Public interest in human growth hormone therapy.
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Body Height↗
Biomedical subjects
G E Bacon
Publications and source records attributed to G E Bacon.
Stress distribution in the scapula studied by neutron diffraction.
High intensity neutron beams provide a method of measuring the preferred orientation of apatite crystals in bulk samples of bone. Measurements at seven different sites on the scapula show that the c axes of the crystals lie preferentially along the directions of pull of the attached muscles. The highest orientation is found at positions under the influence of only a single group of muscles, such as M. teres major or M. infraspinatus. In intermediate regions a multiple distribution of crystals is found, able to withstand stresses in more than one direction. The technique provides a method of assessing the distribution of stress in bones.
Animals↗
Suppressed responsiveness to gonadotropin-releasing hormone in girls with unsustained isosexual precocity.
Eleven girls, ages 10/12 to 76/12 years, were evaluated because of early and rapid breast development. Initial clinical presentations and serum gonadotropin or estradiol determinations did not differentiate patient types. However, patients could be divided into two groups based on their responses to synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone: Group A consisted of seven girls with suppressed or prepubertail-type responses, and Group B consisted of four girls with pubertal or adult-type responses. Subsequent evaluation revealed that Group A patients had intermittent or unsustained isosexual precocity, whereas Group B patients had isiopathic prococious puberty. During initial evaluation, increased serum or urinary estrogen values were noted in ten of ten patients who were studied. The greatest serum E2 values (162 and 117 pg/ml) were noted in two Group A patients; three months and two years later, those patients had normal prepubertal responses to GnRH and serum E2 values of less than 4 and 14 pg/ml, respectively. Unsustained sexual precocoity in girls may be secondary to autonomous ovarian production of estrogens, and the GnRH test may be useful in evaluation of girls with isosexual precocity.
Child↗
Neutron diffraction studies of lumbar vertebrae.
Neutron diffraction measurements of the orientation of the apatite crystals show a significant preference of their c-axes for the vertical direction. This preference increases from bottom to top of each vertebral body and is substantially greater for the second than for the fifth lumbar vertebrae. This is in line with the predominantly vertical forces which the former withstands.
Apatites↗
Effect of cortisol treatment on hormonal relationships in congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
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17-Ketosteroids↗
Effect of cortisol treatment on hormonal relationships in congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
The temporal relationship between administration of cortisol and serum 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone was investigated in five patients aged 9-19 years with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. There was marked variability in the 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone response (determined hourly for 24 h) of individual patients to administration of cortisol. Mean concentration was less than 0.030 micronmol/l in one patient but 0.519 micronmol/l in another. Levels were higher in all patients while off treatment, and were greatest in those with salt-losing adrenal hyperplasia. Growth hormone secretion was not suppressed by treatment with cortisol. Withdrawal of cortisol for 3 days resulted in a significant decrease in the mean serum FSH/LH ratio and a rise in serum testosterone in all subjects. Episodic release of gonadotrophins persisted in the adolescent patients.
17-Ketosteroids↗
Variable X-linked recessive hypopituitarism with evidence of gonadotropin deficiency in two pre-pubertal males.
Two half-brothers with short stature secondary to growth hormone deficiency and a family history implicating X-linked transmission were studied extensively for other endocrine abnormalities. The proband had a normal physical examination, except for small stature and small external genitalia. ACTH and TSH release were normal. LH and FSH responses during an i.v. GnRH test were severely blunted. His half-brother also had a normal physical examination, except for severe short stature and very small external genitalia. Deficiencies of ACTH, and TSH as well as GH were documented. An i.v. GnRH test showed no LH or FSH response. These studies support the existence of an X-linked recessive form of hypopituitarism and portend the clinical usefulness of the i.v. GnRH test in evaluating gonadotropin reserve.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
Plasma corticoids in the respiratory distress syndrome and in normal infants.
Serial plasma samples for corticoid determination were obtained during the neonatal period in 16 infants with RDS (eight of whom died) and 44 healthy babies. The median corticoid level in the eight infants with RDS who was considerably higher than that of patients with RDS who survived, or the normal babies. The median corticoid level in the surviving RDS infants was statistically greater than that of the normal controls, but the actual difference was only 1.9 mug/100 ml. Simultaneous pH, PCO2, PO2, HCO3- and corticoid measurements were obtained serially in five patients with fatal RDS. However, the correlation between plasma corticoids and the acid-base determination was poor in all but one infant. It is concluded that infants are able to respond to severe physical stress in the neonatal period with an appropriate rise in plasma corticoid concentration, but lesser degrees of illness may cause only minimal changes in corticoid levels.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
Intravenous metyrapone testing. Evaluation of growth hormone and adrenocorticotrophic hormone in children.
An intravenous metyrapone tartrate test was performed on 26 children to assess growth hormone (GH) reserve and pituitary-adrenal axis. Results were compared to the response evoked by an estrogen-primed arginine-insulin tolerance test (ATT/ITT). Administration of metyrapone intravenously proved to be a reliable means of evaluating pituitary-adrenal function. However, a normal serum GH concentration (greater than or equal to 7 ng/ml) during the test occurred in only nine of 18 children who had an adequate response to the ATT/ITT, and in three of these, the peak GH level occurred at the start of the infusion. Therefore, this procedure does not appear to be a satisfactory test for GH reserve in children. Further, the discrepancy between time of the peak serum concentrations of compound S and GH following intravenous administration of metyrapone does not support the contention that the rise of GH level during stress is secondary to release of adrenocorticotrophic hormone.
17-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency: a review of current knowledge.
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Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital↗
Hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, and transient hypoparathyroidism during therapy with potassium phosphate in diabetic ketoacidosis.
The effects of intravenous administration of potassium phosphate in the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis were studied in nine children, ages 9 9/12 to 17 10/12 yr. During phosphate infusion (20--40 meq/L of fluid), all children maintained normal serum concentrations of phosphorus. Transient hypocalcemia occurred in six and transient hypomagnesemia in five patients. One child developed carpopedal spasms refractory to intravenous infusion of calcium gluconate but responsive to intramuscular injection of magnesium sulfate. In three patients, serum levels of intact parathyroid hormone were low at the time of hypocalcemia, an observation that suggests transient hypoparathyroidism. This study indicates that the use of potassium phosphate as the sole source of potassium replacement might potentiate ketoacidosis-induced hypocalcemia through multiple mechanisms.
Adolescent↗