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Biomedical subjects

K Horn

Publications and source records attributed to K Horn.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

A family outbreak of serious streptococcal infection.

A localized outbreak of scarlet fever was caused by an M-nontypable T-1 (NT/1) group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus. The result was a fatal outcome in a 5-year-old child and a near fatality in his 10-year-old sibling. The outbreak was confined to family units that had members with whom the children were close playmates. Extensive epidemiologic studies in neighborhood schools and local hospital emergency rooms did not demonstrate a disemination of the causative serotype in the community.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

Recurrent goiter, hyperthyroidism, galactorrhea and amenorrhea due to a thyrotropin and prolactin-producing pituitary tumor.

A 22-year-old woman with recurrent goiter, hyperthyroidism, galactorrhea, and amenorrhea due to a pituitary tumor is described. She had been treated surgically twice for recurrent goiter with tracheal compression. Despite clinical signs of hyperthyroidism and slightly elevated plasma thyroid hormone levels (T4: 11 mug/dl; T3: 189 ng/dl), without thyroid hormone replacement therapy the basal TSH level was elevated up to 23 muU/ml and could not be suppressed by exogenous thyroid hormones: even when the serum thyroid hormone levels were raised into the thyrotoxic range (T4: 16.2 mug/dl T3: 392 ng/dl), the basal TSH fluctuated between 12 and 29 muU/ml. The basal PRL level was elevated up to 6000 muU/ml. The administration of TRH (200 mug iv) led only to small increments of TSH and PRL levels. Bromocriptin (5 mg p.o.) or l-dopa (0.5 g p.o.) suppressed TSH and PRL values significantly. After transsphenoidal hypophysectomy, TSH and PRL were below normal and the patient development panhypopituitarism. The adenoma showed two cell types which could be identified as lactotrophs and thyrotrophs by electronmicroscopy and immunofluorescence. From these data we conclude that the patient had a pituitary tumor with an overproduction of thyrotropin and prolactin.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1976

[Simultaneous radioimmunassay for urinary thyroxine (T4) and triioldothyronine (T3) (AUTHOR'S TRANSL)].

A radioimmunoassay for the determination of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) in urine was developed. The extraction of a sample, the incubations with T3-und subsequently T4-antibody and the elutions of the respective bound fractions are performed all on the same Sephadex column. This principle can be applied to as many as 120 simultaneous determinations. The interassay coefficients of variation were 20.1% for T3 and 10.6% for T4, respectively. The recovery of standards added to urine was 107 +/- 8% (mean +/- SD) for T3 and 102 +/- 8% for T4. The 24 h collections of urine from healthy controls contained 1.70 +/- 0.40 mug T3 and 1.44 +/- 0.51 mug T4 (mean +/- SD, N=20). Three hourly fractions of the urinary excretion collected from 6 a.m. through 9 p.m. showed a significant (p less than 0.0005) elevation of the T4 excretion as compared to the night fraction, whereas an increased T3 excretion was only observed from 6-9 P.M. The T4 excretion was reduced in primary hypothyroidism (0.48 +/- 0.47 mug per 24 h, p less than 0.0005), whereas the T3 excretion was not that markedly reduced (1.30 +/-0.80 mug/d), pointing to the known residual T3 secretion. A reduced T4 excretion (0.85 +/- 0.34 mug/d, p less than 0.00005) contrasted with the normal T3 excretion in patients with endemic goiter, indicating the known preferential T3 secretion in iodine deficiency states. T3 thyrotoxicosis was accompanied by an elevated T3 excretion with normal urinary T4. Normal excretion of T4 and T3 were observed in patients with persistantly suppressed serum TSH levels after successful treatment for hyperthyroidism.

Circadian Rhythm↗
PubMed1976

Sexual impotence: studies of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis and the effect of oral thyrotropin-releasing factor.

Thyrotropin-releasing factor was given orally to 12 impotent patients in a dose of 43 mg daily for 4 weeks in a double-blind crossover technique and compared with placebo. TRF showed no beneficial effect over placebo. In these patients, thyroid function and the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis were examined by measuring T3, T4, and TSH before and after the TRF test. There were no pathological findings for patients included in this study.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

[Cooperative survey for the determinations of L-triiodothyronine (T3) and L-thyroxine (T4): critical evaluation of methods employed (author's transl)].

A cooperative survey of the radioimmunoassays for triiodothyronine was performed among 30 participating laboratories from the Thyroid Association of the German Society for Endocrinology. A total of 16 serum samples were sent frozen to each laboratory for the determination of both triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). It was possible to calculate the recovery rates of the participants from the values determined for an internal standard curve, which was hidden within the 16 samples and was made up by addition of known amounts of T3 and T4, respectively, to an untreated serum low in T3 and T4 (recovery curve). In general, most participants overestimated T3 levels, whereas T4 was determined falsely low. The intraassay coefficient of variation (CV) was determined from triplicate readings of three identical sera included within tor T3, and 4.5 and 30% for T4, respectively. There was no significant cross reaction for T4 in the T3 assays. However, most T3 assays were significantly influenced by variations of the thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) levels between different samples, that were tentatively included. It is suggested, that an improvement of the accuracy of the T3 radioimmunoassays necessitates either prior extraction of T3 or antibodies of higher avidity.

Cross Reactions↗
PubMed1976

[Environmental aerosol and human health (author's transl)].

In the modern way of thinking, the influence of environmental aerosol on human health represents a partial problem of the manifold interrelations between biological, chemical, and physical environmental factors in terms of their combined and complex effect on the human organism, including the socio-economic environmental conditions. As regards the air as an environmental factor, two fundamental problems are being dealt with in some detail under this particular aspect: the relation between exposure and effect, and the conception of limiting values for the protection of human health. The traditional conception of "one cause--one effect" is inappropriate for dealing with this complex set of problems and has to be replaced by the "many causes--many effects" principle while paying heed to nonspecific as well as indirect effects on the health and well-being of man. The difficulties encountered in clarifying the relation between exposure and effect, and in assessing air pollution from the hygienic point of view are pointed out, and an outline of the present state of knowledge and of the experimental and epidemiological methods of research as applied in this field is given. In conclusion the principles for the determination of air-hygienic standards are expounded.

Aerosols↗
PubMed1975

[Alimentary iodine deficiency in the Federal Republic of Germany (author's transl)].

Urinary iodine excretion of 1945 schoolchildren aged 13 to 15-years from 24 cities throughout the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was measured. For comparison, urinary excretion of 5678 adults from 20 cities was calculated from the 24-hour radio-iodine uptake (RIU) by the method of Oddie. On the average the schoolchildren excreted 25.1 mug iodine per g creatinine: by WHO criteria this can be classified as a grade II iodine deficiency. There was a significant decline of urinary iodine excretion from North to South of the FRG. Urinary iodine excretion of children with thyroid enlargement (21.9 mug/g) was significantly less than that of normal children (26.1 mug/g creatinine; P less th that 0.0005). Urinary iodine excretion of adults averaged 25 to 35 mug/g creatinine, values calculated from RIU agreeing well with those determined chemically. Alimentary iodine intake was found to vary between 30 and 70 mug/d throughout the FRG, which is less than 30% of WHO recommended figures for optimal goitre prevention (150-200 mug iodine per day). Alimentary iodine deficiency has been demonstrated throughout the FRG, increasing from North to South in parallel with an increase in goitre rate. Goitre prevention through compulsory iodinization of salt is recommended.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

[Thyroidal autoregulation in nontoxic goiter patients: normalization of the T3/T4 ratio in serum by treatment with potassium iodide (author's transl)].

In iodine deficiency areas, an increased T3/T4 ratio in serum was reported earlier. In this study the influence of potassium iodide on the T3/T4 ratio was investigated. Treatment with 200 mug KI per day for only 4 weeks normalized the initially elevated T3/T4 ratio in 16 nontoxic goiter patients (24.6 plus or minus 9.9 times 10-3, mean plus or minus S.D., before, respectively 18.9 plus or minus 5.5 times 10-3 after KI treatment, p smaller than 0.0025). The mean basal TSH levels (1.42 plus or minus 0.68 before, respectively 1.29 plus or minus 0.52 mugU/ml after KI), and the TSH increase 30 min after 200 mug TRH i.v. (5.54 plus or minus 4.22 and 6.50 plus or minus 5.09 mugU/ml, respectively) did not change significantly. Since the normalization of the T3/T4 ratio in nontoxic goiter patients was independent from changes in the TSH levels, this effect of KI obviously represents an example of thyroidal autoregulation.

Goiter, Endemic↗
PubMed1975

[Simultaneous column chromatography for the automatic determination of hormones (author's transl)].

The automatic determination of hormone levels in serum by column chromatograhoic methods using a 25 channel peristaltic pump, allows the simultaneous chromatography of 25 samples. The different volumes which are necessary for the successive elution steps are set by the tubing size of the pump and by a preset switch clock. The eluates from the 25 columns are collected simultaneously in fractionated volumes which are also determined in the same electronic clock device. The assays so far adapted to this principle are reviewed: Serum thyroxine (competitive protein binding assay), T3-uptake test (dextran gel filtration), triiodothyronine (radioimmunoassay) and cortisol (competitive protein binding assay or radioimmunoassay). The main advantages of this procedure are increased frequency, improved specificity and standardization at lower costs for these methods. The principle of simultaneous column chromatography appears to be most suited for assays, which require various extraction steps prior to the determination of the hormone, since it allows extraction, specific protein binding and bound/free separation on only one column.

Autoanalysis↗