Selective ovarian vein sampling to localize a Leydig cell tumor.

Objective: To describe a patient with recent onset of rapidly progressive virilization who was diagnosed with an androgen-secreting tumor of the left ovary, localized by selective ovarian vein catheterization and hormonal sampling (SOVHS).

Design: Case report.

Setting: Tertiary community-based medical center.

Calcium-dependent release of N-terminal fragments and intact immunoreactive parathyroid hormone by human pathological parathyroid tissue in vitro.

The regulation of PTH secretion by extracellular calcium was studied in parathyroid tissue obtained from patients with hyperparathyroidism (adenoma or hyperplasia) using both an amino (N)-terminal RIA as well as an immunoradiometric assay (intact assay) specific for the intact hormone. The parathyroid glands separated into three major groups when examined in terms of absolute amounts of PTH secreted, degree of suppressibility, and set-point for calcium (the concentration of calcium causing half-maximal inhibition of PTH release). In cell preparations from group A (two different adenomas, two hyperplastic glands from a patient with renal failure, and a hyperplastic gland from a patient with hypophosphatemic rickets), both assays showed comparable PTH release (agreeing within 2-fold), similar degrees of suppressibility and similar, if not identical, set-points.

Regulation of parathyroid hormone release and cytosolic calcium by extracellular calcium in dispersed and cultured bovine and pathological human parathyroid cells.

Alterations in parathyroid glandular sensitivity to calcium may contribute to the hypersecretion of PTH in hyperparathyroidism. Since the cytosolic calcium concentration may mediate the effects of extracellular calcium on PTH release, we have employed the calcium-sensitive intracellular dye QUIN-2 to examine the relationship between extracellular calcium, cytosolic calcium, and PTH secretion in adult, neonatal, and cultured bovine as well as pathological human parathyroid cells. PTH release was measured using C- and N-terminal radioimmunoassays.

Androgen excess in cystic acne.

We measured hormone levels in 59 women and 32 men with longstanding cystic acne resistant to conventional therapy. Affected women had higher serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, testosterone, and luteinizing hormone and lower levels of sex-hormone-binding globulin than controls. Affected men had higher levels of serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and 17-hydroxyprogesterone and lower levels of sex-hormone-binding globulin than controls.