[Controlled clinical assay in Clonidine, arginine aspartate, alpha-ketoglutarate of Ornithine and Ciproheptadine as growth stimulants in children with short stature]. / Ensayo clínico controlado con Clonidina, aspartato de arginina, alfa-cetoglutarato de Ornitina y Ciproheptadina, como estimulantes del crecimiento en niños normales de talla corta.

Eighty-one healthy prepubertal children of short stature, between two and twelve years of age, were divided into four homogeneous groups. Each group was treated with a placebo for one year and for a second year with one of the following drugs (double blind): clonidine (CI), arginine asprate (AA), ornithine alphaketoglutare (OKG), or cyproheptadine (Cp). CI and OKG did not better the standard deviation of height. AA and Cp did, but to no greater extent than the placebo. The growth rate did not change in any group. The ratio of bone age/chronological age was significantly higher at the end of the OKG year than at the end of the year with placebo, a difference that was not found in any other group. The prognosis of adult height (TW2) did not change in any group. The standard deviation of weight increased in all groups, both with the placebo and the various drugs, without significant differences between the groups. The CI caused frequent clinical side effects, including a reversible increase in transaminases in one child. The Cp stimulated hunger. The AA and OKG did not produce side-effects and the placebo increased appetite in 11% of the children. Somatomedin C was significantly higher after one year with Cp than after one year with the placebo, significantly higher after the placebo than after CI and AA and there was no difference between the treatment with the placebo and OKG. Growth hormone values in a 24 hour urine sample were so scattered that we do not consider them helpful.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Methods of assessing postoperative pain in children]. / Métodos de valoración del dolor postoperatorio en el niño.

A study of the evaluation of postoperative pain in 210 children using physiological, reference and observation methods. A comparison with other methods leads to the conclusion that observation is the best choice and that some children do not need analgesics during the postoperative period.

[Oral clonidine test for growth hormone release (author's transl)]. / "Test" con clonidina oral como estímulo de la hormona del crecimiento.

Serum growth hormone (GH) was determined in 15 children (three with normal height, one with pituitary dwarfism, and eleven with short stature without endocrinological disturb) after oral clonidine load of 0,15 mg/m2 S.A. Significant GH increase was observed, as other authors have reported. Authors findings confirm that clonidine is a potent stimulus for growth hormone release, without relevant side effects. In two children with short stature without endocrinological disturb, there was a partial failure to increase GH in response to clonidine. Authors conclude that confirmation of GH deficiency in the case of failure to respond to oral clonidine test requires one other stimulation test.