Atrial natriuretic peptide and other vasoactive hormones during treatment of severe diabetic ketoacidosis in children.

Plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), arginine vasopressin (AVP), renin activity (PRA), aldosterone, norepinephrine, and cortisol, and renal functions were investigated in nine children with diabetic ketoacidosis. Before therapy, blood glucose concentration was 608.4 +/- 142.2 mg/dL and base excess -21 +/- 1.9 mmol/L. The calculated volume depletion was 2505 +/- 1005 mL/1.73 m2. At the onset of the study, the plasma concentration of ANP (5.3 +/- 1.2 fmol/L) was low, and concentrations of AVP (159 +/- 44 pg/mL), PRA (59 +/- 19 ng angiotensin l/mL/hr), aldosterone (114 +/- 11 ng/dL), norepinephrine (430 +/- 67 pg/mL), and cortisol (33 +/- 2.1 micrograms/dL) were markedly elevated. Fluid replacement raised plasma ANP concentration, which reached physiologic levels on the first day of therapy. PRA, aldosterone, norepinephrine, and cortisol also normalized during the first 24 hours of therapy, whereas AVP remained above the physiologic range at 20.4 +/- 6.8 pg/mL on the third day. Our data indicate that in diabetic ketoacidosis, volume depletion, enhanced sodium excretion, and hyponatremia activated vasoconstrictor and sodium-retaining hormone systems and that secretion of the natriuretic and vasodilator hormone ANP is suppressed. All of these hormonal alterations seem directed at maintaining adequate fluid volume and sodium homeostasis.

Does a vigorous feeding style influence early development of adiposity?

A prospective study of a cohort of healthy infants observed from birth to 2 years of age was carried out to investigate factors influencing the development of early adiposity. Infant suckling was measured in the laboratory twice during the first month of life. Multiple regression analyses revealed that parental educational level and a measure of feeding behavior, the interval between bursts of suckling, accounted for 18% of the variance in triceps skinfold measures at 1 year of age. A lower level of education and shorter interburst interval were associated with increased adiposity. Two feeding variables, pressure of suckling and the number of reported feeds per day, accounted for 21% of the variance in skinfold thickness at 2 years of age. Fewer, but larger, feeds and a higher sucking pressure were associated with a greater degree of adiposity. It seems that a vigorous infant feeding style, consisting of sucking more rapidly, at higher pressure, with a longer suck and burst duration, and a shorter interval between bursts of sucking, is associated with higher caloric intake and greater adiposity. The early development of this feeding style suggests that it may be a genetically endowed behavior. Breast-feeding protected against early adiposity only to the age of 6 months in this cohort of infants.

Physical activity and adiposity: a longitudinal study from birth to childhood.

Physical activity was reassessed in cohort of 52 children aged 4 to 8 years whose activity had been measured during the first 3 days of life. Neonatal adiposity was not significantly correlated with parental adiposity, neonatal physical activity, or gender, nor was neonatal activity significantly correlated with adiposity in childhood. Neonatal adiposity did not predict adiposity in childhood. However, in a stepwise multiple regression, parental adiposity and the children's daytime high activity levels were significantly associated with childhood adiposity. The age or gender of the child did not significantly correlate with childhood adiposity. As parental adiposity increased or daytime high activity of a child decreased, the adiposity in a 4- to 8-year-old child was likely to increase.