Jonas Weissberg

Effects of androgenic steroids in aging individuals.

The process of aging is one of involution, degeneration and senescence, beginning in no specific or given year of life and usually proceeding in an orderly fashion, albeit with considerable individual variation. In a sense, therefore, aging may be looked upon as an accentuation of the catabolic as contrasted with the anabolic phase of metabolism. Throughout life there is a constant adjustment between the tearing down and the building up of tissue, and the movement and utilization of materials necessary to meet the energy requirements of the body. The androgens play a vital role in the processes concerned with anabolism. They have been shown to further the storage of nitrogen in the muscular structures of the body, and also in the protein matrix of the skeleton (1-5). For this purpose protein building blocks must be furnished; apparently the androgens cannot prepare such protein moieties. Therefore, preliminary to anabolic processes controlled by androgens, other factors, probably including the “glucocorticoid” hormones of the adrenal cortex, are necessary for the maintenance of a pool of readily available protein moieties. In the presence of androgens, the protein moieties are anabolized to form muscular and skeletal protein. The catabolism of such protein may later be initiated by circulating thyroid hormone or certain adrenocortical steroids which have a specific influence in making the protein available for energy (6). Thus, the nitrogen balance of the body, and the constant turnover of protein which is necessary for normal satisfactory muscular performance is, at least in part, a hormonally regulated activity not delegated to a single gland, but apparently requiring the balanced action of gonad, adrenal and thyroid. Furthermore, pituitary function varies, as one phase of life gives way to another. Consequently, as gonadal function decreases, changes in the hormonal activity of both the pituitary and the adrenal appear. The altered responses of the adrenal cortex seem to compensate partially for the loss of gonadal function, and an asymptomatic readjustment of the body

Original articleNewer antihistaminics: IV. Some pharmacologic and therapeutic effects of β-(p-bromo-benzhydryloxy)-ethyldimethylamine hydrochloride, a derivative of diphenhydramine hydrochloride

1. 1. From a study of 34 normal individuals and some 296 patients treated with Ambodryl (β-[4-bromobenzhydryloxy]-ethyldimethylamine hydrochloride), the following pharmacologic actions were demonstrated in human beings: (a) suppression of the “wheal and flare” reaction which normally follows the intracutaneous introduction of histamine; (b) a tendency to pupillary dilatation in larger doses (300 mg. or more daily); and (c) slight lowering of the basal metabolic rate in the largest doses, although the degree of this change may not be statistically significant. 2. 2. In daily doses varying from 75 to 600 mg. orally ingested for periods of time varying from 1 to 54 weeks, no appreciable changes were produced by Ambodryl in the following: weight; pulse rate; blood pressure; electrocardiogram; icteric index; van den Bergh reaction; cephalin flocculation; serum inorganic phosphorus, cholesterol, cholesterol esters, total protein, albumin, and globulin; blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and glucose; the blood count; gastric acidity; glucose tolerance; and urinalysis. 3. 3. Ambodryl has been administered to 296 patients for periods of time ranging from 1 day to 14 months in amounts varying from unit doses of 25 mg. to 300 mg. daily. Maintenance doses of the drug have varied from 50 to 300 mg. daily. 4. 4. Partial or complete relief has been afforded all cases of urticaria, angioneurotic edema, contact dermatitis, spastic colon, and premenstrual tension. Approximately 90 per cent of all cases of seasonal allergic rhinitis have obtained relief. Between 75 and 80 per cent of the cases of atopic eczema and nonseasonal allergic rhinitis have been improved and 50 per cent of the patients with bronchial asthma and migraine have been helped. Other conditions which have been treated include generalized pruritus of varied etiology, gastrointestinal allergies due to food, essential hypertension, sea and airsickness, and postoperative hiccoughing. 5. 5. In 321 subjects, the over-all incidence of side effects or toxic symptoms was 8.4 per cent; in a therapeutic range of dosage (from 75 to 300 mg. daily) for the same subjects this incidence was 6.2 per cent. No untoward reactions were observed in daily doses below 100 mg. Qualitatively, the unpleasant symptoms resembled those associated with the administration of diphenhydramine hydrochloride. In descending order of frequency they included drowsiness, dryness of the throat, diarrhea, and anorexia. 6. 6. The therapeutic activity and toxicity of Ambodryl have been critically compared with those of diphenhydramine hydrochloride and Toladryl. Practical considerations in connection with such comparisons are discussed.

The value of a special pepsin-pancreatic preparation in the treatment of peptic ulcer and gastric hyperacidity

1. A special pancreatic-pepsin preparation (P. P. tablet) was given to each of 30 patients with an active peptic ulcer. A moderate to marked relief of pain occurred in 70% of the cases, which indicates that this form of therapy is rather effective in the treatment of peptic ulcer.

RESPONSE OF AGED PERSONS TO ADMINISTRATION OF SALT AND DESOXYCORTICOSTERONE ACETATE

Although the most striking effect of desoxycorticosterone acetate (DCA) is the retention of sodium and the excretion of potassium, under certaiu conditions i t may act to retain both sodium and water (1, 2) (3, lit. reviewed) (4-8), and under other conditions to further the excretion of water (3, 9) even to the point of the production of a diabetes-insipidus-like picture (3, 11-18). Soffer and his associates (19) made these phenomena the basis of a test for Cushing’s syndrome, believing that in that condition the normal sodium-retaining effect of desoxycorticosterone acetate was lost. Inasmuch as wide fluctuations in the values for urinary volume, sodium and chloride have been observed in the performance of such tests, we have attempted to analyze statistically the data obtained in our own laboratories, in relation to age; and whenever possible, to correlate these with the eosiriophil counts and electrolyte excretions following the administration of adrenocorticotropiii (ACTH).