The serum osteocalcin levels in adult and aged hypothyroid patients.

Osteocalcin (OC) or the bone protein containing gamma-carboxyglutamic acid (BGP or Gla-P), is a specific and sensitive marker of bone turnover. A radioimmunoassay (RIA) system for human osteocalcin was developed with the sensitivity of 0.5 ng/ml.

Methods of isolation and purification of bovine and rat osteocalcin.

Measurement of osteocalcin (a bone protein containing gamma-carboxyglutamic acid, GLA-P) in the biological liquids and tissues is of interest for studying the mechanisms of bone diseases. It is also helpful in making a diagnosis and in following up the patients with diseases in which the osseous system is affected. Methods have been worked out for isolation and purification of osteocalcin from bovine and rat femur in order to use the purified substance as a starting material for developing radioimmunoassay (RIA) systems for each of these osteocalcins.

The assessment of the dopaminergic tonus by urinary determinations of homovanillic acid (HVA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in normal, obese and GH-deficient short children.

In order to assess the dopaminergic tonus, urinary determinations of HVA and DOPAC and also of noradrenaline (NA), adrenaline (A), and methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) were performed in 86 obese children, 11 growth hormone (GH)-deficient short children and also in 40 control children. Part of the obese patients were subjected to a low carbohydrate, low calorie diet and also to short-term (9-14 days) courses of diethylpropion (DEP) 50 mg/day, meclofenoxate (MEC) 100 mg/day and thyroid extract (THE) 1-2 mg/kg/day. The GH-deficient patients received only THE in substitutive (5-10 mg/kg/day) doses.

The effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on the sleep parameters of the rat pups.

In order to verify the hypothesis that at least during perinatal life the amount of active sleep (AS) is dependent on the level of the brain maturation, newborn rats received by an i.p. route for 6 days, a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFAs) preparation (Vitamin F) in doses of 1, 10 and 100 mg/day.

Leprechaunism: report of two cases and review.

Two new cases of leprechaunism are reported, one of which from consanguinous parents. Both cases show the clinical picture characteristic of this syndrome: severe pre- and postnatal growth failure, psychic backwardness, lack of adipose tissue, cutis laxa; elf-like face, large ears, globular eyes, hypertelorism, micrognathia and various degrees of external genitalia hypertrophy. Endocrinologically, one of the patients shows the syndrome of low T3.

Protein content and thyroid hormone release in vitro by differentiated thyroid cancer cells in the presence of estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone, polypeptidic hormones and pesticides.

The reactivity of thyroid cancer cells treated with estradiol (E) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) in the presence of other hormones (TSH, STH, insulin), myopeptide and some pesticides (aminotriazole--ATA, atrazine--ATZ, prometryne--P and ATC) proved to be active in the culture medium. Protein synthesis in sclerosing folliculo-papillary cancer cells under the treatment applied is more markedly inhibited by DHA than by E in the culture medium is compared to the control lots. Tg1 and T3 release into the culture medium under the action of T4 and TSH decreases progressively going from the control to the treated lots, in the presence of E and DHA.

Natrium, potassium, cholesterol and total free 11-hydroxycorticosteroids variations in thymectomized and thymic extract treated rats.

The authors investigated the effect of thymectomy and TP2 thymic polypeptide extract administration on total, esterified and free cholesterol in the plasma and the adrenals, as well as on plasma Na and K and plasma free total 11-hydroxycorticosteroids. The results showed that total, esterified and free cholesterol decrease in the adrenals by 23.20%, 28.

Free 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in human urine: metabolic routes, biochemical and clinical significance in healthy and obese children.

Conjugated MHPG is an indicator of the adrenergic tonus having clinical use in the follow-up of affective disorders, arterial hypotension, anorexia nervosa and recently of obesity. Little is known about the significance of the unconjugated, free MHPG in various body fluids. Nineteen healthy and 38 obese children were studied as regards the urinary excretion of free MHPG (MHPGF), conjugated MHPG (MHPGC), total MHPG (MHPGT) and also free noradrenaline (NA) valnillyl mandelic acid (VMA) and metanephrines (MN).

Zinc and copper in plasma and erythrocytes of Down's syndrome children.

The concentration of zinc and copper in the plasma and the erythrocytes of 24 children with Down's syndrome was measured and compared with the values in a control group of normal children. Zinc and copper were determined in this biologic material by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A significant (p less than 0.

Serum and intracystic levels of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) in women with breast macrocysts.

In 15 patients with a total of 22 breast macrocysts serum and intracystic T4 and T3 and intracysts TSH were concomitantly radioimmunoassayed (using a technique with polyethylene glycol (PEG) for T3, T4, and a double antibody technique for TSH). While in most cysts (17/22) the T4 values were under those in the serum, in 21 cysts T3 was 2-18 times above the serum values. Intracystic TSH was at the lower limit of the normal serum TSH values whereas prolactin (PRL) and thyroglobulin (TGL) assayed in several cysts were not different from their serum value.

Radioreceptor assay of human prolactin using rabbit mammary receptors.

The purpose of this work is to develop the procedures for the preparation of the reagents suitable for the radioreceptor assay (RRA) of human prolactin (Prl). Human purified Prl (NIAMDD-hPrl-16) was labelled with 125I by the Chloramine-T or alternatively by the lactoperoxidase method. As reference preparation we used Prl isolated from the ethanolic step of the routine procedure for the preparation of human growth hormone (hGH) for clinical purposes.

REM sleep rebound after its suppression by vasotocin in cats.

Extremely small amounts (10(-4) pg) of synthetic arginine vasotocin (AVT) injected into the pineal recess of unanesthetized cats induced a continuous NREM sleep for about 60 minute and completely suppressed REM sleep for about 5 hours. The reappearance of the REM sleep following AVT administration occurred with a marked rebound, lasting for more than one hour. Since neither vasopressin nor oxytocin, at the same doses, were able to affect significantly the REM sleep, it is concluded that AVT is specifically involved in the modulation and/or circadian organization of the REM sleep.

Circadian and circannual rhythms of hormonal variables in elderly men and women.

A group of fourteen men (73 +/- 5 yr of age), and eighteen women (77 +/- 7 yr of age) institutionalized at the Berceni Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania, were studied over a 24-hr span once during each season (winter, spring, summer and fall). All subjects followed a diurnal activity pattern with rest at night and ate three meals per day with breakfast at about 0830, lunch at about 1300 and dinner at about 1830. The meals were similar, although not identical for all subjects during all seasons.