Thyroxine Turnover and Transport in Laennec's Cirrhosis of the Liver

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Abstract

Studies of the metabolism of thyroxine in 14 cases of cirrhosis revealed a variety of deviations from normal. In addition to radiothyroxine turnover studies, determinations were made of the free thyroxine fractions and free thyroxine iodine concentrations in serum (magnesium precipitation method) as well as the maximal binding capacities of thyroxine-binding alpha globulin (TBG) and thyroxine-binding prealbumin (TBPA) by reverse flow paper electrophoresis in a glycine acetate system at pH 8.6.

Authors

Mitsuo Inada, Kenneth Sterling

Studies in the Ketosis of Fasting

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Abstract

A series of experiments was performed during the induction of starvation ketosis and in the acute reversal of the ketotic state. In contrast to the predictions of two widely held theories of ketogenesis, control of acetoacetate production by the liver appeared to be unrelated to changes in fatty acid mobilization from the periphery, fatty acid oxidation, fatty acid synthesis, or the acetyl coenzyme A concentration in the liver.

Authors

Daniel W. Foster

Plasma Volume in Cirrhosis of the Liver: Its Relation of Portal Hypertension, Ascites, and Renal Failure

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Abstract

Plasma volume was measured by using albumin-131I- and 51Cr-labeled erythrocytes in 24 control subjects, 140 patients with hepatic cirrhosis, and 10 patients with various portal-systemic shunts for the relief of noncirrhotic portal hypertension. The cirrhotic patients included subgroups with ascites, functional renal failure, and portacaval anastomoses. Elevated values for plasma volume, by both methods, were found in each group of patients.

Authors

Fred L. Lieberman, Telfer B. Reynolds

Renal Bicarbonate Reabsorption and Hydrogen Ion Excretion in Normal Infants

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Abstract

After acute administration of ammonium chloride, infants 1 to 16 months of age were similar to older children in their capacity to acidify their urine. The infants had a higher rate of excretion of titratable acid and a lower rate of excretion of ammonium but were similar in their rate of excretion of total hydrogen ion.

Authors

Chester M. Edelmann Jr., Juan Rodriguez Soriano, Hayim Boichis, Alan B. Gruskin, Melinda I. Acosta

Studies of the Mechanism by Which Chronic Metabolic Acidosis Augments Urinary Calcium Excretion in Man

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Abstract

We carried out clearance studies in nine healthy adults and four patients with hypoparathyroidism before and after inducing stable metabolic acidosis with either NH4Cl or acetazolamide. Clearances were repeated in seven normal subjects and three of the patients 3 days after stopping these agents.

Authors

Jacob Lemann Jr., John R. Litzow, Edward J. Lennon

A Low Molecular Weight Immunoglobulin Antigenically Related to 19 S IgM

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Abstract

Sucrose density gradient analysis of the fresh sera of patients with hereditary ataxia telangiectasia, disseminated lupus, and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia revealed the presence of an immunoglobulin possessing IgM determinants but having a sedimentation coefficient of approximately 7 S. Bio-Gel chromatography of patients' sera confirmed the presence of two distinct populations of IgM. The low molecular weight IgM possessed incomplete isohemagglutinin activity that was resistant to treatment with reducing agents. Gel diffusion analysis revealed that the 7 S IgM showed immunological identity with both 19 S IgM and the subunits of the 19 S IgM produced by reduction. Approximately 10 to 15% of the patient's total IgM was low molecular weight. Evidence is presented that the 7 S IgM was not produced from the patient's serum 19 S IgM on in vitro incubation. A simple rapid technique is described, using double diffusion in polyacrylamide gels, which permits the determination of low molecular weight IgM in sera and other fluids. Using this technique, the sera of 52 patients with disseminated lupus were surveyed, and 17% of the patients were found to contain low molecular weight IgM. The low molecular weight IgM occurred with particular frequency in male patients with disseminated lupus and in those patients with low or absent serum IgA.

Authors

John D. Stobo, Thomas B. Tomasi Jr.

Impaired Lymphocyte Transformation and Delayed Hypersensitivity in Sjögren's Syndrome

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Abstract

In vitro lymphocyte transformation in response to phytohemagglutinin and streptolysin O and in vivo skin sensitization to 2,4-dinitrochloro-benzene has been studied in patients with Sjögren's syndrome and in normal controls of comparable age and sex. Both the in vivo and in vitro responses were significantly impaired in the Sjögren's patients as compared to the controls. This lack of response to mitogenic agents is probably due to an intrinsic defect in the lymphocytes rather than to a serum factor. The abnormalities were less marked in patients whose disease was localized to the parotid and lacrimal glands than in those with generalized disease, i.e., with complicating rheumatoid arthritis or pseudolymphoma.

Authors

Brigid G. Leventhal, Donald S. Waldorf, Norman Talal

Total and Free Triiodothyronine in Human Serum

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Abstract

A reliable method has been developed for the determination of total serum T3, dialyzable fraction (DFT3), and absolute concentration of free T3 (AFT3). Total T3 values (mean ± SD) were: healthy euthyroid subjects, 0.33 ± 0.07 μg per 100 ml; hyperthyroid patients, 0.71 ± 0.1 μg per 100 ml; hypothyroid, 0.10 ± 0.03 μg per 100 ml. Values (mean ± SD) for DFT3 in these groups were 0.46 ± 0.14%, 0.78 ± 0.17%, and 0.16 ± 0.08%, respectively. Calculated values for AFT3 were: 1.51 ± 0.4 mμg per 100 ml, 5.00 ± 0.6 mμg per 100 ml and 0.24 ± 0.1 mμg per 100 ml, respectively. Dilution of serum before dialysis lowered estimated DFT3 values. Enrichment of serum with labeled T3 in the range examined did not affect DFT3. However, DFT3 was increased by addition of Merthiolate to serum in concentration 1: 10,000 due to displacement of T3 from thyroxine-binding globulin to albumin. The data suggest that triiodothyronine may play a considerably more important role in normal and pathological physiology, as evidenced by kinetic analysis using these data. A metabolic role for T3 equal to that of T4 is indicated.

Authors

Janusz A. Nauman, Alicja Nauman, Sidney C. Werner

Variation of Proliferative Activity in Leukemic Cell Populations of Patients with Acute Leukemia

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Abstract

In 31 children with acute leukemia, the proliferative activity of the leukemic marrow cell population as measured by mitotic and labeling indexes varied widely from patient to patient and from one disease stage to another. Leukemic marrow had a small but statistically significant diurnal variation of proliferative activity. Changes in labeling indexes were directly related to changes in the proportion of large dividing blasts in the marrow. Generation times of dividing leukemic blast cells in 3 patients were similar at diagnosis and in relapse. Changes in proliferative activity of leukemic marrow can be explained by progressive accumulation of nondividing leukemic cells.

Authors

E. F. Saunders, B. C. Lampkin, A. M. Mauer

Multicompartmental Analysis of Calcium Kinetics in Normal Adult Males

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Abstract

This report describes studies of calcium kinetics in ten normal young men. Serum, urinary, and fecal radioactivity was measured from 1 minute to 20 days after intravenous tracer 47Ca injection, and these results were analyzed jointly with data obtained from a simultaneous metabolic balance study, using digital computer techniques. Surface radioactivity measurements were also obtained to gain further insight into the anatomic correlates of the tracer distribution. The data were satisfied by a model with four exchanging compartments. Series, branching, and mammillary models were analyzed. Several parameters of physiologic interest were independent of the model, but two were dependent on the duration of the study. Individual and mean values for these kinetic analyses are presented with their statistical uncertainties. These studies present detailed analyses in a healthy, normal population and provide a reference for future studies of skeletal metabolism and serum calcium homeostasis.

Authors

R. Neer, M. Berman, L. Fisher, L. E. Rosenberg

Platelet Thrombosthenin: Subcellular Localization and Function

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Abstract

Thrombosthenin, an immunologically distinct contractile protein was isolated in relatively pure form from human platelets. The protein, which was of high molecular weight appeared to be composed of multiple polypeptide subunits, probably polymeric in nature.

Authors

Ralph L. Nachman, Aaron J. Marcus, Lenore B. Safier