Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Faiman

Publications and source records attributed to C Faiman.

150 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Bone mineral density, sex hormones, and long-term use of neuroleptic agents in men.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and severity of bone mineral loss and its relationship to sex hormone levels in men on long-term neuroleptic therapy. METHODS: Sixteen men with schizophrenia who were from 19 to 62 years old and had taken neuroleptic medication for 1 to 30 years had bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and proximal femur measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Results were compared with those from 16 age-matched control subjects. Serum testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, free testosterone index (FTI), prolactin, and pituitary gonadotropins were assayed and compared with age-matched Red Cross blood donor controls (N = 23 to 90 for the various assays). RESULTS: At the lumbar spine and at two of the three sites in the proximal femur (trochanter and Ward's triangle but not femoral neck), the BMD was lower in patients than in controls. A statistically significant increase in prolactin and sex hormone-binding globulin and a significantly decreased luteinizing hormone and FTI were found in the treated versus the control group. In the patient group, a significant inverse relationship existed between age and BMD at all sites. Lumbar spine density was related directly to FTI (r = 0.607; P=0.05) and inversely to duration of treatment (r = -0.767; P<0.001), although both correlations were accounted for mainly by age associations in multiple stepwise linear regression. Prolactin values did not correlate with either BMD or FTI. CONCLUSION: BMD was significantly lower with long-term neuroleptic use. In the lumbar spine, these changes may be related to the associated findings of decreased free testosterone and hyperprolactinemia, although the significance of other factors such as an independent drug effect, the psychiatric disease itself, and lifestyle cannot be excluded.

Journal Article↗

Thyroid-stimulating antibody assay using a human thyrotropin receptor transfected cell line: relationship to clinical features of graves' disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a Chinese hamster ovary cell line transfected with the human thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone or TSH) receptor (CHO-TSHR) for its use in routine clinical testing and compare it with the currently used Fisher rat thyroid cell line (FRTL-5) relative to the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) responses to thyroid-stimulating antibodies (TSAb). METHODS: We analyzed 112 serum samples prospectively. TSAb were measured concurrently by both CHO-TSHR cells and FRTL-5 cells. In addition, thyrotropin-binding inhibitory immunoglobulin (TBII) was measured by a radioreceptor assay. Among the study subjects, 51 had active Graves' disease, 40 had other thyroid disease, and 21 had no thyroid disease. RESULTS: Of 51 patients with Graves' disease, 38 (74%) had positive results in both cell assays, 4 (8%) had negative results in both assays, and 9 (18%) had positive responses with CHO-TSHR cells but negative results with FRTL-5 cells. No patient had negative findings with CHO-TSHR cells and positive results by FRTL-5 cells. All 61 patients in the other two groups had negative results by both assays (diagnostic specificity = 100%). The diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy of TSAb activity by the two cell lines (CHO-TSHR versus FRTL-5) were 92.2% versus 74.5% and 96.4% versus 88.4%, respectively. A significant correlation was noted between the TSAb activities in active Graves' sera by the two assays (r = 0.58; P<0.0001); however, values by the CHO-TSHR method were significantly higher (P<0.003). TSAb activities determined with both cell lines were positively correlated with the 24-hour thyroidal 131 I uptake (r = 0.62 and P<0.0005 in CHO-TSHR cells; r = 0.41 and P<0.05 in FRTL-5 cells). The difference in TSAb activity between patients with ophthalmopathy and those without ophthalmopathy was statistically significant with both FRTL-5 (P<0.01) and CHO-TSHR (P = 0.05) assays. The correlation between the severity of eye disease and TSAb activities was significant only with the FRTL-5 assay (P = 0.009) but not with the CHO-TSHR assay (P = 0.16). TSAb activity showed a significant positive correlation with serum thyroxine, triiodothyronine, and TBII by both cell assays. Neither cell line showed a significant correlation between TSAb activity and antimicrosomal antibody titer. CONCLUSION: The CHO-TSHR cell line is superior to the standard FRTL-5 cell line in the cAMP bioassay for TSAb with reference to diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy, correlation with disease activity, simplicity, and cost.

Journal Article↗

Autoantibodies to IA-2 and GAD65 in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus of varied duration: prevalence and correlation with clinical features.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of autoantibodies to IA-2 (IA-2Ab) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GADAb) in type 2 diabetes, their relationship to disease duration, and their importance in management decisions. METHODS: We undertook a study of 101 patients with type 2 diabetes (defined as nonketotic hyperglycemia at diagnosis) of varied duration (median, 4 years). Results were compared with those from 36 patients with type 1 diabetes also of varied duration (median, 2 years). IA-2Ab and GADAb were measured by radioligand-binding assays with use of in vitro-synthesized, 35S-labeled antigens. RESULTS: Of the 101 patients with type 2 diabetes, 20 (20%) were positive for GADAb; only 4 of these 20 were positive for IA-2Ab. In comparison, 75% of patients with type 1 diabetes were positive for GADAb, IA-2Ab, or both (P<0.0001). The coincidence of IA-2Ab positivity in GADAb-positive patients with type 2 diabetes was significantly lower than in patients with type 1 diabetes (20% versus 73%, respectively; P = 0.002). All four IA-2Ab- and GADAb-positive patients with type 2 diabetes required insulin and were younger than those positive for GADAb alone (P = 0.018). GADAb positivity in patients with type 2 diabetes was highly associated with insulin requirement (P = 0.004), with an odds ratio of 5.8 in predicting insulin dependence. Among patients with type 2 diabetes receiving insulin therapy, disease duration was significantly shorter (P = 0.025) and body mass index was significantly lower (P<0.001) in GADAb-positive versus GADAb-negative patients. In contrast to type 1 diabetes, in which GADAb values were negatively correlated with disease duration (r = -0.34; P = 0.044), no significant correlation with disease duration was observed in type 2 diabetes (r = -0.166; P = 0.48). CONCLUSION: Irrespective of duration of disease, measurement of IA-2Ab and GADAb can help to identify those patients with type 2 diabetes most likely to require insulin therapy.

Adolescent↗

Should androgen levels be measured in hirsute women with normal menstrual cycles?

In a study of 129 consecutively referred hirsute women, 40% had regular menstrual cycles. About one half of such individuals had elevated levels of one or more androgens (DHEAS, testosterone or free testosterone index), whereas a higher proportion (69%) of hirsute women with oligo-amenorrhea were abnormal. Mean androgen levels in regularly cycling hirsute women were higher than in controls, but lower than or equal to those in oligo-amenorrheic hirsutism. Thus, menstrual status does not predict androgen status in hirsute women.

Adult↗

Absence of serologic evidence for hepatitis C virus infection in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This paper explores the reported association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The results of serologic testing for anti-HCV antibody levels were documented in 28 patients (19 female, 9 male) with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 23 age and gender matched controls with non-Hashimoto's thyroid disorders. RESULTS: The anti-HCV results were negative in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that despite a reported high prevalence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in patients with chronic HCV infections, the reverse is not true and hence routine anti-HCV screening cannot be advocated for patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Adolescent↗