Abnormally increased glomerular filtration rate in short-term insulin-treated diabetic subjects

Functional changes in the microvascular system appear to precede the morphological changes in the conjunctiva and retina of young subjects with diabetes mellitus. Similar functional changes might occur in the renal microvascular system and hemodynamics and possibly lead to a disturbance in the glomerular filtration rate.

A preliminary study of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using the radioactive vitamin B12 method in young, insulin-treated patients with short duration of diabetes is reported.

The average GFR in eighteen diabetic subjects was 137.8 ml. per min. per 1.73m2 with a standard deviation of 24.3 ml. in contrast to the average GFR in twelve control subjects which was 102.9 ml. with a standard deviation of 15.1 ml. This difference in GFR is highly significant. The reasons for the increased GFR in diabetics with short duration of their disease are discussed.

Location of the maltose A and B loci on the genetic map of Escherichia coli

Schwartz, Maxime (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France). Location of the maltose A and B loci on the genetic map of Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 92:1083-1089. 1966.-All of the mutations impairing maltose metabolism that have been found in Escherichia coli map in one of the two loci, malA and malB. The position of malA in relation to the streptomycin, diaminopimelic acid + homoserine, and glycerol D loci were established both by sexual crosses and by P1 transduction. A new biotin marker was also shown to be located in this region. The position of malB was studied in relation to the loci for arginine F, methionine A, ultraviolet radiation A, and the origin of transfer of Hfr P10.

Somatosensory cerebral evoked responses in psychotic depression

In previous studies of somatosensory cerebral evoked responses in psychiatric patients, we found that two characteristics of these responses discriminated between patients with psychotic depressions and healthy or psychoneurotic subjects. The amplitude of the initial negative-positive component was larger and its recovery, as determined by administering paired “conditioning” and “test” stimuli, was retarded (11, 12, 13). Furthermore, after successful therapy, the recovery measure changed in the direction of “normal” (11).

Mood, motility and 17-hydroxycorticoid excretion; a polyvariable case study

Since the initial observations of a relationship between depression and an increase in urinary adrenal glucocorticoids in psychiatric patients by Reiss (1953) and Rizzo et al. (1954), there have been a number of studies confirming this relationship using various chemical techniques (Board et al., 1957; Bunney et al., 1964 and 1965; Gibbons, Gibbons, Maxwell and Wilcox, 1960; Gibbons and McHugh, 1962; Gibbons, 1964; Kurland, 1964a and 1964b; Pryce 1964). One of the questions that immediately comes to mind in reviewing this work has to do with the specificity of this relationship. Perhaps the rise of urine corticoids in depression is a non-specific response to disturbance, as has been demonstrated in various forms of psychological stress (Hamburg, 1962) and in severe psychiatric disturbances such as acute schizophrenic episodes (Sachar et al., 1963). On the other hand it is tempting to hope that there may be a more specific relationship demonstrable between the complex psychobiological phenomenon of depression and some kind of neuroendocrine activation analagous to a syndrome like “periodic hypothalamic discharge” (Wolff et al., 1964). This syndrome is manifested by periodic episodes (lasting several days) of withdrawal and depression associated with marked elevations in 17-hydroxycorticoid excretion. Mandell et al. (1963) have recently demonstrated that subthreshold stimulation of limbic sites intimately related to hypothalamic modulation produces marked changes in plasma 17-hydroxycorticoids in man. Limbic areas have been related to affectual phenomena on a speculative basis since the classical papers of Papez (1937).