The aim of this study was to compare the therapeutic effects of rhGH administered either by subcutaneous needle-injection (pens) or subcutaneous needle-free jet-injection (VISION(®)). Furthermore, a survey was carried out after using VISION(®) for 12 mo. A needle-free injection group consisting of 18 subjects (11 males and 7 females, mean age 5.87 ± 2.05 yr at the start of hGH therapy) who have...

Mathematical models have been applied in prediction of growth hormone treatment effectiveness in children since the end of 1990s. Usually they were multiple linear regression models; however, there are also examples derived by empirical non-linear methods. Proposed solution consists in application of machine learning technique - artificial neural networks - to analyse this problem. This new met...

We report the case of a 7-year-old patient of short stature who had normal GH secretion, but a very low serum IGF-I level. On admittance, his height and weight were 102.2 cm (-3.8S.D.) and 15.7 kg (-1.8S.D.), respectively. His bone age was 2 years and 8 months. The serum GH responses to insulin, glucagon and L-dopa were all normal. GH secretion during sleep was also normal, but the serum IGF-I ...

Benign Intracranial Hypertension Benign Intracranial Hypertension (BIH) has been reported in 1 in 1000 children receiving GH treatment. It is possibly due to the increase in salt and water retention that sometimes happens when starting GH treatment. In this condition, the pressure inside the head increases and children may complain of headache, loss of vision, nausea or vomiting. BIH usually de...

The present work compares the effects of post-weaning crowding and those of food restriction on growth, body weight gain and the levels of several hormones, in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Crowding resulted in reduced food intake and diminished body weight gain. Rats daily receiving the same amount of food as that eaten by crowded rats (food-restricted group) showed similar body weight gain as cro...

Prepubertal heifers were used to examine repeatabil i ty of prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH) responses to thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation, and to determine effects of various doses and routes of administration of TRH on serum PRL and GH concentrations. Baseline concentrations of PRL and GH prior to intravenous (IV) injection of TRH in eight heifers were correlated (r = .6...

OBJECTIVE While acute alterations in leptin, insulin, cortisol and growth hormone (GH) levels have been reported in children following weight change interventions, little is known about natural hormonal changes as children grow and how these changes are affected by unprovoked weight status changes. The purpose of this investigation was to compare changes in leptin, insulin, cortisol and GH leve...

We assessed the economic impact to the United States payer of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) utilization, comparing the relative dosage efficiency of marketed pen-based and vial-based products in a pediatric and in an adult population. A budgetary impact model calculated drug costs based on product waste and cost. Waste was the difference between prescribed dose, based on patient weigh...

BACKGROUND When given during the course of puberty, anastrozole (A), an aromatase inhibitor, has been shown to increase the predicted adult height (PAH) of GH-deficient (GHD) boys treated with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH). Our study questioned whether this treatment could retain some of its effects in non-GHD adolescent boys if started only at the very end of puberty, a time when rhG...

Local lipohypertrophy due to recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) administration is a rare phenomenon. Here, we report a case of an 11-year-old girl who presented with a paraumbilical swelling, approximately one year after the start of rhGH treatment for short stature due to the presumed diagnosis of partial growth hormone insensitivity. Ultrasound imaging revealed an asymmetric distribution...