摘要:

SUMMARYPlasma concentrations of HCG/LH and FSH were monitored after a first trimester abortion in eighteen healthy female volunteers three times weekly until the onset of first menstruation. Plasma concentrations of the HCG were measured with a specific RIA for the beta subunit (β‐sub‐HCG) from the samples of six of these subjects.The elimination of HCG during the first 12 days was studied from plasma concentrations measured by the radioimmunoassay of LH. The experimental data were well explained by a mathematical model consisting of three exponentially decreasing components. The half‐lives of the two more slowly decreasing components were 27 and 168 h. The estimate of the complete disappearance of HCG was 37.7 days, when the specific (β‐sub‐HCG) assay was used.Recovery of pituitary function occurred within 4–9 days after abortion, as judged by increased plasma FSH concentrations. In fourteen of eighteen subjects a midcycle LH peak was observed which occurred between 16 and 29 days after abortion. Plasma oestradiol concentrations increased 2–16 days after the rise in plasma FSH. Considerable amounts of HCG still circulated in the blood but the pre‐ovulatory peak of oestradiol never began before HCG/LH concentrations had decreased to below the range of the

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02188.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYThe subjects investigated comprised 57 normal males between 30 and 80 years of age; 40 patients between 50 and 80 years of age suffering from benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), and 11 untreated prostatic carcinoma (Ca) patients aged between 57 and 79 years. Serum concentrations of oestradiol, pregnenolone, progesterone, 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione, testosterone, 5α‐dihydrotestosterone and androsterone were determined from a single serum sample (1.6 ml). Oestradiol was determined by an automated non‐chromatographic radioimmunoassay, while other steroids were determined by radioimmunoassays, after solvent extraction and chromatographic purification on Lipidex‐5000(tm) microcolumns. When patient groups were compared with the 25 normal males between 50 and 80 years of age, several conclusions could be drawn. Serum concentrations of 5α‐dihydrotestosterone (P<0.01) and 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone (P<0.001) were both significantly higher in the BPH patients when compared with the normal males. This trend was also apparent in the serum concentrations of progesterone and testosterone in the older BPH patients. Although the mean concentrations of 5α‐dihydrotestosterone and 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone were slightly higher in carcinoma patients than normal males, these differences were not statistically significant. No differences were seen in the concentrations of pregnenolone, androstenedione, androsterone and oestradiol between normal subjects and patients wit

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02189.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYBasal serum concentrations of androgens (testosterone and dihydrotestosterone) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHAS) were measured in 7 normal and in 14 anovulatory women with raised serum prolactin. No patient had detectable skull x‐ray abnormalities. The mean DHAS, but not the androgens, were significantly higher in the women with hyperprolactinaemia (p<0.01) and in 7 of the 14 the values were above the normal range which is 2.9–11.2 μmol/l. The 7 normal subjects and 9 of the women with hyperprolactinaemia were given ACTH (0.5 mg twice daily for four days). Cortisol and androgen concentrations in response to ACTH were not significantly different in the two groups, but the levels of DHAS (p<0.001) were significantly higher over the four days in patients with hyperprolactinaemia. The concentrations of DHAS in these women were significantly higher by two days and continued to rise on day four of the test, but the concentration of androgens was greatest at two days as in the normal group.Treatment with bromocriptine to suppress plasma prolactin concentrations also lowered DHAS within 2–4 weeks, (p<0.01) and the suppression was maintained for three months. Androgens initially increased significantly (p<0.05) but by three months decreased again to the initial values.Taken together these results suggest that in the hyperprolactinaemic state biosynthesis by the Δ5pathway to DHAS is favoured and there is partial inhibition of 3β‐ol‐dehydrogenase isomerase resulting in impaired conversion of Δ5

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02190.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYA patient with Addison's disease, treated with conventional corticosteroid therapy, developed endocrine and radiological features suggestive of an ACTH secreting pituitary tumour. The negative feedback control of ACTH secretion by the inhibitory effect of hydrocortisone was shown to be preserved although attenuated. Retiming and alteration of corticosteroid therapy reinforced this feedback control, without the need for supraphysiological amounts of steroid, and resulted in the regression of the endocrine disorder.

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02191.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYThe concept of ectopic insulin production is challenged on the basis of a review of 120 cases from the literature on extrapancreatic tumours associated with hypoglycaemia in which insulin or insulin‐like activity were measured. No case met two or more of five criteria of ectopic hormone production. The evidence indicates that hypoglycaemia of extrapancreatic tumours cannot be attributed to insulin. In those rare cases in which plasma insulin was reported as high, pancreatic beta‐cells could not be excluded as the source of insulin. Interestingly, many of these dubious cases had carcinoid histology. The review also points out a close association between some spindle‐cell tumours and carcinoid tumours which may be relevant to discussion on the disputed origin of some “mesothelial” tumours.Nonsuppressible insulin‐like activity (NSILA) consists of a number of factors mimicking insulin activity which compete with insulin or proinsulin for membrane receptors and may crossreact in bioassays, immunoassays, and receptor assays. The question of whether one or several of these substances may be responsible for extrapancreatic hypoglycaemia remains to be

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02192.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYFive normal subjects took a low sodium diet for four days on two occasions, one with and one without added bromocriptine 2.5 mg three times a day by mouth. Daily measurements of urinary electrolytes and the concentrations of plasma renin (PRC), angiotensin II (AII), aldosterone, 18‐hydroxycorticosterone, cortisol, electrolytes and prolactin were made in both phases of the study. Deprivation of sodium without bromocriptine resulted in progressive and highly significant increases in the plasma concentration of aldosterone from 230 ± 50 to 418 ± 44 (SEM) pmol/l, 18‐hydroxycorticosterone from 627 ± 138 to 1420 ± 478 pmol/l, PRC from 108 ± 38 to 166 ± 14 μU/ml and AII from 16 ± 3 to 29 ± 4 pmol/l. Similar changes were found during bromocriptine administration despite suppression of prolactin secretion. Sodium deprivation together with bromocriptine resulted in increases in the plasma concentrations of aldosterone from 230 ± 47 to 416 ± 72 pmol/l, 18‐hydroxycorticosterone from 630 ± 99 to 1629 ± 552 pmol/l, PRC from 105 ± 12 μU/ml and AII from 14 ± 3 to 26 ± 5 pmol/l. Plasma cortisol did not change either in response to sodium deprivation or bromocriptine. Mean cumulative negative sodium balance was 101 ± 14 mmol on bromocriptine and 118 ± 14 mmol in the control period. We conclude that prolactin is not necessary for the steroidogenic response to s

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02193.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYGonadotrophin (Gn), thyrotrophin (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) reserve was evaluated in patients (aged 12–26 years old) with β thalassaemia. Abnormalities were detected in Gn reserve only. When compared with young adult controls, three of the four female patients and one of the two adult males had markedly impaired Gn responses to LH‐releasing hormone (LHRH). Of the five prepubertal males, one had no Gn rise following LHRH, while responses in the other four patients were comparable to those in boys with delayed puberty. Only one adult male had an exaggerated LH response to LHRH. TSH and PRL dynamics were normal. No correlation could be found between the severity of the disturbance in the gonadal axis and the total number of blood transfusions. Our findings correlate best with the severity of the disease process it

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02194.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYA 53‐year‐old woman with an early form of de Quervain's disease involving both thyroid lobes was found to have her thyroid uptake of iodine suppressed, although the serum thyroid hormone concentrations were normal while the administration of TRH resulted in significant increase in the serum TSH concentrations. After administration of TSH the thyroid reserve was found to below. The diagnosis of sub‐acute thyroiditis was confirmed on biopsy. The above data seem to indicate that the suppression of the thyroid uptake in the early stage of de Quervain's disease may be directly caused by the inflammatory condition of the gland, rather than, as is usually the case, by the excess of thyroid hormones and, consequently, by the suppression of pituitary TSH secr

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02195.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYA single oral dose of 5 mg of bromocriptine significantly lowered the TSH response to 200 μg TRH intravenously in eight healthy men compared with control experiments in the same subjects. This finding may be relevant in chronic bromocriptine therapy

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02196.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SUMMARYHypothyroidism in rats was associated with an increase in immunoreactive GH‐RIH in brain, pancreas and gut, although release from the latter may be diminished as portal GH‐RIH‐like immunoreactivity was lower than control values. Hypophysectomy resulted in a depletion of immunoreactive GH‐RIH in the septum and preoptic area of the brain and gastric antrum, but an increase in pancreas; portal venous GH‐RIH‐like immunoreactivity was not different from control concentrations, possibly reflecting both elevated and lowered immunoreactive GH‐RIH in different regions of tissue subserved by the portal vein. Inferior vena caval GH‐RIH‐like immunoreactivity was always lower than in the portal vein and was not influenced by tissue pertubations in hypothyroidism and hypopituitarism which made regional blood sampling of great important in evaluati

ISSN:0300-0664    

DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1978.tb02197.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY