The blood levels of several "stress indicators" (prolactin PRL, growth hormone hGH, total catecholamines, and adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate cAMP) were measured in men during the first 2 weeks ...of uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and during a 3-month follow-up period. PRL levels were significantly elevated during the first day, and hGH was elevated during the week after the AMI. The levels returned to the control baseline values thereafter. The levels of the total catecholamines and cAMP in blood remained normal throughout the study period. Sexual function during the 3-month follow-up was measured in 29 patients, using a specially designed questionnaire. Impotence was found in five patients and decreased libido in four. No correlation was noted between PRL values, the other stress indicators, and sexual dysfunction. A trend toward increased incidence of sexual dysfunction was found among patients with recurrent AMI.
At present the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is based on different criteria in locations around the world, and none are based on pregnancy outcome. Various glucose loads (50, 75 or ...100g) are recommended, as opposed to the standard 75g load used worldwide in nonpregnant persons. It is controversial whether maternal hyperglycemia less severe than that in diabetes is associated with increased risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The HAPO Study was designed to address this question. A total of 25,505 pregnant women at 15 centers in 9 countries underwent 75g oral glucose tolerance testing at 24 to 32 weeks gestation. Data remained blinded if the fasting plasma glucose was < 105 mg/dl and the 2 hr plasma glucose was < 200 mg/dl. Among 23,316 women who remained blinded, each of the three OGTT values was significantly and continuously related to various adverse outcomes, with no inflection point. An international group of experts has developed recommendations for diagnostic criteria for GDM that are based on these results. This chapter provides an overview of the HAPO Study and the new recommendations.
Growth retardation and dysmorphogenesis in the rat conceptus are accompanied by diminished tissue myo-inositol following culture from day 9.5 to 11.5 of development in the presence of increased ...amounts of glucose. Reductions of myo-inositol and increased malformations are not corrected by aldose reductase inhibitors. In contrast, supplementation of culture medium with myo-inositol (1.5 mg/ml) restores tissue myo-inositol content, lowers the incidence of dysmorphogenic embryos (from 51.1 to 28.6%, P less than 0.001) and reduces the incidence of neural tube defects to control levels (from 33.3 to 6%, P less than 0.001). These results suggest that myo-inositol depletion is involved in the mechanism of diabetic embryopathy.
Glycogen content and the enzymes of glycogen metabolism have been measured in the postimplantation rat embryo over a period ranging from 9.5 to 18.5 days of gestation. The earliest periods studied ...were at days 9.5 and 10.5 of gestation, when the yolk sac becomes vascularized and heart beat is first established. The next intervals were at days 10.5-11.5 when vascular connections via the allantoic placenta are formed. At 14.5 and 18.5 days of development, 4 entire organs were analyzed; heart, liver, kidney and brain. The metabolic apparatus of glycogen metabolism was concentrated in the embryo at 10.5 days, then the heart region, and in the heart itself at later stages.
