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Biomedical subjects

R C Tsang

Publications and source records attributed to R C Tsang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Effect of chronic maternal dietary magnesium deficiency on placental calcium transport.

Metabolisms of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) are closely interrelated in the intestine, bone, and kidney. Interaction of Ca and Mg at the placental level, however, is not well defined. The occurrence of decreased bone mineral content and hypocalcemia in infants of hypomagnesemic mothers led us to test the hypothesis that chronic dietary maternal Mg deficiency decreases placental Ca transport. On day 10 of gestation, 20 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to a Mg-deficient diet (3.3 mg/day, n = 10) or to a control diet (70 mg/day, n = 10). On day 20 of gestation (term = 22 days), intact placentas were perfused in situ through the umbilical artery and perfusate was collected through the umbilical vein. Calcium 45 (45Ca) and chromium 51-EDTA (51Cr-EDTA) (a diffusional marker for placental membrane integrity) were injected to the dam and steady state maternofetal clearance (Kmf45Ca, microliter/min/g placenta) of both isotopes were calculated. There was no difference in the clearance of 45Ca and 51Cr in both groups (55 +/- 10 vs 57 +/- 16 and 3.2 +/- 0.4 vs 3.6 +/- 0.4, respectively, mean +/- SEM). We conclude that, in the rat, placental Ca transfer is unaffected by chronic maternal dietary Mg deficiency. We speculate that Ca and Mg cross the placenta by independent mechanisms.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Low bone mineral content in summer-born compared with winter-born infants.

Possible seasonal differences in newborn bone mineral content (BMC) have not been studied. Adult studies show seasonal variations with lower BMC in winter versus summer. Assuming that BMC variations may relate in part to vitamin D status, we hypothesized that newborn BMC would be lower in winter than summer. BMC of one third distal radius was measured in 55 healthy term newborns using a single beam photon absorptiometer [coefficient of variation (CV) for phantom standard 2.1%]. Infants were enrolled during summer (July-September, 1988) and winter (January-March, 1989) for a longitudinal nutrition study. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was a 12% lower BMC in summer versus winter (mean +/- SD 75.94 +/- 17.42 vs. 86.55 +/- 17.54 mg/cm, respectively; p = 0.035). The difference remained significant after controlling for possible race and gender effects (p = 0.02). We conclude that BMC is lower in summer- compared with winter-born infants. Since any seasonal effects on fetal bone are presumably related to effects through the mother, we speculate that if maternal vitamin D status influences fetal bone mineralization, the effect (possible sunshine deprivation in winter) may operate especially in early pregnancy, thus resulting in lower BMC, evident at birth in summer.

Black People↗
PubMed1992

d-Alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol-1000 succinate enhances the absorption of vitamin D in chronic cholestatic liver disease of infancy and childhood.

Rickets and osteopenia, common problems in chronic childhood cholestasis, have been attributed to vitamin D malabsorption leading to reduced serum levels of 25(OH)-vitamin D. d-alpha-Tocopheryl polyethylene glycol-1000 succinate (TPGS), a water-soluble form of vitamin E, forms micelles at low concentration. We evaluated the potential role of TPGS in enhancing vitamin D absorption in eight children (aged 5 mo to 19 y) with severe chronic cholestasis (three extrahepatic biliary atresia, three nonsyndromic intrahepatic cholestasis, and two Alagille syndrome). To evaluate vitamin D absorption, the subjects received vitamin D3 1000 IU/kg (maximum dose of 50,000 IU); they then received the same dose of vitamin D3 mixed with TPGS (25 IU/kg). Serial serum vitamin D3 levels and areas under the curve were measured. All patients had enhanced absorption of vitamin D when it was administered in a mixture with TPGS. Mean area under the curve for serum vitamin D3 was 403.0 +/- 83.1 nmol x h/L (155.6 +/- 32.1 ng x h/mL), with a mean rise above baseline of 13.5 +/- 1.8 nmol/L (5.2 +/- 0.7 ng/mL) with vitamin D/TPGS compared with no rise when vitamin D was given alone (both p less than 0.001). Seven patients have been followed for at least 3 mo while receiving the vitamin D/TPGS combination. Those with initially low serum 25(OH)-vitamin D levels (less than 37.5 nmol/L or 15 ng/mL) had normalization (range 37.5-146 nmol/L) within 1 mo, whereas those with initially normal levels remained normal. While the patients were receiving vitamin D/TPGS, serum vitamin E to total lipid ratio either normalized or remained normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1979

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 in childhood hepatic osteodystrophy.

Osteodystrophy frequently accompanies severe childhood hepatobiliary disease. Proposed causes include malabsorption of vitamin D and calcium, and diminished 25-hydroxylation of vitamin D. Two children, ages 23 and 35 months, with radiographic and biochemical evidence of rickets with extrahepatic biliary atresia, were treated with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. The minimal effective therapeutic dose and efficacy of 1,25-(OH)2D3 in the treatment of rickets associated with severe childhood hepatic disease were determined. Oral 1,25-(OH)2D3 was ineffective at doses of 0.10 microgram/kg/day. Parenteral doses of 0.20 microgram/kg/day effectively produced radiographic, bone mineral (photon absorptiometric), and biochemical evidence of healing. The need for four times the physiologic dose of 1,25-(OH)2D3 by the parenteral route suggested enhanced catabolism of, or end-organ resistance to, 1,25-(OH)2D3 in our patients with severe cholestatic liver disease treated with phenobarbital.

Bile Ducts↗
PubMed1979

Bone mineral content in term and preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age infants.

Photon absorptiometry adapted for use in small infants was utilized to measure bone mineral content in 42 term and 30 perterm appropriate-for-gestational-age infants. BMC at birth correlated significantly with gestational age and birth weight. Sequential measurements of BMC in premature infants during the first three months showed that the postnatal increase in BMC was significantly less than the BMC expected in utero. We speculate that decreased intake of calcium and phosphate effects postnatal bone mineralization in premature infants.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1978

Urinary phosphate and cyclic AMP excretion following citrate-induced hypocalcemic stimulation of the neonatal parathyroid glands.

Sixteen neonates, ranging in gestational age from 27 to 41 weeks and in postnatal age from birth to 8 days, were evaluated for their renal response to an endogenous PTH stimulus in 22 separate experiments. The PTH stimulus was generated by the decreased serum ionized Ca that accompanies exchange transfusion with citrated blood. The neonates increased their serum PTH from 95.8 +/- 13.1 to 133.9 +/- 15.4 microliterEq/ml (mean +/- SEM) during the transfusion, while increasing their urinary cAMP from 0.77 +/- 0.11 to 1.45 +/- 0.22 nmol/ml, and their urinary P from 12.9 +/- 2.6 to 30.6 +/- 6.1 mg/dl in the four hours following the exchange transfusion. This response was not related to postnatal or gestational age. We speculate that lack of renal responsiveness to PTH does not play a major role in the pathogenesis of early neonatal hypocalcemia.

Citrates↗
PubMed1977

Diet in children heterozygous for familial hypercholesterolemia.

Effects of a cholesterol- and saturate-poor, polyunsaturate-rich diet on plasma total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels were assessed in 23 children between the ages of 2 and 7 who were heterozygous for well-documented familial hypercholesterolemia. Sixteen of the 23 children, whose mean age at inception of diet was 4.8 years, sustained 10.5% and 11.3% reductions in total and LDL cholesterol levels after six months on diet (P less than .001). Total and LDL cholesterol levels were normal in only one of these children after six months. After one year on diet, three of 11 children had normal values for total and LDL cholesterol. Six of the 23 children, all 2 years old, had been previously maintained on low-cholesterol diets since age 1 or earlier, and three had normal cholesterol levels at the initial sampling for this study. After one year of follow-up in the study, the plasma cholesterol level was normal in five of these six children. Dietary therapy in the 2- to 7-year-old children heterozygous for familial hypercholesterolemia provided mean overall reduction of total and Ldl cholesterol levels between 6% and 15%, and appeared to be the most effective when instituted in children at ages 1 or 2.

Child↗
PubMed1977

Neonatal familial hyperalphalipoproteinemia.

A kindred with four-generation vertical transmission of familial hyperalphalipoproteinemia was ascertained by measurement of elevated levels of cord blood high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-HDL) in a neonatal propositus. Quantitation of cord blood C-HDL coupled with family studies and longitudinal follow-up allows the diagnosis of familial hyperalphalipoproteinemia in infancy.

Blood Protein Disorders↗
PubMed1977

Black-white similarities in cord blood lipids and lipoproteins.

Cord blood lipoproteins were quantitated in 117 neonates (58 white, 50 black) to assess for potential early expression of racial lipid distinctions. In comparison of black and white neonates there were no differences in total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-LDL), C-HDL/C-LDL, or C-HDL/TC. Cord blood triglycerides were slightly higher in black neonates (p = 0.02). Unlike certain adult black-white comparisons and within the limits of "genicity" as expressed by cord blood lipoproteins, there were no racial differences in C-HDL, C-LDL, and total cholesterol.

Black People↗