HLA-DR and -DQ DNA genotyping in insulin-dependent diabetes patients in South India.

Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of the HLA-DR beta, -DQ alpha, -DQ beta, and -DX alpha genes have been examined in South Indian diabetic patients and controls. The DR. DQ linkage arrangements in South Indians were shown to be different for DR2, DR4, and DRw6 from those commonly seen in Europeans, so that localization of the primary disease-promoting gene in IDDM could be attempted.

Pancreatic beta cell response in insulin treated NIDDM patients limitations of a random C-peptide measurement.

Pancreatic beta cell function was evaluated in 30 insulin treated non-insulin dependent diabetic patients, by estimating serum C-peptide after meal stimulation. C-peptide response was low (less than 0.6 pmol/ml) in 15 patients and it was significant (greater than 0.

Exercise- and cold-induced changes in plasma beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in men and women.

The plasma beta-endorphin (beta-EP) and beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH) response of men, eumenorrheic women, and amenorrheic women (n = 6) to 1 h of rest or to a bicycle ergometer test [20 min at 30% maximum O2 uptake (VO2max), 20 min at 60% VO2max, and at 90% VO2max to exhaustion] was studied in both normal (22 degrees C) and cold (5 degrees C) environments. beta-EP and beta-LPH was measured by radioimmunoassay in venous samples collected every 20 min during rest or after each exercise bout. Exhaustive exercise at ambient temperature (Ta) 22 degrees C induced significant increases in plasma beta-EP and beta-LPH in all subjects as did work at 60% VO2max in amenorrheic and eumenorrheic women.

Effects of vagotomy on circulating levels of catecholamines and corticosterone in the pigeon.

The effects of bilateral cervical vagotomy on the blood levels of corticosterone, and catecholamines, adrenaline (A) and noradrenaline (NA), in pigeons, were studied. Plasma levels of corticosterone and NA were found to be significantly higher and of A lower, in the vagotomized (VgX) pigeons as compared to their sham-operated (VgS) controls. These changes in VgX pigeons are explained as caused mainly by the lack of the vagal tone.

Errors in clinical assessment of glycemic control in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Errors in the assessment of glycemic control by clinicians, using the conventional method, based on random blood glucose and clinical parameters other than HbA1, were assessed in 125 non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) patients (Group B). The expected mean post-prandial plasma glucose concentrations (y) for these patients were obtained from their HbA1 values (x) using the regression equation y = 39.6 X x - 157.

Significance of impaired glucose tolerance in an Asian Indian population: a follow-up study.

A prospective study was undertaken in 107 Indians with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) for a period ranging from 2 to 10 years. On follow-up, 32% still had an impaired glucose tolerance, 32% reverted to normal glucose tolerance and 36% developed diabetes. Careful dietary adherence and weight reduction were found to favour normalisation of glucose tolerance.

Beta cell function in long term NIDDM (type 2) patients and its relation to treatment.

Pancreatic beta cell function was assessed by estimation of fasting and post prandial plasma C-peptide in 183 non-insulin dependent diabetic patients, who were treated with oral hypoglycaemic drugs, for more than 10 years. One-hundred-and-forty-one patients, continued to respond to oral hypoglycaemic agents (Group I) and in 42 the control was not satisfactory and had to be changed over to insulin (secondary failure, Group II). Significant beta cell reserve (PP CP greater than or equal to 0.

Peripheral neuropathy in tropical pancreatic diabetes.

Electrophysiological evaluation of peripheral neuropathy was done in 16 patients with tropical pancreatic diabetes (TPD) and the data compared with those of a matched group of 16 NIDDM patients. Peripheral neuropathy was present in 6 TPD and 5 NIDDM patients. Abnormal motor conduction velocity in the lateral popliteal nerve was seen in 9 TPD patients and in 8 NIDDM patients and biothesiometry was abnormal in 7 patients in each group.

Suppression of sympathetic nervous system by short photoperiod and melatonin in the Syrian hamster.

Exposure to short photoperiod or melatonin treatment brings about gonadal regression in Syrian hamsters. The possible influence of these treatments on the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in these animals was investigated. Male Syrian hamsters were exposed to either long or short photoperiod or subjected to administration of melatonin or its vehicle solution.

Effects of short photoperiod and melatonin treatment on thermogenesis in the Syrian hamster.

This study investigated whether short photoperiod or melatonin-treatment could alter the thermogenic capacity of Syrian hamsters. Exposure of hamsters to short photoperiod and to exogenous melatonin treatment induced gonadal regression and hypertrophy of brown adipose tissue (BAT). Short photoperiod and melatonin-induced BAT hypertrophy was not accompanied by any change in noradrenaline (NA) turnover in this tissue.