Nervous apparatus of the walls of the celiac trunk and its branches in man

The impregnation methods in total laminated preparations and histological sections were used to study the nervous apparatus of the celiac trunk and its branches in humans of either sex and different age. It consists of milti- and unipolar cells, periadventitial, adventitial and muscular nervous plexuses, separate nerve trunks and plexuses and single myelinated and non-myelinated nerve fibres terminating with non-encapsulated and encapsulated nerve endings.     

Effect of muscular dysfunction on the development of shoulder joint in children with Erb's paralysis

In order to evaluate the disturbances of development of the shoulder joint in children with Erb's paralysis the authors conducted an X-ray examination of the shoulder girdle and the shoulder in the anterior-posterior projection. The assessment of the functional state of the muscles of the shoulder girdle was made with the aid of clinical EMG. It was established that there was a retardation of growth and ossification of the radial head of the humerus on the affected side, a decrease in the longitudinal and cross-sectional sizes of the humerus, a retardation in the development of the joint scopular cavity, disorders in spacial interrelationship in the components of the shoulder joint and internal rotation of the shoulder joint. The structural and anatomical changes in the components of the shoulder joint are associated with disorders of the neurotrophic processes in the bone tissue and the muscular dysbalance.     

Renal lactate metabolism and gluconeogenesis during insulin-induced hypoglycemia

The contribution of gluconeogenic precursors to renal glucose production (RGP) during insulin-induced hypoglycemia was assessed in conscious dogs. Ten days after surgical placement of sampling catheters in the right and left renal veins and femoral artery and an infusion catheter in the left renal artery, systemic and renal glucose and glycerol kinetics were measured with peripheral infusions of [6-3H]glucose and [2-13C]glycerol. Renal blood flow was determined with a flowprobe, and the renal balance of lactate, alanine, and glycerol was calculated by arteriovenous difference. After baseline, six dogs received 2-h simultaneous infusions of peripheral insulin (4 mU x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and left intrarenal [6,6-2H]dextrose (14 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1)) to achieve and maintain left renal normoglycemia during systemic hypoglycemia. Arterial glucose decreased from 5.3 +/- 0.1 to 2.2 +/- 0.1 mmol/l; insulin increased from 46 +/- 5 to 1,050 +/- 50 pmol/l; epinephrine, from 130 +/- 8 to 1,825 +/- 50 pg/ml; norepinephrine, from 129 +/- 6 to 387 +/- 15 pg/ml; and glucagon, from 52 +/- 2 to 156 +/- 12 pg/ml (all P < 0.01). RGP increased from 1.7 +/- 0.4 to 3.0 +/- 0.5 (left) and from 0.6 +/- 0.2 to 3.2 +/- 0.2 (right) micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1) (P < 0.01). Whole-body glycerol appearance increased from 6.0 +/- 0.5 to 7.7 +/- 0.7 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1)(P < 0.01); renal conversion of glycerol to glucose increased from 0.13 +/- 0.04 to 0.30 +/- 0.10 (left) and from 0.11 +/- 0.03 to 0.25 +/- 0.05 (right) micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1), (P < 0.05). Net renal gluconeogenic precursor uptake increased from 1.5 +/- 0.4 to 5.0 +/- 0.4 (left) and from 0.9 +/- 0.2 to 3.8 +/- 0.4 (right) micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1) (P < 0.01). Renal lactate uptake could account for approximately 40% of postabsorptive RGP and for 60% of RGP during hypoglycemia. These results indicate that gluconeogenic precursor extraction by the kidney, particularly lactate, is stimulated by counterregulatory hormones and accounts for a significant fraction of the enhanced gluconeogenesis induced by hypoglycemia.     

Aldosterone excess: a rare non-nephrophathic cause of hypertension in type I diabetes

The aetiology of hypertension in type 1 diabetes is commonly due to the presence of diabetic nephrology. A rare case of hypertension in a patient with type 1 diabetes and no proteinuria is reported, where the investigation of borderline hypokalaemia allowed us to make a diagnosis of hyperaldosteronism due to bilateral adrenocortical hyperplasia. Secondary causes of hypertension should always be considered in all diabetic patients, particularly in the absence of clinical proteinuria.