Background-Hepatitis C and CKD are both highly prevalent diseases in the United States. Data has demonstrated that hepatitis C may be causally linked to some glomerular diseases, and that patients who are positive for hepatitis C have increased risk for albuminuria.

A radiometric assay for human growth hormone (HGH) was developed based on a polyclonal goat anti-HGH antiserum covalently coupled to nonsedimenting polyacrylamid particles. HGH can be specifically immunoextracted from sample volumes of up to 10 ml. Subsequently, bound HGH is identified and quantitatively measured by a ¹²⁵I-labelled monoclonal anti-HGH antibody. The assay is insensitive to plasma proteins from 10 to > 90%, to changing NaCl and urea molarities and to pH ranges from 6 to 8. The sensitivity in the second incubation is 2 pg/tube, corresponding to a maximum sensitivity of 300 fg/ml of a sample volume of 10 ml (urine) or of 40 pg/ml, if a volume of 50 µl (plasma) is assayed. In healthy children, a mean HGH excretion of 6.5 ng/24 h was found with a large interindividual range from undetectable to 37.4 ng. An important intraindividual night-tonight variation of HGH excretion was found in several subsequent first morning void samples in healthy children. The mean excretion in 13 HGH-deficient children was 0.9 ng/24 h off therapy and increased to a mean of 6.9 ng/24 h on therapy. In acromegalic patients, the excreted HGH amounted to 73–208 ng/24 h. Preliminary results suggest that the ultrasensitive assay applied to plasma and urine could be a considerable improvement of diagnosis and follow-up of disorders of HGH secretion.

An immunoradiometric assay for human growth hormone (HGH) has been developed which has a detection limit of 1 ng/l and can measure HGH in unextracted urine from normal children and adults. The assay is based on a two-step procedure, using a solid-phase goat-anti-HGH immunosorbent for immunoextraction and [125I]-labeled monoclonal HGH-antibody for detection and quantification. The assay is not affected by urea, NaCl or changes of pH from 5-8. The mean urine HGH concentration in normal children is 6.78 +/- 7.6 (SD) pg/ml, in patients with HGH-deficiency 1.3 +/- 0.9 pg/ml which increases to 11.7 +/- 13.4 pg/ml on the day of growth hormone injection.

Unexpectedly, the administration of only 1 ml radlopaque dye and a single skin disinfection with PVP-iodine (PVP-I) induced cllnical hypothyroidism in a premature newborn. Therefore, we studied the impact of two different, non-ionic, iodine containing contrast agents (administered for diagnostic reasons), Amipaque(1) and Omnipaque (2). and of PVP-I alone (3) on the immature thyroid gland by measuring TSH, T4, T3 and I excretion before, 5 and 14 days (TSH 0,5,14, resp.) RESULTS: T h i s is a case report of a mother who passed an atrophic thyroiditis during childhood at the age of 15 years. S h e has been treated with 1-T4 since then. Between age 1 8 and 25 she had born three offsprings.T h e first-born was a male, suffering from permanent neonatal hypothyroidism. The second-and third-born offsprings were females. Both of them had a clcar transient hypothyroidism and were treated with 1-T4 for one resp. two years. Maternal microsomal and thyroglobulin ABs were present at all three pregnancies, whereas in the offsprings thyroid AB titers disappeared vithin the first 6 months of life. Thyroid infiltrating cells in 12 patients with JAIT wcre analyzed. The mean age of the children was 13.6'1.7 years. Three of the pdtients were hypothyroid and two had elevated levels of TSH in serum. Eight had high titres of thyroid antibodies. About 86% of the thyroid infiltrating cclls were lymphocytes, 4% lymphoid blasts, 6% neutrophils and 3% monocytes. The percent distribution of lymphoid cells in thyroid (and blood) #-FP ccncenb-atias in all M patients are evtsanely hi@ at diagncsis as well as after 15 days of rrplacement therapy. lhey significantly dffl-ease in further obsmtions, with full ndization within 6 mths. Moreover o(-FP levels in patients with m i d agenesis are significantly higber than in patients with ectopia,at diagncsis.In conclusion L-FP senm levels are w f u l in hmthymidism and can differentiate agengis f m ectopia, sirce the concenntratiws i n these two grips of patients are exkmely different, without overw at all. Since a-FP is an indicator of fetal maturity it skms that fetal develqmnt is mre irrpaired in agenesis than in ectcpia, indicatiw a different thyroid homnes availability during the fetal life.

The echo patterns of diffuse thyroid lesions in children are not yet well known. We present here the ultrasound findings of 32 children aged 5 to 15 years with a newly diagnosed diffuse thyroid disease. 23 patients had thyromegaly by palpation, 9 had hypothyroidism but no goiter. Of the 23 goitrous patients 9 were hypo-, 3 hyper-and 11 euthyroid. The 9 with hypothyroidism had all autoimmune thyroiditis as judged by antithyroid antibodies, and confirmed cytologically in 5. They had all 9 a hypoechogenic patchy, partly nodular thyroid by ultrasound.2 of the 3 with Graves disease had initially a similar pattern than in thyroiditis, the 3rd showed hypoechogenity later. Of the 11 euthyroid