High-calcium intake abolishes hyperoxaluria and reduces urinary crystallization during a 20-fold normal oxalate load in humans.

Background: The aim of the study was to test whether increasing dietary calcium intake lowers intestinal oxalate absorption and thereby prevents hyperoxaluria and urinary crystallization during a 20-fold normal oxalate load in healthy subjects.

Methods: Fourteen healthy male volunteers (age 23-44 years, BMI 21.5-27.

PTH-related protein is released into the mother's bloodstream during lactation: evidence for beneficial effects on maternal calcium-phosphate metabolism.

Recent studies have indicated that parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) may have important actions in lactation, affecting the mammary gland, and also calcium metabolism in the newborn and the mother. However, there are as yet no longitudinal studies to support the notion of an endocrine role of this peptide during nursing. We studied a group of 12 nursing mothers, mean age 32 years, after they had been nursing for an average of 7 weeks (B) and also 4 months after stopping nursing (A).

Effect of calcium-channel blockers on calcium-phosphate metabolism in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Background: After EDTA-induced hypocalcaemia, healthy volunteers treated with diltiazem display more severe hyperparathyroidism than subjects on felodipine studied under identical conditions. Therefore patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and severe secondary hyperparathyroidism might be particularly sensitive to this side-effect.

Methods: To test this hypothesis, seven patients with ESRD on chronic haemodialysis (3 women and 4 men) with serum levels of intact PTH ranging from 204 to 675 pg/ml were studied both before and during the first 180 min of haemodialysis against a dialysate with low calcium concentration (0.

Renal mass and serum calcitriol in male idiopathic calcium renal stone formers: role of protein intake.

To determine whether chronic overconsumption of protein might increase renal mass and cause up-regulation of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D] production, 57 male recurrent idiopathic calcium stone formers (RCSF), 29 with hypercalciuria (HCSF; urinary calcium x V, > 7.50 mmol/day) and 28 with normocalciuria (NCSF), were compared with 15 healthy male controls (C) while consuming a free choice diet. Renal mass in RCSF was measured by the sum of the surface areas of right and left kidneys (square centimeters) on plain films of the abdomen by a computer-assisted sonic stylus; in C, renal mass was assessed sonographically.

Effect of oral calcium loading on intact PTH and calcitriol in idiopathic renal calcium stone formers and healthy controls.

The calciuric response after an oral calcium load (1000 mg elemental calcium together with a standard breakfast) was studied in 13 healthy male controls and 21 recurrent idiopathic renal calcium stone formers, 12 with hypercalciuria (UCa x V > 7.50 mmol/24 h) and nine with normocalciuria. In controls, serum 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 (calcitriol) remained unchanged 6 h after oral calcium load (50.

Altered parathyroid gland function in severely immunocompromised patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus.

Several endocrine functions have been found disturbed in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). However, no information is available on parathyroid function in these patients. Six patients with AIDS and 10 healthy volunteers underwent an EDTA infusion to induce hypocalcemia and stimulate PTH secretion.

[Assessment of parathyroid gland function: predictive value of a nomogram].

Recent developments in measurement of intact parathormone (PTH) has enabled to generate a nomogram for parathyroid function. Blood levels of PTH can thus be interpreted in relation to calcemia. Intact PTH and calcium were assayed in blood from 99 healthy subjects studied under fasting conditions; 26 subjects were also studied during hyper- and hypocalcemia, induced by calcium and EDTA infusions, respectively.

Risk factors for low urinary citrate in calcium nephrolithiasis: low vegetable fibre intake and low urine volume to be added to the list.

Risk factors for low urinary citrate excretion were assessed in 34 consecutive male recurrent idiopathic calcium stone formers (RCSF) who collected two 24-h urines while on free-choice diet. Overt hypocitraturia (hypo-cit) was defined as UCit x V < 1.70 mmol/day, and 'low' citraturia (low-cit) as UCit x V between 1.

Diltiazem stimulates parathyroid hormone secretion in vivo whereas felodipine does not.

The impact of two calcium channel blockers of different structure, diltiazem and felodipine, on PTH secretion was studied under hyper- and hypocalcemic conditions. Six healthy volunteers were investigated before and after treatment with felodipine, then after treatment with diltiazem. Under each of these three conditions, they received first a calcium infusion (0.

[Urinary specific gravity--comparative measurements using reagent strips and refractometer in 340 morning urine samples].

The specific gravity of urine (SG) indicates the number and weight of solute particles in urine; its measurement is helpful in interpreting proteinuria detected by dipstick tests and in monitoring adequate hydration in patients with nephrolithiasis. Four methods for measuring SG or osmolality of urine are currently available (depression of the freezing-point, urometry, refractometry, cation exchange on a reagent strip). Using a recently developed reagent strip, we have measured SG in morning urines of 340 non-selected outpatients and compared the results with SG measurements by refractometry of the same urines.

Relative hypoparathyroidism and calcitriol up-regulation in hypercalciuric calcium renal stone formers--impact of nutrition.

The issue of secondary hyperparathyroidism in idiopathic hypercalciuria (IH) was addressed in 61 male idiopathic calcium stone formers (SF) who underwent metabolic evaluation on a free-choice diet as well as bone mineral density (BMD) measurements by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. They were divided into hypercalciurics (HCSF, n = 30, UCa X V > 7.5 mmol/day) and normocalciurics (NCSF, n = 31, UCa X V < 7.