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IT has long been recognized that patients with ischemic heart disease may exhibit abnormalities in serum lipid patterns. Although cholesterol metabolism in ischemic heart disease has received a vast amount of study over the years, emphasis has only recently been placed on the possible role of abnormal triglyceride metabolism in this disorder. Albrink and Man1 have described elevated fasting triglyceride levels in ischemic heart disease. Differences in serum triglyceride levels have recently been reported in racial groups with widely differing incidence of ischemic heart disease.2 Brown et al.3 have shown that elevated cholesterol levels tend to be paralleled by an . . .

Serum parathyroid hormone and total and ionized Ca, Mg, and P levels were determined serially from birth to 96 hr of age in 28 infants of diabetic mothers (IDM, 15 Class A, 13 Class B, C, D) and their respective mothers at the time of delivery. In spite of marked decreases in concentrations of serum total and ionized Ca from birth to 24 to 48 hr, there was an insignificant increase in serum PTH values over this period in infants of insulin-dependent mothers. Infants of Class A diabetic mothers had an equivocal PTH response. Nineteen term control infants were similarly examined and had a significant increase in serum PTH postnatally. Relatively higher values of serum ionized Ca at birth in IDM were followed by greater decreases in ionized Ca from birth to 24-48 hr of age, and by decreased neonatal parathyroid function. The data support functional hypoparathyroidism as a basis for the hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia of IDM. It is speculated that increased concentrations of serum ionized Ca in utero and suppression of activity in the fetal parathyroid glands may be a cause for the functional hypoparathyroidism.

SINCE 1959, when Albrink and Man1 suggested that elevated serum triglyceride levels might be related to the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease, several investigators2 3 4 5 6 have measured the lipid in health and in this disease. No information is available on the possible value of elevated triglyceride levels in predicting the occurrence of the disease in apparently healthy men. Accordingly, in this study, serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels were measured in 1851 fasting middle-aged men who remained under clinical observation for the next four years (1959–1964). It was thus possible to relate triglyceride and cholesterol levels to both the incidence and the . . .

Infants with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) often exhibit signs of neuromuscular irritability, even without associated hypoglycemia. Little is known about serum Ca in such infants. In this study 47 IUGR infants and 70 infants with birth weights appropriate for gestational age (AGA) were studied serially in the first 3 days of life. Serum Ca in AGA infants was correlated with gestational age; serum Ca in IUGR infants was within the 95% confidence limits for AGA infants of comparable gestation. Forty IUGR infants were matched with 40 AGA infants for birth weight and birth asphyxia (1 minute Apgar Score≤6, or necessity for resuscitation): neonatal serum Ca was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Among IUGR infants postnatal serum Ca was not correlated with birth weight, but correlated significantly with Apgar Scores(r=0.471, p

PROSPECTIVE studies, of which the Albany Cardio;vascular Health Center study is typical, have confirmed or identified abtout a dozen characteristics which to varying degreeis are associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease (1-8). Such studies, however, are enormously expensive in terms oif both service and research. An increasingly interested and informed public is now putting great preissure on health agencies to mount effeltive progra.ms toward prevention of heart disease. It is accordingly desirable to develop methods to identify and serially re-evaluate susceptible groups and, if possible, individual members of such groups. In 1961 we developed such a procedure by having nonmedical personnel conduct diagnostic examinations during the, period between the regular biennial medical appraisals o-f the Cardiovascular Health Center population of men. This procedure, carried out by appropriately trained personnel and evaluated against the basic program, convinced us that complete and reliable information on cardiovascular risk fac,tors can be obtained efficiently, economically, and with high acceptajbility by the participant. Therefore, we decided to extend this operation to a mu6h larger group comprised of both mien and women.

Various analogues and isomers of levothyroxin have been shown to be considerably less calorigenic than the naturally occurring hormone, though they retain its lipid-lowering properties. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of one of these isomers, dextro-triiodothyronine, on the serum lipid levels of 23 patients with ischemic heart disease and with cholesterol levels exceeding 300 mg.%. Cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids were measured in all patients at intervals during the 40 weeks of this study. In doses of 1.5 to 2 mg. daily dextro-triiodothyronine was able to produce effective and prolonged reduction of all 3 lipids. In spite of the absence of evidence of hyperthyroidism in all patients receiving this drug, 8 of the 23 experienced increased severity or frequency of angina pectoris. The frequency and seriousness of this side effect precludes the general use of this drug in patients with ischemic heart disease, but additional analogues of this nature should be sought and studied.