Differential effects of insulin detemir and neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin on hepatic glucose production and peripheral glucose uptake during hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes

Aims/hypothesis  

We compared the symptoms of hypoglycaemia induced by insulin detemir (NN304) (B29Lys(ε-tetradecanoyl),desB30 human insulin) and equally effective doses of neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin in relation to possible differential effects on hepatic glucose production and peripheral glucose uptake.     

Quantification of corticosteroid binding globulin by electroimmunoassay during human pregnancy

Corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG) was purified by one step positive immunospecific affinity chromatography and antibody to human CBG produced in goats. The goat anti-human CBG was used in the development of a precise rocket immunoelectrophoresis for CBG quantification. CBG levels measured by this assay were found to increase from 30 AU/ml to 100 AU/ml during pregnancy. There was no statistically significant association observed between levels of CBG, or circulating estriol, or pregnancy zone protein. Circulating CBG was estimated in 32 women with pregnancy associated hypertension, the levels were all within the normal range, and not significantly different from those seen in matched controls.     

The prediction of pregnancy failure by measurement of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) following in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer

Circulating PAPP-A was measured serially in five patients following successful IVF-ET. PAPP-A concentrations were consistently normal in all three patients in whom pregnancies progressed normally to term. Depressed levels of PAPP-A were observed in one patient who miscarried spontaneously at 17 weeks' gestation despite ultrasound evidence of normal fetal development. Circulating PAPP-A was not detected in the fifth patient, whose tubal pregnancy ruptured at 8 weeks. These data are discussed in relation to surveillance of pregnancies following IVF-ET.     

Smallpox vaccination and risk of allergy and asthma

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that childhood vaccinations may influence the development of allergy. Atopy and allergic diseases have increased after routine smallpox vaccination was stopped in the 1970s. OBJECTIVE: We examined whether administration of smallpox vaccination during childhood was associated with a decreased risk of atopy, allergic rhinitis, and asthma. METHODS: The occurrence of atopy, allergic rhinitis, and asthma was studied in nearly 2000 women participating in a national birth cohort study. Detailed information on smallpox vaccination was available from school health records. Atopic status was assessed serologically by a specific response to 11 common inhalant allergens by using serum samples obtained from the women during the period 1997 to 2001. Information on allergic rhinitis and asthma was available from telephone interviews. RESULTS: We found no association between having been vaccinated against smallpox in childhood and risk of atopy or allergic rhinitis. Smallpox vaccination was associated with a slightly decreased risk of asthma. There was no association between age at smallpox vaccination and risk of atopy, allergic rhinitis, or asthma. Adjusting for birth cohort, sibship size, age of the woman's mother at birth, and social class in childhood did not change these results. CONCLUSION: Our findings do not suggest that childhood vaccination against smallpox, even if given early in life, influences the development of atopy or allergic rhinitis. The association with asthma should be interpreted with caution and needs further study.     

Number of germ cells and somatic cells in human fetal testes during the first weeks after sex differentiation

BACKGROUND: This study presents the number of germ cells and somatic cells in human fetal testes during week 6 to week 9 post conception, i.e. the first weeks following sex differentiation of the testes. METHODS: One testis with attached mesonephros from each of 10 individual legal abortions was used. After recovery of the fetus, the testes were immediately isolated, fixed and processed for histology. The optical fractionator technique, a stereological method, was utilized to estimate the total number of germ cells in ten testes and somatic cells in six of them. RESULTS: The number of germ cells per testis increased from approximately 3000 in week 6 to approximately 30000 in week 9. The ratio of germ cells to Sertoli cells was approximately 1:11 and the ratio of germ cells to somatic cells was approximately 1:44 throughout this period. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, germ cell and somatic cell number have been determined during early human fetal testis development. Knowledge of the number of germ cells in this period may be very important, because several environmental pollutants are suspected to result in decreased semen quality in men born of mothers exposed to these pollutants during pregnancy.     

Testicular cancer risk and maternal parity: a population-based cohort study.

The aim was to study, in a population-based cohort design, whether first-born sons run a higher risk of testicular cancer than later born sons; to investigate whether this difference in risk was affected by birth cohort, age of the son, maternal age, interval to previous delivery and other reproductive factors; and, finally, to evaluate to what extent changes in women''s parity over time might explain the increasing incidence of testicular cancer. By using data from the Civil Registration System, a database was established of all women born in Denmark since 1935 and all their children alive in 1968 or born later. Sons with testicular cancer were identified in the Danish Cancer Registry. Among 1015994 sons followed for 15981 967 person-years, 626 developed testicular cancer (443 non-seminomas, 183 seminomas). Later born sons had a decreased risk of testicular cancer (RR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.67-0.95) compared with first-born sons. The RR was 0.79 (95% CI = 0.64-0.98) for non-seminomas and 0.81 (95% CI = 0.58-1.13) for seminomas. There was no association between testicular cancer risk and overall parity of the mother, maternal or paternal age at the birth of the son, or maternal age at first birth. The decreased risk of testicular cancer among later born sons was not modified by age, birth cohort, interval to the previous birth, sex of the first-born child, or maternal age at birth of the son or at first birth. The increased proportion of first-borns from birth cohort 1946 to birth cohort 1969 only explained around 3% of an approximated two-fold increase in incidence between the cohorts. Our data document a distinctly higher risk of testicular cancer in first-born compared with later born sons and suggest that the most likely explanation should be sought among exposures in utero. The increase in the proportion of first-borns in the population has only contributed marginally to the increase in testicular cancer incidence.     

The localization of pregnancy proteins (hPL, SP1 and PAPP-A) in intra- and extrauterine pregnancies

The localization of human placental lactogen (hPL), pregnancy-specific beta-1 glycoprotein (Schwangerschaftsprotein 1, SP1) and pregnancy-associated protein A (PAPP-A) was examined in intrauterine and tubal ectopic gestation (n = 5) by the immunoperoxidase technique. The distribution of hPL and SP1 was identical in placental tissues obtained from intra- and extrauterine pregnancies, being uniformly seen throughout the syncytiotrophoblast. hPL and SP1 were not demonstrated in uterine decidual tissue from ectopic pregnancies. During early (week 8) intrauterine pregnancy, PAPP-A was not restricted to the mature syncytiotrophoblast, being observed also in some trophoblast-like cells adjacent to islands of syncytiotrophoblast. In contrast, in ectopic gestation, PAPP-A was observed in these cells at six weeks' gestation only. We were unable to detect PAPP-A in trophoblastic tissue of chorionic villi and uterine decidual tissue from ectopic gestation.