Myocardial infarction during a football game: empiric estimation of the contribution of skeletal muscle damage to the serum creatine kinase activity.

A 40-year-old untrained participant of a competitive football game experienced chest pain after 20 minutes of playing time. An acute anterior myocardial infarction was diagnosed by electrocardiographic criteria and the creatine kinase rose to its maximum of 3900 U/l (normal range less than 125 U/l) by 24 h with a CK-MB fraction of 6.1%. In order to estimate the contribution of skeletal muscular work to CK activity, the course of CK activity was prospectively measured in 11 untrained participants of a competitive football game, who had normal electrocardiographic findings on exercise testing. Individual peak values of CK correlated positively (p less than 0.01) with the time spent in play. Based on this observation we could estimate that, at most, 14% of the total CK was contributed by skeletal muscle damage in our patient. When total CK was elevated above 125 U/l, the percentage of CK-MB activity did not exceed 6% of total CK in any case. 3-methylhistidine, methylhistidine, an indicator of contractile protein turnover and creatinine were prospectively determined in spot urine samples before the game and for up to 48 h after the game. 3-methylhistidine/creatinine ratios did not change from baseline after the game and no correlation with CK was found. Urine 3-methylhistidine/creatinine, measured within 48 h after a football game, does not contribute to the quantification of skeletal muscle damage.

[Vascular diseases in 534 Swiss diabetics within the scope of a multinational study]. / Vaskuläre Erkrankungen bei 534 Schweizer Diabetikern im Rahmen einer multinationalen Studie.

In Switzerland 278 diabetic men and 256 women in the age group 35 to 54 were examined for the presence of angiopathic lesions, according to a standardized protocol of a multinational study comprising 6,695 diabetics from 14 countries. The diabetics were distributed according to sex, age, and duration of the disease into groups of equal size. Macro-angiopathy, as the sum of coronary heart disease, stroke, and vascular disease of the legs was found in 28% of men and in 29% of women in the Swiss group. The prevalence of myocardial infarction alone was 6.8% in men and 5.5% in women. These rates did not differ from those found in the other national groups. Micro-angiopathy was found in the form of retinopathy in 35% and as nephropathy in 32% of the Swiss diabetics. These rates were not different from those of all groups. Severe retinopathy was found more frequently in Swiss diabetics than in the whole study. Micro-angiopathy was strongly related to duration, hypertension, and type of treatment in all centres. Japanese diabetics showed a higher frequency of micro-angiopathy, although macrovascular disease was found at a low rate. Systolic blood pressure (BP) in the Swiss diabetics did not differ from the results of the whole group. In 14% of the Swiss diabetic men and in 18% of the women, systolic BP was over 160 mmHg. These rates were remarkably higher than in an age- and sex-matched sample of a randomly selected sample of a Swiss population (3.2% in men, 2.4% in women). Cholesterol was high in the Swiss diabetic groups, whereas body mass index was in the intermediate range. Of the Swiss diabetic men 38% smoked regularly. The frequency of coronary heart disease in Swiss men and women was similar. This is different from the lower rate usually found in non-diabetic women. Age, and not duration of the disease was the most important factor relating to macro-angiopathy. The different rates of macro- and microvascular complications in various populations, selected according to the same protocol, suggests that the risk factors for macrovascular disease differ from those of microvascular complications. Race, nutrition, treatment, exercise, and hypertension may further influence the prevalence of angiopathy in diabetics of same sex, age, and duration of the disease.

In vitro and in vivo studies on glucagonoma tissue.

A 66 year old patient with diabetes had a necrolytic migratory erythema, weight loss and anaemia. Plasma immunoreactive glucagon (IRG) of 2465 pmoles/l (normal 35 +/- 5 SEM pmoles/l) suggested the existence of a glucagonoma which was confirmed by arteriography and subsequently removed by surgery. Although plasma IRG returned to normal, glucose tolerance and insulin secretion remained pathological. Plasma amino acid levels had been reduced but were corrected by surgery. Pancreatic polypeptide, however, 298 pmoles/l before was still 206 pmoles/l after the operation (normal 12-48 pmoles per litre). Column chromatography of plasma and tumor extracts showed quantitatively important IRG fractions with molecular weights above 9000 daltons, possibly precursors of glucagon. Beside a 50-fold IRG excess, the tumour concentrations of insulin and somatostatin were 4 to 150 times increased. By contrast, pancreatic polypeptide was present in normal amounts. Electron microscopic examination showed atypical A-cell granula and unusual abundance of mitochondria.

[The course of diabetes and clinical findings in glucagonoma]. / Diabetesverlauf und klinisches Bild bei Glukagonom.

A 66-year-old male patient with non-insulin-dependent diabetes of probably 20 years' duration presented with necrolytic migratory erythema, stomatitis, anemia and weight loss. Plasma-glucagon concentration measured with Unger's antibody 30-K was 8500 pg/ml, representing a hundredfold elevation. Two thirds consisted of high molecular glucagon fractions (10 000--40 000 Dalton). This may be an important index for detection of glucagonoma with endocrine activity. After excision of the glucagonoma the clinical syndrome was reversed and the patient recovered completely. Histological and histochemical investigation confirmed that the tumor was a glucagonoma. Despite complete removal of the tumor and a normal plasma glucagon concentration, the diabetes remained unchanged. Excessive hyperglucagonemia does not appear to play a primary role in the pathogenesis of this patient's diabetes.