The long term effects of GH replacement in adult GH-deficient (GHD) patients have not yet been clarified. We studied 21 GHD adults who originally took part in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of GH treatment in 1987. After completion of that trial, 10 patients received continuous GH replacement for the subsequent 10 yr, whereas 11 did not. A group of 11 age- and sex-matched normal controls were also studied in 1987 and 1997. Lean body mass, as assessed by total body potassium measurement and computed tomography scanning of the dominant thigh, increased in the GH-treated group (P < 0.01 for both) only (P < 0.05 between groups for total body potassium). Low density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased in the GH-treated group (P < 0.05) only. Carotid intima media thickness was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in the untreated group than in the GH-treated group. Assessment of psychological well-being using the Nottingham Health Profile revealed improvement in overall score, energy levels, and emotional reaction in the GH-treated group compared with those in the untreated group (P < 0.02). In conclusion, GH treatment for 10 yr in GHD adults resulted in increased lean body and muscle mass, a less atherogenic lipid profile, reduced carotid intima media thickness, and improved psychological well-being.

Iodine-124 (T 1/2 = 4.18 d) is an important radionuclide for preclinical research in positron emission tomography (PET). We describe an improved method to produce and extract 124 I from a solid [ 124 Te]TeO 2 target efficiently using the dry distillation technique. Our process is based on remote hot cell handling and was optimised to achieve efficiencies better than 90% with an average thick target yield of 9.0 ± 1.0 MBq/µAh (n = 47, corrected for decay). The technology is safe and reduces the dose to the operator.

Oxygen-15 administered by continuous inhalation and emission computed tomography were used to study regional tissue oxygen utilisation and blood flow in the limbs of 11 patients with venous ulceration and five patients with liposclerosis due to venous insufficiency. The results showed increased blood flow and appreciably reduced fractional oxygen extraction in the diseased tissues.

1. The non-steady-state turnover of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), labelled in its apoprotein moiety (apo-B) with 131I, was determined in four patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia, three of them homozygotes. 2. The fractional and absolute catabolic rates (FCR and ACR) of LDL-apo-B were determined by relating the excretion of radioactivity, measured in urine in vitro and by whole-body counter in vivo, to plasma radioactivity and to LDL specific radioactivity respectively. 3. The FCR remained relatively constant, even after marked reduction of LDL pool size by means of plasma exchange. This confirms the existence of an intrinsic defect in LDL catabolism in familial hypercholesterolaemia. 4. LDL-apo-B synthesis, determined by summing the ACR and the daily increment in plasma LDL, was much higher in the three homozygotes than in the one heterozygote, in whom the synthetic rate was normal. 5. These results illustrate the usefulness of combining plasma exchange and whole-body radioactivy counting as a means of examining the relationship between the turnover and pool size of a 131I-labelled protein, such as LDL.