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J Assies

Publications and source records attributed to J Assies.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Psychosocial aspects of hyperprolactinemia.

Fourteen mildly hyperprolactinemic women and 14 matched controls were compared with respect to biographical data, self-reported emotional and somatic well-being, and cortisol production. The patients had significantly more often experienced a separation from their parents in childhood. No differences were found for cortisol levels and emotional and somatic well-being. Future studies also should focus on personality, coping, and defense mechanisms in order to explain these contrasting findings.

Adult

Prolactin and weeping.

Fourteen women with functional hyperprolactinemia and an equal number of matched healthy controls completed a questionnaire on weeping behavior. Contrary to expectations the patient group were not more prone to weeping than the controls. In addition, their appraisal of weeping behavior (as a way to tension release and relief) did not differ from the controls. It is concluded that moderately elevated prolactin levels, although causing somatic disturbances such as amennorrhea and galactorrhea, do not affect the weeping threshold.

Adult

Psychoneuroendocrinology of stress and emotions: issues for future research.

It is stated that much psychoneuroendocrinological research is carried out that lacks a theoretical framework and therefore adds little to our current knowledge. Therefore, five research issues have been presented which need further exploration: (1) the temporal relation between subjective and biological stress responses; (2) the question of the psychobiological specificity; (3) the relationship between endocrine responses to acute and to chronic stressors; (4) the relationship between endocrine activity and susceptibility to disease, and (5) the mediating and moderating effects of personal factors (coping, personality, and task performance) on psychobiological responses. It is argued that the study of these issues will increase our understanding of the stress phenomenon.

Adaptation, Psychological

[Galactorrhea].

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Adolescent

An elaborate description of the symptomatology of patients with Research Diagnostic Criteria endogenous depression.

The symptomatology of 46 patients with an established diagnosis of Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) endogenous depression was described by means of a 46-item symptom checklist, the Amsterdam Depression List (ADL), second version. Thirty symptoms were identified as common or very common symptoms of RDC endogenous depression. Among these common or very common symptoms only eight were RDC endogenous symptoms, and two of these were obligatory inclusion criteria. The ADL revealed 22 nonendogenous symptoms (according to RDC) to be common or very common symptoms of patients with RDC endogenous depression. The core symptoms, depressed mood and loss of pleasure, appeared to be weakly correlated with each other. Of the remaining 28 common or very common symptoms, 12 correlated significantly with at least one of the core symptoms and 16 did not. Dexamethasone suppression test suppressors and nonsuppressors did not differ, either in symptomatology or in severity of the syndrome.

Adult

Prolactin levels and pituitary enlargement in hormone-treated male-to-female transsexuals.

PRL levels were evaluated during long-term treatment with cyproterone acetate 100 mg and ethinyloestradiol 100 micrograms/day orally or depot-oestrogens in 214 male-to-female transsexuals. PRL levels increased above normal in all subjects (normal less than 300 mU/l). In 46 (21.4%) subjects PRL levels rose to greater than 1000 mU/l. The incidence of PRL levels greater than 1000 mU/l was 3.7-7.2% per treatment year. Grossly elevated PRL levels were associated with high doses of oestrogens (P less than 0.05) and advanced age at the start of treatment (P less than 0.05). In 23 subjects PRL levels greater than 1000 mU/l decreased by more than 50% spontaneously (n = 5) or after dose reduction (n = 18). In five of the subgroup of 15 subjects with persistent PRL levels greater than 1000 mU/l enlargement of the pituitary gland was shown by CT-scanning. These data suggest that the lowest possible oestrogen dose and lifelong follow-up of hormone-treated male-to-female transsexuals is essential.

Adolescent

Estrogen-induced prolactinoma in a man.

Prolactinomas can be induced in rats by large doses of estrogens. Whether prolactinomas can be induced in humans by estrogens, however, is not known. This report describes the development of a prolactinoma in a man with previously normal plasma PRL levels after the administration of pharmacological doses of estrogen. The patient, a 26-yr-old male to female transsexual, took cyproterone acetate (100 mg/day, orally) and ethinyl estradiol (100 micrograms/day, orally) for 10 months and (surrepititiously) estradiol-17-undecanoate (100 mg, twice weekly, im) for about 6 of the 10 months. Plasma PRL levels rose from 0.05 to 5.20 U/L within 10 months (normal, 0.05-0.30 U/L). A computed tomographic scan showed a pituitary mass with suprasellar extension. After all estrogen therapy was discontinued, his plasma estradiol levels gradually declined from 2.8 to 0.77 nmol/L (normal, 0.04-0.12 nmol/L), but PRL levels rose further to 6.2 U/L. Bromocriptine treatment (2.5 mg twice daily) then was given. Plasma PRL fell gradually to 0.43 U/L and a computed tomographic scan after 5 months showed reduction in tumor size. The patient then discontinued bromocriptine treatment. Four months later his plasma estradiol level was normal, while plasma PRL had risen to 4.6 U/L, indicating autonomous PRL secretion. We conclude that 1) estrogen in pharmacological doses can induce prolactinomas in man; and 2) subjects treated with high doses of estrogen must, therefore, be surveyed for the development of such tumors.

Adult

Protein hormones in cerebrospinal fluid: evidence for retrograde transport of prolactin from the pituitary to the brain in man.

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of two hormones of similar molecular size, pituitary prolactin (PRL) and human chorionic somatomammotropin (hCS), and of the bigger hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were measured in six pregnant women without pituitary disease. For all three hormones, the plasma and CSF levels were closely correlated. The plasma/CSF concentration ratio for hCG (571 +/- 378, mean +/- SD) was significantly different (P less than 0.01) from the hCS ratio (24.6 +/- 6.1); the hCS ratio was significantly different (P less than 0.005) from the PRL ratio (7.2 +/- 1.5). We conclude that (1) the CSF concentration of a protein hormone depends on the plasma concentration and on its molecular size, and (2) pituitary hormones reach the CSF not only via filtration of peripheral blood at the choroid plexuses, but also more directly via retrograde transport from the pituitary to the brain.

Biological Transport

Prolactin in human cerebrospinal fluid.

PRL was measured radioimmunologically in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples obtained simultaneously in 31 patients with various neurological or infectious, but non-endocrine diseases (group A), 12 patients (7 pregnant women and 5 newborns) with physiological hyperprolactinemia (group B),10 psychiatric patients with pharmacologically induced hyperprolactinemia (group C) 12 normoprolactinemic patients with pituitary adenoma and suprasellar extension (SSE) (group D), And 14 hyperprolactinemic patients with pituitary adenoma with and without SSE (group E). Plasma PRL and CSF PRL concentrations (ng/ml, mean and range in brackets) of the various groups were: group A, 6.2 (1.3-14.5) and 1.3 (0.6-4.7); group B, 85.2 (31-200) and 13.2 (3-28); group C, 54.3 (3.5-160) and 6.5 (0.7-18); group D, 17.2 (5.4-30) and 9.7 (2.7-34); and group E, 2,529 (115-10,000) and 1,449 (6-13,000). The plasma to CSF concentration ratios (mean and range in brackets) were: group A, 5.2 (1.4-13.0); group B, 7.0 (2.9-10.3); group C, 7.3( 3.9-11.3); group D, 2.6 (0.9-7.1); and group E, 10.9 (0.2-34.9). The ratio was greater than 3 in 87% of the non-tumor patients; in 42% of the tumor patients the ratio was less than 3. The correlation between plasma and CSF PRL levels of all 53 subjects without a pituitary tumor (groups A, B, and C) was positive (r=0.9097; P=0.00001); in the 26 tumor patients (groups D and E) the correlation was also positive (r=0.7141; P=0.00002). These results indicate that 1) PRL is a normal constituent of CSF, 2) the CSF PRL level is a function of the plasma level, 3) detectable, or even high, CSF PRL levels per se are not indicative in the presence of a pituitary tumor, with or without SSE, and 4) abnormally low ratios may be found in patients with a pituitary tumor with SSE.

Adenoma

Original articles.

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Adenoma, Chromophobe

[Erythema nodosum].

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Erythema Nodosum