Impaired glucose-induced insulin response in transgenic mice overexpressing the L-phosphofructokinase gene.

The selective impairment of glucose-induced insulin secretion in NIDDM can be attributed to defects in the glucose-signaling system. An alteration in the activity of phosphofructokinase (PFK), a key enzyme in the glycolytic pathway, may play a role in the abnormal glucose-induced insulin secretion. In this study, we evaluated insulin secretion in transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing the liver-type subunit of phosphofructokinase (PFKL).

Reproductive outcome following hysteroscopic adhesiolysis in Asherman's syndrome.

Objective: To determine whether hysteroscopic adhesiolysis improves reproductive outcome in women with Asherman's syndrome and pregnancy failure.

Subjects: Ninety consecutive women who had undergone hysteroscopic adhesiolysis of intrauterine adhesions during a 5-year period. Only women in whom at least two previous pregnancies had ended with either a spontaneous abortion or a premature delivery accompanied by fetal or neonatal mortality and a hysteroscopic diagnosis of intrauterine adhesions were enrolled.

Cytogenetic analysis of fetal chondrocytes: a comparative study.

Progress in the prevention and prenatal detection of birth defects has led to a relative increase in the number of interruption of pregnancies associated with chromosomal abnormalities. There is an inverse relationship between the rate of success of fetal cell cultures and the interval between fetal demise and the initiation of culture. This report describes the cytogenetic analyses of cultured fetal chondrocytes compared with tissue cultures of fetal skin, fetal membranes, and placenta.

Impaired brainstem auditory evoked potentials in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were measured in 11 young patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Though none had clinical evidence of neurological impairment, all had various abnormal components of brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs). Abnormal BAEPs may be attributed to nutritional deficiencies including deficiencies of vitamins E and B6.

Postpartum surveillance of urinary retention by ultrasonography: the effect of epidural analgesia.

Our objective was to investigate by ultrasonography whether the risk for postpartum urinary retention is increased following administration of epidural analgesia during labor and delivery. In a prospective study, 106 healthy women who had undergone vaginal delivery were evaluated. Sixty-eight of the women had received epidural analgesia during labor and delivery.

A proposition for the diagnosis and treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in children: a report from a working group on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Working Group of the European Society of Paediatric Gastro-enterology and Nutrition (ESPGAN).

In this paper, a Working Group on Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux discusses recommendations for the first line diagnostic and therapeutic approach of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in infants and children. All members of the Working Group agreed that infants with uncomplicated gastro-oesophageal reflux can be safely treated before performing (expensive and often unnecessary) complementary investigations. However, the latter are mandatory if symptoms persist despite appropriate treatment.

Antenatal diagnosis of congenital dislocation of the knee: a case report.

Congenital dislocation of the knee was diagnosed antenatally in an abdominal flat plate. This is probably the first time that this condition has been diagnosed prior to delivery. Examination of the newborn after delivery revealed dislocation of the right hip and knee.

Interrupted extra-ovular infusion may not be reversible.

Late abortion ensued 9 days after discontinuation of extra-ovular PGE2 infusion for mid-trimester termination of pregnancy in a 15-year-old unmarried primigravida. This observation, which has no precedent in the literature, may suggest that once extra-ovular PG infusion has been started, its discontinuation may not be considered reversible.

Schizophrenia and fatal self-induced water intoxication with appropriately-diluted urine.

A 31-year-old woman with untreated chronic schizophrenia developed extreme polydipsia which rapidly led to coma and death due to cerebral edema. Hyponatremia (120 mEq/liter) and serum hypo-osmolality (260 mOsm/kg) were associated with marked polyuria (up to 1850 ml/hour) and appropriately low urinary osmolality (90 mOsm/kg) which responded to treatment. This case and few qualifying previous reports which are reviewed support the possibility that pure self-induced water intoxication with no major contribution of inadequate release of antidiuretic hormone may occur, and that extreme polydipsia can sometimes overwhelm normal renal diluting capacity in psychotic patients.

Systemic lupus erythematosus in 49 Israeli males: a retrospective study.

Forty-nine male SLE patients, diagnosed and followed in seven medical centers in Israel between 1954 and 1983, were studied and analyzed retrospectively in order to determine whether the disease in males was clinically different from that reported in females both in Israel and in the world literature. The primary clinical and laboratory manifestations, the severity of the disease at the onset or at any time during the course of the disease, and the 1-15 year survival rates were not different from those described before in female SLE, although neurological involvement, nephritis, thrombocytopenia, vasculitis and hepatosplenomegaly were more prevalent in our series. However, more than half of the male patients (53%) had a benign course of disease characterized by long remissions requiring minimal or no medication.