The influence of obesity on plasma fructosamine concentration was studied in 68 diabetic and 1335 nondiabetic subjects from a Chinese community. Obese nondiabetic men (body mass index > 25 kg/m2) had lower fructosamine concentrations than nonobese nondiabetic men (body mass index < or = 25 kg/m2); the pattern was similar for diabetic women. Stepwise multiple-regression analysis showed that, apa...

Leptin, the obese (ob) gene product, is thought to be a lipostatic hormone that contributes to body weight regulation through modulating feeding behavior and/or energy expenditure. The determinants of plasma leptin concentration were evaluated in 267 subjects (106 with normal glucose tolerance, 102 with impaired glucose tolerance, and 59 with noninsulin-dependent diabetes). Fasting plasma lepti...

Plasma cortisol was measured in cord and neonatal blood. Cortisol concentration in neonates decreased rapidly during the first three days after delivery and thereafter remained at an almost constant level. The more the delivery was stressful, the higher the cortisol in the 1-day-old infant, but the concentration came down to the same level as in the less stressful delivery on the 3rd day of the...

Choline is an essential nutrient for some mammals; it is used for membrane and neurotransmitter synthesis. We analyzed plasma samples, obtained periodically during TPN therapy, for choline concentration. Malnourished patients referred to a nutrition support service were prospectively assigned to be treated with daily infusions of amino acids with, and without, supplemental daily infusions of li...

Pancreatic amylin plays an important role in the control of nutrient fluxes and is an established therapy in human diabetes as it reduces post-prandial glucagon secretion and slows gastric emptying. Given the similar pathophysiology of human type-2 and feline diabetes mellitus, we investigated whether amylin reduces plasma glucagon levels in cats. Healthy cats were tested using an intravenous a...

Background: Current prenatal diagnosis requires invasive testing which carries a 1-4% procedure-related-risk of miscarriage; hence, non-invasive techniques are desired. The recent demonstration of cell-free-fetal-DNA enriched from maternal plasma has opened new possibilities for non-invasive-prenatal-diagnosis of not only genetic-disorders such as β-thalassaemia and haemophilia but also chromos...

in a survey of 148 subjects (72 females and 76 males) in 3 villages and one city in isfahan province, plasma vitamin a, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit were determined in all subjects, and serum iron was measured in 19 persons, in order to investigate the possible relationship between vitamin a and hematopoietic factors. a positive correlation existed between plasma vitamin a and hemogl...

Prazosin was administered to 16 patients with essential hypertension in an initial dose of 0.5 mg, after which the blood pressure (BP), pulse, and plasma concentrations of prazosin were measured at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 24 hours. The dose of prazosin was then increased over 16 to 20 weeks, and similar sequences of measurements were obtained twice. Eleven patients completed the...

We investigated the status of circulating kinins in rats with severe hypertension caused by drinking 1% NaCl (saline) and treatment with deoxycorticosterone (DOC, 25 mg/kg/wk s.c.) for 5 weeks. Saline-drinking rats treated with DOC had a higher systolic blood pressure (210 +/- 4 mm Hg) than did rats without DOC treatment drinking water (138 +/- 3 mm Hg) or saline (141 +/- 3 mm Hg). The concentr...

Changes in whole plasma and lipoprotein apoprotein concentrations were determined after a single in.jection of Triton WR 1339 into rats. Concentrations of apoproteins A-I (an activator of 1ecithin:cholesterol acyl transferase), arginine-rich apoprotein (ARP), and B apoprotein were measured by electroimmunoassay. The content of C-I I apoprotein (an activator of lipoprotein lipase) was estimated ...