Cocaine-associated growth deficits, symmetrical and partially mediated by gestational age, were observed in this sample of inner-city African-American full-term infants prospectively enrolled at birth. Long-term implications will be the subject of future reports from this longitudinal investigation.

No abstract

An enzymatic method for cholesterol in serum [Clin. Chem. 20, 470 (1974)] was initially found to be unsatisfactory for measuring cholesterol in high-density-lipoprotein fractions prepared by precipitation with Mn2+. A fine precipitate formed in the cuvette and cholesterol values were falsely increased. We describe a simple, convenient method for circumventing these problems. An ethylenediaminetetraacetate solution is used to reconstitute the enzymatic reagent. Cholesterol values by this procedure correlated with those obtained by the Lipid Research Clinic's procedure for the same lipoprotein fraction preparations (regression slope, .998; Y-intercept, 8.9 mg/liter; correlation coefficient, .984; standard error of the estimate, 16.8 mg/liter). Precision of the assay, including the precipitation step, was calculated. The SDwithin day was 9.7 mg/liter and SDoverall was 23.7 mg/liter. Results for total cholesterol with the modified reagent were linearly related to concentrations exceeding 4 g/liter, thereby permitting determination of high-density-lipoproteins and total cholesterol in a single run.

In a joint Veterans Administration-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute study of mild hypertension, 1,012 men and women, 21 to 50 years of age and with diastolic pressure from 85 to 105 mm Hg, were randomized into two double-blind treatment groups. Subjects in the active group received chlorthalidone or chlorthalidone plus reserpine, while the other subjects received matching placebo tablets. After one year of treatment, the chlorthalidone group had increases of 10.0 +/- 1.8 (SE) mg/dL in total cholesterol level, 9.8 +/- 5.2 mg/dL in triglyceride level, and 12.6 +/- 3.4 mg/dL in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level above the changes in the placebo group. There was no difference in high-density lipoprotein changes between the two groups (0.1 +/- 0.8 mg/dL). The possible net effect on risk of increasing lipid values while lowering pressure in the long-term treatment of mild hypertension with thiazides or related diuretics must be further evaluated.