophin-resistance in pseudohypoparathyroidism.

A patient with classical Albright's pseudohypoparathyroidism was investigated because of oligomenorrhoea. Hypo-oestrogenism was associated with elevated basal gonadotrophin values [mean basal serum LH and FSH were 272 +/- 84 (SD) ng/ml and 593 +/- 83 ng/ml, resplectively (normal less than or equal to 220 and less than or equal to 400, respectively)]. The response to gonadotrophin releasing hormone (Gn-RH) was exaggerated, with maximal LH and FSH increments of 1688 and 458 ng/ml, respectively.

Some limitations of using equilibrium dialysis to study human serum albumin-testosterone interaction.

The apparent association constant of testosterone binding to pure human serum albumin was found to be significantly less at 5 g/dl (1.79 x 10(4) M-1) than at 1 g/dl (2.29 x 10(4) M-1).

Experimental cryptorchidism in adult male rats: histological and hormonal sequelae.

Mature male rats were rendered cryptorchid and followed for up to nine weeks during which serial blood specimens were obtained for multiple hormonal analyses; serial testicular samples were obtained as well. In contrast with control animals, cryptorchid rats showed transient rises in FSH which returned to normal at the end of the study; estrogen levels were high in the final weeks. Plasma testosterone levels were unchanged and LH levels changed little.

alpha-Actinin and tropomyosin interactions with a hybrid complex of erythrocyte-actin and muscle-myosin.

alpha-Actinin isolated from dog muscle was used to incite antibodies in rabbits, Antibodies, purified by affinity chromatography on CNBr-Sepharose coupled with alpha-actinin and then ferritin-labeled were found to localize on the Z disc of muscle sarcomeres. Molecules of alpha-actinin as an adsorbed monolayer on the surface of polystyrene Lytron particles could bind muscle-actin and tropomyosin from solution. Both the ATPase activity and superprecipitation of an erythrocyte-actin and muscle-myosin hybrid actomyosin complex were altered by alpha-actinin, while tropomyosin diminished these alpha-actinin effects.

Follow-up study of male and female offspring of DES-exposed mothers.

This follow-up study presents the effects of DES on the genital tract of male and female offspring of mothers who were part of a double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation during 1951 and 1952 aimed at determining the effect of DES on pregnancy. Epididymal cysts, hypotrophic testes, and capsular induration were the more common genital lesions found in 25% of 163 DES-exposed males as compared to 6% in 168 control males. Semen analysis data on 39 subjects of the DES-exposed group and 25 subjects of the control group showed that 26% of the DES-exposed group produced an ejaculate volume under 1.

The effects of fluoxymesterone administration on testicular function.

Long term daily administration of fluoxymesterone (9alpha-fluoro-17alpha-methyl-11beta, 17beta-dihydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one) was associated with a modest suppression of sperm production and a profound suppression of testosterone levels in the absence of significant effects on plasma gonadotropin levels. Nine normal male volunteers took either 10, 20, or 30 mg of fluoxymesterone daily for twelve weeks. Plasma samples were obtained for testosterone, estrogen, LH and FSH levels at biweekly intervals before, during and for up to 12 weeks after fluoxymesterone treatment.

The effects of dexamethasone on plasma free androgens during the normal menstrual cycle.

In order to evaluate the ovarian and adrenal contribution to peripheral plasma concentrations of total testosterone (TTe), indixes of the plasma concentrations of free testosterone (FTeI), free 17 beta-hydroxysteroid androgens (FHSI), and testosterone-binding globulin (TeBG) during the menstrual cycle, women were examined during three normal cycles and three other cycles under dexamethasone (0.5 mg., four times a day) suppression.

Growth retardation and zinc nutrition.

Based on a previous report of a zinc deficiency syndrome in children characterized by low hair zinc, anorexia, poor growth, and hypogeusia, 12 children attending a pediatric endocrinology clinic for growth retardation and judged as having short stature as a variant of normal (SVN) were evaluated as to their zinc nutriture to learn whether zinc deficiency was a contributory factor. None was found to have the above syndrome, although one child did have a hair zinc concentration below 70 mug/g. The mean hair zinc of the SVN subjects was lower than the hair zinc of 40 apparently normal adolescents, 131+/-37 mug/g vs.

Transfusion therapy for autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Transfusion therapy for patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia poses major problems to both the blood bank that is charged with providing blood and the clinician who must manage the patient successfully. Profitable discussions between the clinician and the blood bank are necessary before the patient can receive the most beneficial form of treatment. These problems are summarized in Table 1.

Endocrinologic characteristics of partial ovarian failure.

Three young women with primary ovarian failure, secondary amenorrhea or oligo-ovulation, and normal gonadotropin levels are reported on here. Vaginal cytology and serum estradiol levels indicated the two women to be persistently hypoestrogenic. The third case, who had the Turner phenotype, was hypoestrogenic during anovulatory cycles but occasionally ovulated.

Idiotypic specificities of anti-Rh antibodies.

Idiotypic antibodies were produced in rabbits to Rh antibodies isolated from the serum of an individual with high Rh antibody titer. These antisera after absorption with blood IgG failed to react with immunoglobulins lacking anti-Rh activity. They agglutinated cells coated with the immunizing antibody to high titers.