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Biomedical subjects

D L Waters

Publications and source records attributed to D L Waters.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Pancreatic function in infants identified as having cystic fibrosis in a neonatal screening program.

The use of the dried-blood immunoreactive-trypsin assay for the detection of cystic fibrosis in newborns has been questioned on the grounds that it may fail to identify patients with enough pancreatic function to have normal fat absorption. To investigate this possibility, we assessed pancreatic function in 78 patients identified in a neonatal screening program as having cystic fibrosis. The diagnosis of cystic fibrosis was confirmed by abnormal results on a sweat chloride test. The results of measurements of fecal fat excretion, pancreatic-stimulation tests, and estimations of the serum level of pancreatic isoamylase indicated that 29 of the 78 children (37 percent) had substantial preservation of pancreatic function. These children (median age, four years) had growth that was close to normal and comparable to growth in children with severe pancreatic insufficiency who received oral enzyme therapy. Pancreatic insufficiency subsequently developed in 6 of the 29 patients, at 3 to 36 months of age. We conclude that the serum immunoreactive-trypsin assay used in neonatal screening programs identifies patients with cystic fibrosis who have sufficient pancreatic function to have normal fat absorption and that a substantial proportion of infants identified as having cystic fibrosis are in this category.

Child, Preschool↗

Nutritional status, growth and development in children undergoing intensive treatment for cystic fibrosis.

Dietary intakes were measured over a period of 5 days in 36 malnourished and 36 well-nourished patients with cystic fibrosis. Both energy and protein intakes were significantly less in the malnourished patients for the two age groups studied: 4-9.99 years (p less than 0.01 for both parameters), and 10-16 years (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.01, respectively). In both age groups and both patient groups, average protein intakes were well in excess of the recommended daily intake, but energy intake in the malnourished patients was below the recommended daily intake. Nutritional supplementation of 10 malnourished patients with a polymeric formula, infused overnight via a gastrostomy tube, resulted in a seven-fold increase in weight gain (p less than 0.001) and a doubling of linear growth velocity (p less than 0.01) over a period of 18 months, compared to the 18 months prior to gastrostomy feeding. Measurements of total body nitrogen in eight of these patients demonstrated a 38% increase in body nitrogen content over 12 months, indicating a replenishment of the protein deficit.

Adolescent↗

Liver disease and common-bile-duct stenosis in cystic fibrosis.

To determine the incidence of common-bile-duct lesions and their relation to liver disease in cystic fibrosis, we performed hepatobiliary scanning in 50 of 61 patients with cystic fibrosis who had hepatomegaly, abnormal liver function, or both and in 31 of 92 patients with cystic fibrosis who did not have hepatomegaly or abnormal liver function. Ninety-six percent of the patients with liver disease had evidence of biliary tract obstruction, which was defined cholangiographically as a stricture of the distal common bile duct in the majority of cases. All the patients without liver disease had normal intrahepatic and common-duct excretion of tracer. Abdominal pain was significantly more common in patients with common-duct obstruction (P less than 0.001), and enlarged gallbladders occurred only in such patients. Since fasting levels of serum bile acids were elevated in nearly half these patients, irrespective of the severity of their liver disease, serum bile acids may be markers of the severity of the common-duct lesion. We conclude that strictures of the distal common bile duct are common in patients with cystic fibrosis and liver disease. This association requires further study, since surgical relief of common-duct obstruction may prevent or ameliorate the hepatic complications of cystic fibrosis.

Adolescent↗

Body composition response to exogenous GH during training in highly conditioned adults.

The effects of biosynthetic methionyl-human growth hormone (met-hGH) on body composition and endogenous secretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) were studied in eight well-trained exercising adults between 22 and 33 yr of age. By the use of double-blind procedures, met-hGH (2.67 mg/0.5 ml diluent, 3 days/wk) and bacteriostatic water (placebo, 0.5 ml, 3 days/wk) were administered in a repeated-measures design that counterbalanced treatment order. Duration of each treatment was 6 wk. Subjects trained with progressive resistance exercise throughout and were maintained on a high-protein diet monitored by extensive compositional analyses of daily dietary intake records. Hydrodensitometry revealed that met-hGH significantly decreased percent body fat (%fat) and increased fat-free weight (FFW) and FFW/fat weight (FW), whereas the placebo treatment did not change any of these measures. Changes in FFW/FW correlated with the relative dose of met-hGH but did not correlate with either the peak GH response to L-dopa/arginine stimulation or IGF-I levels obtained after treatment with placebo. There were no differences between treatments in the dietary intakes of total kilocalories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Mean IGF-I levels were elevated after treatment with met-hGH compared with postplacebo levels. After treatment with met-hGH, five of seven subjects had a suppressed GH response to stimulation from either L-dopa/arginine or submaximal exercise. We conclude that supraphysiological doses of met-hGH will alter body composition in exercising adults in a relative dose-dependent manner and that such treatment may suppress endogenous release of GH in some individuals.

Adipose Tissue↗