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Biomedical subjects

A Palacios

Publications and source records attributed to A Palacios.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Effect of testosterone enanthate on hematopoiesis in normal men.

Testosterone enanthate, a commonly used depot form of androgen, was administered to normal men according to several dose schedules. This resulted in significant increments in serum testosterone levels despite the fact that testosterone concentrations remained within the normal population range in almost all instances. Mild but significant increases in white blood cell, red blood cell, hematocrit, and hemoglobin concentrations were noted. These effects correlated with the dose frequency schedules. Negligible changes in mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were observed. Despite the significant individual increases in blood parameters, all values remained within the normal population range and no clinical manifestations were observed.

Adult↗

Comparison of the kinetics of injectable testosterone in eugonadal and hypogonadal men.

Serum reproductive hormone levels were measured serially after eugonadal and hypogonadal men had received either a 200-mg or a 100-mg intramuscular injection of testosterone enanthate. The calculated mean integrated testosterone and estradiol levels indicated that the 200-mg testosterone enanthate injection in the hypogonadal subjects maintained eugonadal levels of these hormones through day 11. The 100-mg dose maintained eugonadal levels of these hormones through day 11. The 100-mg dose maintained eugonadal testosterone levels through day 7. The testosterone:estradiol ratios in both groups following the 200-mg injection remained above or at the eugonadal baseline trough day 21. The authors recommend that replacement therapy for hypogonadal men should be 200 mg of testosterone enanthate every 10 to 14 days. A similar dosage would be recommended if testosterone enanthate were to be used as an experimental inhibitor of spermatogenesis (contraceptive agent).

Adolescent↗

Effect of testosterone enanthate on testis size.

We treated chronically 39 normal men with a depot androgen, testosterone enanthate (200 mg. intramuscularly), to assess its potential as a male contraceptive agent. Careful examination and quantification of testicular volume were done before, during and after several dose regimens of androgen therapy. After 4 months of weekly or bimonthly treatment with testosterone enanthate testicular volume decreased by 19.0 plus or minus 2.1 and 16.5 plus or minus 3.4 per cent, respectively. Decrease in testicular volume was related directly to decrease in sperm count. A total of 17 subjects on either weekly or bimonthly injections failed to suppress sperm counts to less than 5 million per cc after 16 weeks; testicular volume was not significantly less than control at this time. Four to 12 weeks of additional weekly injections decreased sperm counts to less than 5 million per cc in 13 of the 17 patients and decreased testicular volume by 23.0 plus or minus 4.8 per cent. The 16 additional weeks of less frequent injections (every 3 or 4 weeks) resulted in an increase in testicular volume with a return to normal size after treatment was discontinued.

Adult↗

Polyketide synthase genes from marine dinoflagellates.

Rapidly developing techniques for manipulating the pathways of polyketide biosynthesis at the genomic level have created the demand for new pathways with novel biosynthetic capability. Polyketides derived from dinoflagellates are among the most complex and unique structures identified thus far, yet no studies of the biosynthesis of dinoflagellate-derived polyketides at the genomic level have been reported. Nine strains representing 7 different species of dinoflagellates were screened for the presence of type I and type II polyketide synthases (PKSs) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcriptase PCR. Seven of the 9 strains yielded products that were homologous with known and putative type I PKSs. Unexpectedly, a PKS gene was amplified from cultures of the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum, a saxitoxin producer, which is not known to produce a polyketide. In each case the presence of a PKS gene was correlated with the presence of bacteria in the cultures as identified by amplification of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene. However, amplification from polyadenylated RNA, the lack of PKS expression in light-deprived cultures, residual phylogenetic signals, resistance to methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes, and the lack of hybridization to bacterial isolates support a dinoflagellate origin for most of these genes.

Animals↗

Short-term memory, exploration and locomotor activity in aged rats.

Behavioral profiles of young (3-6 months) and aged (24-27 months) rats were compared in three respects: (1) short-term memory, (2) exploration and (3) locomotor activity. Compared to young rats, aged rats were impaired in the 8-arm radial maze acquisition, but not in the delayed reinforced alternation acquisition. They had lower scores of spontaneous alternation, of exploration of a novel object and of a novel environment. Their exploratory activity was lower in a simple environment but similar in a complex environment. Their spontaneous locomotor activity was lower during the dark part of the cycle (8 p.m.-8 a.m.) but not different during the light part of the cycle (8 a.m.-8 p.m.). These results suggest that with respect to short-term memory and exploration, differences between aged and young rats may be influenced by a "complexity" factor and may be secondary to differences in motivation and reactions to novelty.

Aging↗

Environmental risk factors for clinical malaria: a case-control study in the Grau region of Peru.

The role of environmental risk factors in clinical malaria has been studied mainly in Africa and Asia, few investigations have been carried out in Latin America. Field observations in northern coastal Peru, where the prevalence of malaria is high during the agricultural season, suggested that the risk of disease varied according to the characteristics of the house and the house environment. Environmental determinants of the risk of clinical malaria were therefore investigated through a case-control study: 323 clinical cases of malaria, recruited through community-based active case-finding, and 969 age-, sex- and village-matched controls were recruited into the study over a period of 12 months ending June 1997. Residual spraying of houses in the previous 6 months, living more than 100 m from a canal, a level of education equal to primary school or above and working in agriculture conferred significant protection from the risk of developing clinical malaria. The presence of spaces between the wall and roof in the subject's bedroom (eaves) and a house aged > 4 years statistically significantly increased the risk of disease. Based on these results we discuss possible control measures for malaria in this area of the country.

Adolescent↗

Acipimox, a nicotinic acid analog, stimulates growth hormone secretion in short healthy prepubertal children.

Recent studies in adult volunteers have demonstrated that the free fatty acid reduction induced by acipimox, a nicotinic acid analog, stimulated GH secretion per se and enhanced in an additive manner the GH secretion elicited by such different stimuli as pyridostigmine, GHRH and GHRP-6. In order to evaluate whether acipimox administration stimulates GH secretion in prepubertal children, we administered a single oral dose of acipimox (100 mg for children weighing <30 kg and 200 mg for those >30 kg) to 14 healthy prepubertal children with a mean age of 8.2 +/- 1.9 years, a mean bone age of 6.2 +/- 3.0 years, growing along the 5-10th percentiles, and with normal thyroid function and IGF-I levels. Acipimox administration elicited a sustained increase in GH from a mean baseline level of 0.6 +/- 0.4 to 6.7 +/- 2.4 microg/l at the end of the test (p<0.05), with a mean GH peak of 10.5 +/- 3.5 microg/l. GH release was delayed so that peak GH levels were achieved 180 minutes after acipimox administration. In order to determine whether acipimox was capable of enhancing the GH secretion elicited by levodopa (L-Dopa), we administered either oral L-Dopa (250 mg for children weighing <30 kg and 500 mg for those >30 kg) or oral acipimox plus L-Dopa to the same children on different days. GH concentrations increased in a similar fashion following either of these tests (from a baseline level of 1.2 +/- 0.4 and 0.7 +/- 0.4 microg/l to 8.4 +/- 2.7 and 9.3 +/- 2.9 microg/l at the end of the test (p<0.001), with peak GH concentrations of 13.1 +/- 4.1 and 11.8 +/- 3.3 microg/l after L-Dopa or acipimox plus L-Dopa, respectively). Although the peak GH concentrations obtained after the combined administration of acipimox plus L-Dopa were similar to those obtained after either acipimox or L-Dopa administration, a larger number of our patients reached a GH cut-off point of >7 microg/l following combined therapy than with either stimulus alone (13/14 patients with combined therapy and 10/14 with acipimox alone). No side effects other than mild facial flushing were noted after acipimox administration. These results indicate that: 1) following the administration of a single oral dose of acipimox, significant GH secretion was elicited in healthy short prepubertal children; 2) the combined administration of acipimox plus L-Dopa did not, however, enhance the GH secretion of this group of children; 3) acipimox was well tolerated with minimal side effects; and 4) further studies in both GH sufficient and GH deficient children are necessary to evaluate acipimox's usefulness in assessing GH reserve.

Body Height↗