SUMMARY Sixteen cases of transient infantile hyperthyrotrophinaemia were followed up for two to seven years. Concentrations of serum triiodothyronine, thyroxine, and free thyroxine were maintained within the normal range in all cases. All but one child, who had a hearing disturbance, showed normal mental development with normal physical and skeletal maturation. Eleven children had normal concentrations of serum thyroid stimulating hormone and no signs or symptoms of thyroid dysfunction; in three children, diffuse small goitres developed and two further children showed relapse with slightly raised concentrations of thyroid stimulating hormone.It is concluded that 'transient infantile hyperthyrotrophinaemia' is a syndrome, which differs from typical transient neonatal hypothyroidism, and that careful follow up is necessary because some children show signs of mild pituitary-thyroid dysfunction in later childhood.

We have shown previously that serum insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels have good predictive value for complete, but not partial, growth hormone deficiency (GHD). In this study, we compare IGFBP-3 levels in short children previously divided into groups on the basis of their post-stimulation GH levels. Complete GHD (N = 59) included those children with peak post-stimulation GH < 5 micrograms/l. The partial GHD group (N = 49) had post-stimulation GH peaks of > 5 micrograms/l but < 10 micrograms/l. The normal children with short stature (N = 103) had post-stimulation GH peaks > 10 micrograms/l. Partial GHD and normal children with short stature also were divided into either low IGF-I or normal IGF-I subgroups. The clinical sensitivity of IGFBP-3 for complete GHD was 92%, whereas its sensitivity for partial GHD was 39%. For partial GHD, among those with low IGF-I (N = 19) 68% were also low for IGFBP-3, while 80% of those with normal IGF-I (N = 30) were also normal for IGFBP-3. The clinical specificity of IGFBP-3 for normal children with short stature was 69%. For these groups, among those with low IGF-I (N = 22) 73% also were low for IGFBP-3, while 80% of those with normal IGF-I (N = 81) also were normal for IGFBP-3. In addition, we tested whether IGFBP-3 can predict the response to GH treatment in prepubertal children by comparing pretreatment IGFBP-3 with the height gain achieved by 1 year of GH treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Using this test, 80 healthy Japanese infants and children (aged between one month and 15 years) and 18 adults were examined for lactose malabsorption after a dose of 1 g/kg lactose. All infants and children under 2-years old absorbed lactose completely. The incidence of lactose malabsorption was 30 % in 3-year, 36 % in 4-year, 58 % in 5-year, and 86 % in 6-year-old children, 85 % in schoolchildren, and 89 % in adults. Thus the incidence of lactase deficiency gradually increases with age from 3 years, and about 90 % of all normal Japanese adults are lactase-deficient.At birth, humans have abundant lactase activity in the small intestine but, in most ethnic groups, there is a pronounced decrease in lactase activity during early childhood (Huang and Gayless, 1967;Johnson et al., 1977). The definitive diagnosis of lactase deficiency requires the collection of biopsy specimens from the small intestine and demonstration of decreased lactase activity therein. Attempts have therefore been made to develop indirect methods for detecting lactase deficiency. Tolerance tests, although commonly used for this purpose, are influenced by many factors-such as, the rate of gastric emptying and intermediary glucose metabolism. In addition, these tests need a large amount of lactose and therefore give no information on the ability of the intestine to absorb

Abstract. To analyze the utility of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) radioimmunoassay in the diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) we measured IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in sera from normal children (n=309), short children (n=99) and patients with GHD (n=73). In 80% and 93% of classical GHD (cGHD), IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels, respectively, were below the age-related cutoff levels (lower limit). In 81% and 88% of normal short children (NS), IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels, respectively, were above the age-related cutoff levels. Thus, both IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were good parameters for screening GHD. In contrast, in more than half of partial GHD (pGHD), either IGF-I or IGFBP-3 was above the age-related cutoff levels. The poor discrimination between patients with pGHD and NS by using these two parameters may be the result of their relatively similar GH levels, as compared to cGHD, or due to the limitations of GH stimulation tests. In about 80-90% of NS, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were above the age-related cutoff levels at all ages. A hundred percent of cGHD under 10 years old had IGFBP-3 below the age-related cutoff levels, whereas 79% of cGHD under 10 years old had IGF-I below the age-related cutoff levels. Thus in the younger age groups, IGFBP-3 may be more sensitive than IGF-I. It may be because IGFBP-3 levels are relatively higher than those of IGF-I in younger subjects. IGFBP-3 may be less sensitive for diagnosing GHD in older children than in younger children because IGFBP-3 levels may also increase during puberty by mechanisms independent of the GH-IGF-I axis. There was a significant correlation between IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in all the subjects. However, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 classified subjects differently in 25% of patients with GHD and 19% of those with NS. This may reflect differences in daily coefficient of

Iodide transport defect results from the malfunction of iodide transporter (sodium iodide symporter [NIS]), and is characterized by low uptake of iodide into thyroid cells. Genetic analysis revealed that a T354P missense mutation causes iodide transport defect in the homozygous state and is a frequent mutation in the Japanese population. We recently reported three siblings with iodide transport defect harboring the T354P mutation in the heterozygous state. Here we report a novel V59E missense mutation associated with these siblings. The mutant protein showed low iodide transport activity.