Clemens E. Benda

Studies in calcium metabolism; the fate of intravenously injected radiocalcium in human beings.

In the course of studies on the effect of phytates on calcium uptake in man (1) it became necessary to determine the extent to which endogenous calcium in the feces might contribute to the calcium balance. Although this point has been studied by several investigators (2-5), there is considerable disagreement on the significance of the fecal route for calcium excretion in man. Thus Malm (6) has observed that different individuals may exhibit pronounced variations in the fecal calcium excretion and has suggested that extended observations be made on each proposed test subject. Since this approach is not practicalin many cases, it seemed desirable to establish the significance of the endogenous calcium output in the feces under our experimental conditions.5 The method chosen for investigation was to inject radiocalcium (Ca45) intravenously and to determine its concentration in the serum, urine and feces during several days. Such studies have been

The serum cholesterol and lipoprotein levels in mongolism

Summary A comparison of the serum total cholesterol levels and certain classes of serum beta-lipoprotein levels among fifty-four mongoloid subjects, fifty-four institutional controls, and 1,039 well subjects has failed to reveal consistent differences. Such evidence of higher serum lipid levels as was found among the mongoloids appears to be explained by a greater prevalence of obesity in those subjects. Mongolism is not characterized by unusual serum lipid patterns.