Actions of Phenethylbiguanide and Related Compounds

\tan, Hamdi S. ; and Klotz, Arthur P. (Dept. of Med., Univ. of Kansas Med. Center, Kansas City, Kan.; Med. Serv. & Radioisotope Lab., Vet. Admin. Hosp., Kansas City, Mo.) : FAT ABSORPTION AND PANCREATIC FUNCTION IN DIABETES MELLITUS. Ann. Int. Med. 49:820-28, October 1958. A study was conducted in ten normal adults and ten diabetic patients of fat absorption and pancreatic exocrine function. The former was studied by an I-iodotriolein absorption test and the latter by intravenous secretin. Fat absorption was normal in uncomplicated diabetes. It was abnormal in two patients with diabetic diarrhea while having the diarrhea but normal in one during remission. The secretin test was abnormal only in one diabetic patient complicated by chronic pancreatitis. S.B. B. Assevero, Victor L. ; and Moss, James M. (Howard University and Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.) : DIABETES MELLITUS IN INFANCY: CASE REPORT. J. Pediat. 53:227-30, August 1958. The patient discussed was a one-month-old infant whose mother was not diabetic, who failed to gain weight, and entered hospital in dehydration. Glycosuria on one occasion was dismissed as due to clysis. Low sodium and high potassium initiated the incorrect diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency. Eventual management with NPH insulin 2 units twice daily was undertaken with gain in weight from 5 lb. to 8 lb. in two and a half months. R.L. J. Aszkanazy, C. L. , Jenkins, L. , and Simpson, W. W. (Dept. of Pathology, and Med., Univ. of British Columbia and Vancouver Gen. Hosp., Vancouver, B.C., Canada) : ADRENAL CORTICAL CARCINOMA ASSOCIATED WITH HYPOGLYCAEMIA. Canad. M. A. J. 79:482-84, Sept. 15, 1958. A case of chronic hypoglycemia with terminal fatal hypoglycemia is described in association with carcinoma of the adrenal cortex in a twenty-six-year-old woman. Classical clinical features of Cushing's syndrome were absent. The tumor showed no insulin on hormonal assay to explain the hypoglycemia. S.B. B. Barber, Donn J. (Greeley, Colorado) : THE NEUROLOGIC VXOMPLICATIONS IN DIABETIC CHILDREN. Rocky Mountain M. J. 54:809-13, August 1957. The author discusses the neurologic changes that occur in children with diabetes, classifying these changes into two general classifications, cerebral damage from hypoglycemia and neurologic disorders produced by prolonged hyperglycemia and ketonuria. The physiology of the cerebral damage from hypoglycemia is discussed and the importance of a liberal control in preventing hypoglycemic reactions is stressed. There is also a discussion of the peripheral, neurologic changes occurring from hyperglycemia and it is again stressed that these can be prevented by adequate control. R.C. C. Beck, John C; McGarry, E. E. ; Dyrenfurth, I. ; and Yenning, E. H. (McGill Univ. Clin., Royal Victoria Hosp., Montreal, Quebec, Canada): THE METABOLIC EFFECTS OF HUMAN AND MONKEY GROWTH HORMONE IN MAN. Ann. Int. Med. 49:1090-1105, November 1958. Metabolic studies of the effects of primate (human and monkey) growth hormone administration to six human subjects are described. One was normal, three had dwarfism, one had been hypophysectomized and one had postmenopausal osteoporosis. Both types of preparation resulted in metabolic effects (retention of nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium) and increased aldosterone excretion. However, the human (and porcine), but not the monkey, preparation caused decreased carbohydrate tolerance as measured by the glucose tolerance test. The results are discussed with reference to possible differences in chemical configuration of growth hormone derived from various species. S.B. B. Berson, Solomon A. ; and Yalow, Rosalyn S. (Veterans Administration Hosp., New York 68, N. Y.): INSULIN ANTAGONISTS, INSULIN ANTIBODIES AND INSULIN RESISTANCE. Am. J. Med. 25:155-59, August 1958. This is a comprehensive review of insulin antagonists, insulin antibodies, and insulin resistance in which the authors attempt to unravel the confusion regarding the kinship of the various factors and the nature of the opposition of these factors to insulin. R.W. S. Bickford, A. F. ; and Mottram, R. F. (Dept. of the Regius Professor of Medicine, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England) : GLUCOSE METABOLISM DURING PERIODS OF INDUCED HYPOTHERMIA. J. Physiol. 143:37-38, Sept. 23, 1958. Studies on the metabolism of glucose in hypothermic rabbits have been made using the intravenous glucose tolerance test, arteriovenous blood glucose differences and the respiratory quoMARCH-APRIL, 1959 157