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Biomedical subjects

E L Klaiber

Publications and source records attributed to E L Klaiber.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Dynamics of estradiol and testosterone and seminal fluid indexes in smokers and nonsmokers.

The serum levels of estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T), the metabolic clearance rates of estradiol (MCRE2) and testosterone (MCRT), and the production rates of estradiol and testosterone (PRE2) and (PRT) were examined in 22 male smokers and 21 male nonsmokers. Seminal fluid indexes (sperm count, % motility, grade of motility, and % of sperm with abnormal morphology) were also assessed. The mean E2 level and the mean PRE2 were significantly greater in smokers than in nonsmokers (P less than 0.001 and P less than 0.01, respectively); however, the means of MCRE2, MCRT, PRT, and T did not differ significantly in smokers compared to nonsmokers. No significant product-moment correlations were found between the various hormonal measures and the seminal fluid indexes in the overall sample. However, the smokers with sperm counts below the median sperm count of the sample had significantly higher mean levels of E2 and PRE2 than did the smokers with sperm counts above that median. Mechanisms that might mediate the greater PRE2 of smokers and a negative relationship between estradiol and sperm count are discussed.

Adult

Interrelationships of cigarette smoking, testicular varicoceles, and seminal fluid indexes.

Data on cigarette smoking, testicular varicoceles, seminal fluid indexes, and oligospermia were examined in 160 young men without known disease and in 94 husbands in infertile couples. The combination of smoking and testicular varicoceles is strongly related to the incidence of oligospermia, defined as sperm count less than or equal to 20 X 10(6)/ml, in each sample. Smokers with testicular varicoceles, in each sample, had a disproportionately high incidence of oligospermia. In the combined sample of 254 men, the smokers with testicular varicoceles had an incidence of oligospermia approximately ten times greater than that in nonsmokers with testicular varicoceles and approximately five times greater than that in men who smoked but were without testicular varicoceles. This relationship of cigarette smoking and testicular varicoceles to oligospermia has not been previously reported. The pathophysiologic basis of the interaction between smoking and varicoceles was theorized to be due to an increased secretion of catecholamines from the adrenal medulla, induced by cigarette smoking. The elevated catecholamine concentrations in the renal vein would then reach the testes via retrograde flow down the internal spermatic vein in men with testicular varicoceles, resulting in seminiferous tubule damage.

Adult

Serum estradiol levels in male cigarette smokers.

Serum estradiol levels were compared in smoking and nonsmoking men in two separate samples. Sample I consisted of 41 young adult male volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 24 years. Twenty-three men smoked an average of 24.5 +/- 6.9 cigarettes daily. The duration of smoking averaged 5.2 +/- 2.2 years. Sample II consisted of 35 husbands who had been evaluated for infertility; they ranged in age from 19 to 49 years. Eighteen men smoked an average of 21.6 +/- 7.9 cigarettes daily. The duration of smoking averaged 11.5 +/- 4.5 years. Age, height, and weight did not differ significantly between smokers and nonsmokers within either group. Serum estradiol levels were significantly elevated in smokers compared with nonsmokers in both groups (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.0001 in Samples I and II, respectively). No significant correlations were found between serum estradiol levels and the number of cigarettes smoked daily, or with the duration of smoking in either sample. The differences in serum estradiol levels between smokers and nonsmokers could not be attributed to the differences in marijuana and alcohol use that existed between the smokers and nonsmokers in each sample. The recent reports of elevated serum estradiol levels as a possible risk factor in coronary heart disease are discussed in view of the known relationship of cigarette smoking to coronary heart disease.

Adult

Serum estrogen levels in men with acute myocardial infarction.

Serum estradiol and serum estrone levels were assessed in 29 men in 14 men in whom myocardial infarction was ruled out; in 12 men without apparent coronary heart disease but hospitalized in an intensive care unit; and in 28 men who were not hospitalized and who acted as control subjects. (The 12 men who were hospitalized but who did not have coronary heart disease were included to control for physical and emotional stress of a severe medical illness.) Ages ranged from 21 to 56 years. Age, height, and weight did not differ significantly among groups. Blood samples were obtained in the patient groups on each of the first three days of hospitalization. The serum estrone level was significantly elevated in all four patient groups when compared with that in the control group. Estrone level, then, did not differentiate patients with and without coronary heart disease. Serum estradiol levels were significantly elevated in the groups with myocardial infarction, unstable angina, and in the group in whom myocardial infarction was ruled out. However, estradiol levels were not significantly elevated in the group in the intensive care unit without coronary heart disease when compared to the level in the normal control group. Serum estradiol levels, then, were elevated in men with confirmed or suspected coronary heart disease but were not elevated in men without coronary heart disease even under the stressful conditions found in an intensive care unit. Serum estradiol levels were significantly and positively correlated (p less than 0.03) with serum total creatine phosphokinase levels in the patients with myocardial infarction. The five patients with myocardial infarction who died within 10 days of admission had markedly elevated serum estradiol levels. The potential significance of these serum estradiol elevations is discussed in terms of estradiol's ability to enhance adrenergic neural activity and the resultant increase in myocardial oxygen demand.

Adult

Changes in cognitive task performance across the menstrual cycle.

Menstrual-cycle-related changes in estrogen were expected to differentially affect various cognitive tests. Specifically, the estrogen peak occurring at midcycle in ovulatory women was expected to facilitate performance of highly practiced "automatized" tasks and to impair performance of "perceptual-restructuring" tasks, compared with performance of these tasks in the postovulatory phase of the cycle when progesterone is thought to counteract the action of estrogen. Perceptual-restructuring tasks are defined as tasks in which the initial percepts to obvious stimulus attributes are wrong and must be set aside in favor of percepts to less obvious stimulus attributes. Eight-seven regularly menstruating undergraduate women were studied. Odd-numbered subjects were tested first on or about Day 10 of their cycle and then again on Day 20; even-numbered subjects, in the reverse sequence. Daily basal body temperature records were obtained. These temperature records suggested that 21, or 24%, of the subjects did not ovulate in the cycle(s) studied. No main effect of Day 10 versus Day 20 occurred for any task in the 66 women who did appear to ovulate. However, the magnitude of predicted shifts in performance was significantly correlated with proximity of the "Day 10" testing day to the thermal nadir of the basal body temperature record, the presumed preovulatory estrogen peak; and to the "Day 20" proximity to the basal body temperature thermal peak, the presumed progesterone peak. Subjects tested 3 or fewer days before the thermal nadir and on or after the thermal peak had the predicted significant changes on three of the four administered tasks. No other temporally defined group produced significant changes. The results of the study support the experimental hypotheses and also indicate that precise timing is essential to demonstrate the phenomena.

Adult

Estrogen therapy for severe persistent depressions in women.

Positive results are reported from a double-blind study of estrogen therapy administered to severely depressed, inpatient women who had failed to respond to various conventional treatments of depression. Large doses of oral conjugated estrogen were administered for a three-month period to 23 premenopausal and postmenopausal inpatient women. Placebos were administered for a comparable period to 17 similar patients. The posttreatment Hamilton ratings of depression were significantly reduced in the estrogen-treated group, but not in the placebo group. Possible physiological mechanisms are discussed. The risk-benefit ratio for estrogen therapy of depression in these patients was judged to be favorable. However, periodic endometrial biopsies are required to monitor the endometrial response of women receiving high doses of estrogens.

Adult

Electroencephalographic responses to photic stimulation in habitual smokers and nonsmokers.

Two studies are reported in which electroencephalograms (EEGs) of habitual cigarette smokers and of nonsmokers were taken before and after they were required to smoke a cigarette. The EEGs were scored for incidence of EEG "driving" responses to photic stimulation, an index that appears to reflect the balance between central adrenergic and cholinergic nervous systems. The findings suggest that smokers tend to have a central autonomic balance less in favor of adrenergic functioning than do nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking may alleviate a possible central adrenergic insufficiency of smokers. These findings suggest a solution to "Nesbitt's paradox," which has reference to the fact that while nicotine is a central adrenergic stimulant, smokers describe the effect of smoking in sedational terms (i.e., as relaxing or calming).

Adolescent

Effect of ascorbic acid on the human electroencephalogram.

Controversy exists over whether ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in doses in excess of known physiological requirements has demonstrable biological effects. The present study reports that such megadoses of vitamin C do significantly effect an objective electrophysiological measure, i.e., electroencephalogram (EEG) driving responses to photic stimulation. Four thousand milligrams of vitamin C administered 27 and 3 hours prior to assessment produced an effect on the EEGs of 18 healthy adolescent human males that was significantly different from a placebo. Fifty milligrams of ascorbic acid administered in this manner did not produce an effect on the EEG significantly different from placebo administration.

Adolescent