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Biomedical subjects

E A Werder

Publications and source records attributed to E A Werder.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Point mutation in the steroid-binding domain of the androgen receptor gene in a family with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS).

An exonic single nucleotide substitution in the human androgen receptor gene (hAR) could be detected in an Italian family with two children affected by complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS), also called testicular feminization. This mutation leads to a guanine to adenine transition in exon 5, changing the sense of the codon from methionine (ATG) to valine (GTG). As this mutation abolishes a NcoI restriction site, a rapid test for the mutation can be performed by digestion of the polymerase chain reaction products with this enzyme. Previous results of indirect gene diagnosis in this family could be confirmed by this method.

Amino Acid Sequence

Recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I (rhIGF I) reduces hyperglycaemia in patients with extreme insulin resistance.

The syndrome of type A insulin resistance is encountered in young women and is characterized by glucose intolerance or frank diabetes mellitus, endogenous hyperinsulinism, insensitivity to insulin administration, acanthosis nigricans and virilization. The insulin resistance is due to reduced cellular insulin binding because of a lack of or defective binding sites and/or because the interaction with the tyrosine kinase of the beta-subunit is hindered. This study was undertaken to find out whether hyperglycaemia in these patients may be influenced by the administration of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I which exerts insulin-like effects through the insulin receptor as well as the type 1 insulin-like growth factor I receptor. Recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I was intravenously administered in two subsequent doses of 100 micrograms/kg body weight to three women with type A insulin resistance. An immediate but slow fall of blood glucose was observed. The glucose disappearance rate was 28.0 mumol/min, i.e. considerably lower than that seen in healthy subjects. The markedly elevated insulin and C-peptide levels fell in a parallel manner to blood glucose but not to normal levels. The results show that recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I, presumably by reacting with the type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor, can normalize serum glucose levels in patients with severe insulin resistance at least for several hours. We suggest that the potential or recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I to control hyperglycaemia in type A insulin resistant patients should be explored in more depth.

Adolescent

A physiological mode of puberty induction in hypogonadal girls by low dose transdermal 17 beta-oestradiol.

Transdermal 17 beta-oestradiol administration (17 beta-E2), used mainly in menopausal women, allows a continuous 17 beta-E2 delivery through the skin into the systemic circulation, avoiding intestinal and hepatic passage. In order to explore whether transdermal 17 beta-E2 could be used for the induction of puberty, 17 beta-E2 patches with low dose delivery were administered in nine prepubertal girls with Turner syndrome (bone age greater than 10.5 years) for a mean period of 2.2 years. Treatment schedule: 5 micrograms/day for 6-9 months, 10 micrograms/day for 6-9 months, 25 micrograms/day for long-term substitution; addition of cyclic gestagen p.o. after 18-24 months. Breast development started within 3 months of therapy and menstruation occurred after 2 years. Growth rate increased from 3.2 to 5.0 cm/year during the 1st year of therapy, height prediction did not change. Serum oestradiol (E2) and urinary E2 conjugates increased proportionally with 17 beta-E2 doses, serum oestrone (E1) rose much less. The possibility to imitate time course, clinical events and hormonal changes of normal puberty, the absence of adverse drug reactions and the excellent acceptance and easy mode of application suggest that transdermal 17 beta-E2 is optimally suited for hormonal substitution in girls with hypogonadism.

Administration, Cutaneous

Neurohypophyseal ectopy in growth hormone insufficiency.

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the hypothalamohypophyseal tract allows the detection and identification of ectopic posterior pituitary lobe tissue by its characteristic high signal intensity. We found this anomaly in 2 boys with growth hormone insufficiency. Neurohypophyseal ectopy may be misdiagnosed as subhypothalamic tumor and such patients risk to be subjected to unnecessary neurosurgery.

Child

Treatment of pubertal gynaecomastia with testolactone.

22 Boys with pubertal gynaecomastia (age 15.9 +/- 1.9 years) were treated with testolactone (450 mg daily by mouth) for 2 to 6 months without side-effects. The mean breast gland diameter regressed from 4.4 to 3.3, 3.2 cm, and 1.7 cm at 2, 4, and 6 months, while pubic hair and testicular volume progressed normally. Plasma androstenedione increased from 5.4 to 73.1 nmol/l. Testosterone, DHEA, and oestrone increased less, and oestradiol remained unchanged. Androgen/oestrogen ratios increased (most marked change: androstenedione/oestrone from 15 to 140). LH (basal and maximum after LHRH) did not change, but FSH increased somewhat (basal 133 to 173, maximum 225 to 269 micrograms/l). Prolactin remained unchanged. It is concluded that testolactone, an inhibitor of steroid aromatization, is an effective and safe medical treatment for pubertal gynaecomastia.

Adolescent

Prostaglandin excretion in pseudohypoaldosteronism type I.

In an infant with pseudohypoaldosteronism type I increased urinary excretion of PGE2 (1.32 ng/mg creatinine; normal mean +/- SE: 0.50 +/- 0.10) and PGF2 alpha (6.15 ng/mg creatinine; normal mean +/- SE: 2.93 +/- 0.91) was found. Prostaglandin excretion as well as the typical hyperkalemia, hyperreninemia and hyperaldosteronism normalized with adequate dietary salt supplementation. An abnormally high excretion of the renal prostaglandins was again present at age 4.4 years when the child was thriving although additional salt was withheld. These abnormalities are considered to be secondary to this condition's basic defect which remains to be elucidated.

Aldosterone

Endocrine studies in Fanconi's anaemia. Report of 4 cases.

Four boys with Fanconi's anaemia and growth hormone (GH) deficiency are reported. Case 1 had isolated GH deficiency and responded to HGH and to oxandrolone treatment. Case 2, his brother, had milder haematological and dysmorphic manifestations and maintained a low-normal growth rate without treatment in spite of laboratory evidence of GH deficiency. Case 3 had multiple hypothalamopituitary defects, including deficiencies of GH, ACTH, and gonadotrophins. Case 4 had isolated GH deficiency and responded moderately well to HGH treatment. 3 of the 4 patients had bilateral cryptorchidism, 2 with increased plasma gonadotrophins, indicating primary testicular failure. We conclude that GH deficiency, isolated or combined with other hypothalamopituitary defects, and primary testicular failure with cryptorchidism are frequent but not constant features of Fanconi's anaemia.

Anemia, Aplastic

Pseudohypoparathyroidism and idiopathic hypoparathyroidism: relationship between serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels and urinary cyclic adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate response to parathyroid extract.

Forty patients with hypocalcemia and/or Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy were studied. Based on the estimation of serum calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels as well as the urinary cAMP response to infusions with parathyroid extract, it was possible to classify all of the patients studied as cases with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism (n = 6, low PTH, normal cAMP response), pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) type I (n = 18, high PTH, low cAMP response) and type II (n = 2, high PTH, normal cAMP response), as well as pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (n = 14, normal PTH, normal cAMP response). In three cases studied at the age of 12, 17, and 23 yr, the signs of Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy were not observed. PTH levels were unusually high for a given serum calcium concentration in some patients with PHP, the increased PTH levels were, however, normalized during iv calcium infusions. In two young children with PHP, a gradual increase of serum PTH levels occurred despite persistent normocalcemia over a period of 3 yr. This suggests that factors other than hypocalcemia or frequent small unobservable falls of the serum calcium concentration, such as a deficient formation of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, secretion of an abnormal PTH, or an abnormal metabolism of the hormone, may contribute to the secondary hyperparathyroidism in PHP.

Adolescent

Height correlations between parents and mature offspring in normal subjects and in subjects with Turner's and Klinefelter's and other syndromes.

The correlations for stature between parents and grown-up offspring in 90 normal males and 116 normal females have been compared with similar correlations obtained in 27 adult males with Klinefelter's syndrome, 33 adult females with Turner's syndrome and in 75 adult patients with Down's syndrome. There was close similarity between the findings in the patients with sex chromosomal disorders and in normal subjects, a roughly constant amount of height being gained or lost through the chromosomal abnormalities. However the genetic pattern was lost in patients with Down's syndrome. In males with idiopathic precocious puberty and in untreated females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, the parent-offspring correlations were not normal. In females with idiopathic precocious puberty they approximated normal values. The first two are pathological conditions of varying severity, whilst the majority of girls diagnosed as suffering from precocious puberty represent the extreme variant of normal.

Adrenocortical Hyperfunction

The pattern of shortening of the bones of the hand in PHP and PPHP--A comparison with brachydactyly E, Turner Syndrome, and acrodysostosis.

The patterns of length alterations in the hand bones in cases of pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP), pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (PPHP), and acrodysostosis were evaluated. The length of each of the hand bones was measured and compared to appropriate means for age and sex. The pattern profiles thus generated showed that those for PHP and PPHP are almost identical, and are similar to that seen in acrodysostosis, except for the much smaller size of the bones seen in the latter condition. PHP and PPHP are probably differend manifestations of the same entity, and acrodysostosis may also be related to them. Brachydactyly E is indistinguishable radiologically from the PHP-PPHP syndrome.

Abnormalities, Multiple

Gonadal function in young adults after surgical treatment of cryptorchidism.

In a follow-up study of 48 young men who had been surgically treated for cryptorchidism before puberty testicular function was assessed by examining the genitalia, testicular volume, secondary sex characteristics, semen, plasma luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations after luteinising hormone-releasing hormone stimulation, and plasma testosterone concentrations. Clinical androgen effects were normal. The mean testicular volume of both testes was in the low normal range in those who had had unilateral cryptorchidism and below normal in those who had had bilateral cryptorchidism. Of 37 patients whose sperm counts were recorded (14 bilateral) six showed azoospermia (all bilateral), five had severe oligospermia (four bilateral), and 10 had moderate oligospermia (one bilateral). In nearly all those who had had bilateral cryptorchidism and most of those who had had unilateral cryptorchidism plasma gonadotrophin levels were increased. Four cases of possible partial LH deficiency were identified. Plasma testosterone concentrations were normal in all except two patients.

Adolescent

Hypogonadism and parathyroid adenoma in congenital poikiloderma (Rothmund-Thomson syndrome).

In two adult patients with congenital poikiloderma (Rothmund-Thomson syndrome) the following endocrine abnormalities were found: Patient 1, female, with short stature had primary amenorrhoea and did not develop secondary sexual characteristics. Despite lacking an oestrogen effect on the vaginal smear and the low urinary oestrogen excretion, basal LH and FSH and their response to LH-RH were normal. At age 36 a parathyroid adenoma was diagnosed because of increased immunoreactive plasma parathyroid hormone and persistent hypercalcaemia. After removal of the tumour the patient remained normocalcaemic. The result of growth hormone response to insulin in the intermediate range was suggestive of partial deficiency. In patient 2, male, hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism with small testes and high basal LH and FSH levels as well as increased LH and FSH response to LH-RH were found. Plasma testosterone was normal. Endocrine abnormalities in previously published cases are summarized.

Adenoma

Isolated glucocorticoid insufficiency.

Two cases of isolated glucocorticoid insufficiency or congenital adrenocortical unresponsiveness to ACTH-a variant of adrenocortical failure without mineralocorticoid insufficiency-are presented. Familial incidence was present only in case 1 since two of the siblings died after convulsions, possible related to hypoglycemia. The pathology specimens of one sibling were available for review showing complete lack of the fascicular zone and degenerative changes in the adrenals and evidence of increased ACTH secretion in the pituitary. In the patients who were given substitution therapy with hydrocortisone, studies of plasma renin and aldosterone revealed impairment of plasma aldosterone response to salt restriction, orthostatism and furosemide-induced diuresis combined with postural change. We conclude that in some cases of isolated glucocorticoid insufficiency, impairment of mineralocorticoid function may gradually develop, which is in contrast to the assumption of a congenital defect in the action of ACTH.

Adrenal Cortex Diseases