The results suggest that NLE has beta cell regenerating potential.

Male patients with SS disease had significantly lower T3 and higher TSH levels than a comparison group. Stimulation with TRH in 10 male sibling pairs showed highly significant increases in T3 and TSH in both patients and sibling controls although the increase in TSH was significantly greater in SS disease. The interpretation of these findings is unclear although the thyroid indices indicate an abnormal pituitary-thyroid axis most consistent with a modest primary thyroid failure.

No abstract

To find out whether plasma vasopressin (PAVP) response to a water load during pregnancy is inappropriately high, as had been speculated, we measured PAVP by radioimmunoassay in 30 women at the time of delivery. Ten women had received infusion of aqueous glucose solution during labor for hydration (GW group); another ten received infusion of glucose solution as a vehicle for oxytocin (OT group), and ten women did not receive any intrapartum intravenous fluid therapy (controls). Serum sodium and osmolality were also determined in all the subjects. PAVP levels were significantly lower in GW (0.70 +/- 0.4 pg/ml) and OT groups (0.7 +/- 0.6 pg/ml) (P less than 0.05). Significant negative correlation was seen between the amount of glucose solution infused and levels of PAVP (r = -0.66; P less than 0.01), while a significant positive correlation was seen between PAVP and serum sodium (r = 0.61; P less than 0.01). These findings suggest that during labor, the physiological relationship between serum osmolality and PAVP is intact, and that infusion of a water load in the form of aqueous glucose solution is attended by an expected lowering of PAVP. We infer that inappropriate ADH response is not the cause of water retention and hyponatremia often seen in women receiving aqueous glucose solution during labor.

The administration of a crude steroidal extract of neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) leaf significantly decreased the total spontaneous motor activity (SMA) scores in rats receiving either 100 mg/kg body weight (i.p.) twice per week for 6 weeks (p <0.01) or a single dose (p <0.05), indicating that neem may have a sedative effect on rats. Single dose (acute) treatment also significantly decreased (p <0.01) the amplitude of the peak twitch force of the gastrocnemius muscle in vivo, but the neem extract exerted no significant effect on amplitude or conduction velocity of the compound action potential of the toad sciatic nerve preparation in vitro. It is therefore concluded that the depression of the SMA may be due to an effect of neem on the central nervous system and/or muscle strength, but not on peripheral nerve conduction. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.