This article analysed the clinical manifestations and endocrinological changes after pituitary apoplexy in 8 fulminant acromegalic patients. Their secretory functions of pituitary hGH after pituitary apoplexy could be divided into two groups: 1) those with decrease of the reserve of pituitary hGH secretion; 2) those with decrease of pituitary hypersecretion of hGH, but still having pituitary reserve. In the former group, with almost full destruction of the pituitary tumors, basal serum hGH levels decreased to normal and showed no response to stimulation; and the functions of other pituitary-target axes were also influenced; as a result, obvious metabolic changes were noted and replacement therapy was needed. In the latter group, because of partial destruction of the pituitary tumors, the decreased serum hGH levels were not suppressed to normal, but showed response to stimulus; most of the functions of other pituitary-target axes were normal; thus these patients should be followed up carefully to see if they would relapse.Meanwhile, there were 10 cases of typical acromegaly with normal serum hGH levels, though they had not received any kind of therapy before. These patients might be considered as the silent type of pituitary apoplexy. In this series, the incidence is 2.4% for the fulminant type and 3.0% for the silent type.

The response of serum hGH to TRH stimulation was studied in 33 normal adults and 35 patients with pituitary GH-secreting adenoma before and after treatment. The results showed that a net increment of serum hGH level of mor than 6.0 ng / ml together with an increment of serum hGH over basal level by more than 50% should be taken as a positive response.After treatment with bromocriptine over 5 weeks, most of the response of serum hGH to TRH remained unchanged regardless of whether the basal hGH level bad decreased or not. The disease was remittent or cured in those whose TRH response became negative after pituitary surgery and / or pituitary radiotherapy. A persistent positive or possibly positive response after treatment suggested that the disease remained active. Tne results indicated that this test could be used as a tumor marker.The possible mechanisms responsible for the positive TRH test in acromegaly were discussed.

The secretory profile of GH was generated by 15-30 minutes sampling in 10 normal adults and 4 acromegalic patients. The 15-and 20-min sampling revealed more GH pulses than 30-min sampling, but the average amplitude of GH pulses and the amount of GH secreted were of the same. The normal females had more GH pulses in morning after waking and in the postabsorptive period after dinner., All .4 acromegalic patients had no big GH peak after the first deep wave sieep. In 2 acromegalic patients who had a 24-hour GH profile measurement, the male patient with normal blood sugar level had more GH pulses, but the female patient with diabetes mellitus had only a few GH pulses. Our results showed that the autonomous GH-secreting tumor remains under hypothalamic control to some extent.

It takes 10 years for the pubertal development to be completed, which is the essential period for the normal growth of children. It is necessary to further study how the release of inhibion upstream of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neuron takes place and what the molecular nature of GnRH pulse generators is. Clinically, longitudinal surveys of clinical signs in large population as well as determinations of the ranges of normal and abnormal hormone values in both sexes during pubertal development are also mandatory, which will be helpful to the physicians in early treating pubertal disorders.

Cause-effect deduction is the basis of both natural and social sciences. Both wealthy knowledge and logical design are essential in obtaining the true causality among medical studies. Though association analysis provides important information for cause-effect deduction, it does not mean causality itself. Before the existence of the causality between two variables being identified, rigorous criteria must be followed. A number of indexes, such as the significance and the degree of the association, the dose-response relationship, the biology-based possibility, as well as the consistency and specificity, all should be examined very carefully. Clear verifiable hypotheses, rational selection of subjects, reliable experimental methods, appropriate statistical analysis and correct logical deductions, all are the integral parts that finally constitute a faithful deduction.

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM), sponsored by U.S. Endocrine Society, is particularly appreciated by clinical endocrine doctors worldwide. It is intimately related to clinical practice while still catching up state of art research methods and recent discoveries and its creativity, novelty, scientific reliability, feasibility and readability are highly appraised. Compared to JCEM, our Chinese Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism seems to be inadequate in certain aspects and needs to be improved in the future.

To study the effects of growth hormone on function of T lymphocytes. Methods: Tne expression plasmid PcDNA-GHcDNA was constructed,then the plasmids were transfected into Jurkat cells,on the other hand,Jurkat cells were treated with different doses ofrhGH, to investigate the effect of overexpression GH and rhGH on function of T lymphocytes. Results: Overexpression GH could increase the ex-pression of IL-2R(140％) and secretion of IL-2(160％) and IFN-γ( 198% ) in Jurkat cells after PHA activation,but these data were broughtdown by the treatment of GH antibody. rhGH could also enhancer the function of T lymphocytes after PHA activation. Conclusion: These resultssupport the idea that GH is an autocrine and paracrine factor, and can regulate the function of T lymphocytes.

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of determination for serum insulin like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP 3) protease activity. Methods Serum IGFBP 3 protease activity in normal persons, parturient pregnant women, acromegalic patients and patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) was determined by Western blot technique. Results Serum IGFBP 3 protease activity in parturient pregnant women, acromegalic patients,normaladultsanduntreatedGHDpatientswere (75.2?2.2)%, (68.6?3.9)%, (22.7?3.1)% and (13.4?4.2)% respectively. Serum IGFBP 3 protease activity in GHD increased to (29.0?6.8)% after treatment with recombining human somatropin (rhGH) for six months. Conclusions Serum IGFBP 3 protease activity is modulated by GH and affects serum levels of members of GH IGF Ⅰ axis.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of orlistat in Chinese overweight and obese patients. Methods In six research centers, 444 overweight and obese patients (body mass index 25～40 kg/m 2) were divided into orlistat group (296 patients) and placebo group (148 patients) with a low-energy diet for 24 weeks by a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study. Results For intent-to-treat analysis, 286 orlistat-treated and 142 placebo-treated subjects were evaluated. After 24 weeks, orlistat-treated patients lost more weight 〔(6.1?3.6)kg,( x ?s)〕 than placebo-treated patients did (3.0?3.5)kg (P

Prolactin (PRL) is a multi-functional hormone mainly from pituitary gland. PRL receptors exist ubiquitously in all tissues and organs of immune system and PRL modulates local and systemic immune activities. PRL is involved in many physiological and pathological immune responses. The function of PRL in autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation and tumor occurrence has been explored in recent years. This article is to review the progress of prolactin in the immunology-related field.