Changes In Acute Phase Research Articles

Circadian profiles of insulin receptors in insulin-dependent diabetics in usual and poor metabolic control.

We have characterized the 24-h changes of insulin receptors on erythrocytes from patients with insulin-dependent diabetes of long duration. These diabetics were studied both in usual and poor metabolic control. Moreover, we have examined daytime changes of insulin receptors on monocytes from newly discovered diabetics. In both erythrocyte and monocyte studies, diabetics were compared to healthy controls. At insulin tracer concentration, insulin receptor binding to erythrocytes from diabetics in usual control and normal volunteers underwent a statistically significant diurnal variation with high binding values in the early morning, low daytime values with a nadir in the late afternoon, and a peak around midnight. Even diabetics in poor metabolic control due to insulin deprivation had preserved a similar 24-h rhythm of erythrocyte insulin receptors. Insulin receptor binding to monocytes at insulin tracer concentration declined significantly during the day both in newly discovered diabetics and in healthy controls. The mechanisms responsible for the acute phase changes of insulin-receptor binding are unknown, but the receptor changes seem related to the fed state. Moreover, analysis of the temporal interrelationship between erythrocyte insulin binding and plasma insulin concentration in diabetics during the 24-h period suggests that in these patients insulin may be one of the factors determining the rapid insulin receptor regulation.

Contact Dermatitis

Contact dermatitis occurs with moderate frequency in children and adolescents and can become a chronic and puzzling problem if the cause is not discerned. A tremendous spectrum of etiologic agents accounts for the diversity of presentations and, although the specific provocative substance may fail to be identified, it is often possible to make an educated guess as to the agent responsible for the eruption.Both forms of contact dermatitis, irritant and allergic, are the result of an inflammatory reaction in the skin elicited by material in contact with the skin surface. Morphologically contact dermatitis is most often eczematous; its clinical features are, therefore, erythema, vesiculation and oozing in the acute phase, and scaling, fissuring, lichenification and pigmentary change in the chronic phase. Urticarial, granulomatous, papular, and follicular lesions as well as onycholysis (separation of the nail plate from the nail bed) can also represent reactions to contactants. Certain other features are characteristic of contact dermatitis. Usually the eruption is a localized, well-defined plaque sometimes with angular corners and sharp straight borders that suggest application of an exogenous substance. Flexural areas, face, neck, and dorsum of the hands and feet are the most susceptible sites. Scalp, palms, and soles are generally but not inevitably spared.