Reports of 109 cases of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) were collected from 30 Universities and 1 affiliated hospital through the questionaires sent to them. Among 109 cases of which the type of CAH was identified, 90 cases (83%) of 21-hydroxylase deficiency form (35 cases of simple virilizing type, female : male=3.4 : 1, and 30 cases of salt-losing type, female : male=1 : 1), 8 cases of 118-hydroxylase deficiency form (7%, female : male =3 : 1), 1 case (male) of 17α-hydroxylase deficiency form and 1 case (female) of lipoid hyperplasia were comprized in this study.
18 siblings of 11 families affected with CAH in this series confirmed Child's statement that affected siblings always have the same form of the disease, suggesting genetic independence of the various forms of CAH.
55% of the cases of CAH were diagnosed and treated at the Department of Pediatrics and especially almost all cases of salt-losing type were diagnosed and treated within 1 year of age at the Department of Pediatrics.
From 30 cases of salt-losing type, 6 cases died within 1 year of age probably because of acute adrenal crisis, but generally speaking, early diagnosis and treatment revealed quite favourable prognosis in all types of CAH.
40% of cases of salt-losing type were treated not only with glucocorticoid, but also with the addition of salt and/or mineralocorticoid. Though the optimum maintenance of glucocorticoid is difficult to determine, it is the general opinion gathered through the dose questionaires that the dosage schedule should be determined by age, repetitive analysis of urine 17-KS, 17-KGS, pregnandiol and/or pregnantriol and skeletal growth or maturation.

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Plasma levels of DOC were measured by radioimmunoassay using rabbit antibody preparation. The method consists of extracting plasma with dichloromethane, purifying the DOC using liquid-gel reversed-phase partition system of Nowaczynski et al. for plasma aldosterone, and reaction with DOC antiserum. Separation of bound from free DOC was achieved by using saturated ammoniumsulfate. The recovery of ³H-DOC ranged from 35 to 56%. The total procedural blank was less than 20 pg. The coefficient of variation was less than 15%.
In 32 healthy subjects, plasma DOC levels ranged from 1.5 to 16.9 ng/100 ml with the mean of 9.0±4.2 SD ng/100 ml.
Thirteen out of 17 patients with Cushing's syndrome were found to have elevated plasma DOC levels. The mean of 29.3±11.9 SD ng/100 ml in patients with adrenal hyperplasia was significantly higher than that of 21.5±6.3 SD ng/100 ml in patients with adrenal adenoma (P<0.02). In one patient with adrenal hyperplasia and in one with adrenal adenoma, plasma DOC levels returned to a lower limit than normal after treatment of Cushing's syndrome.
In 9 patients with primary aldosteronism, the mean plasma DOC level was significantly higher than normal in 6 of the patients showing elevated levels.
Two patients with 17α-hydroxylase deficiency had elevated plasma DOC levels. They had severe hypertension and hypokalemia. In both patients plasma DOC returned to normal after treatment with betamethasone.
Twenty six patients with benign essential hypertension including 10 with suppressed plasma renin activity were studied. The mean level of 14.4±6.6 SD ng/100 ml was significantly higher than normal (P<0.01). There was no difference between two groups with normal and suppressed plasma renin activity.

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A new substance from corn germ stimulated the pigeon crop gland to secrete the crop milk. The extraction method is as follows. Corn germ was pulverized : 10% NH4OH was added and shaken for 5 minutes : centifuged with 4000 r.p.m. for 10 minutes : supernatant was filtered : CHCl₃ was added and shaken for 5 minutes : aqueous part was evaporated at 60°C : dialysed for 48 hours against deionized water : solutions inside and outside the membrane were lyophilized respectively. The micro-method was employed as a crop sac test.
The active substance was obtained from solution outside the membrane after dialysis. This indicates that the active substance is a small molecule. Positive response in the pigeon crop sac test was resulted from a systemic (intramuscular) injection and not from a local (intradermal) injection. This indicates that the activity of this substance is not equivalent to prolactin and is to stimulate the pituitary to release prolactin.
Further studies regarding purification, chemical character and biological activity in mammals of this substance are under experiment.

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Seven pancreatectomized dogs, seven alloxan-treated dogs and ten normal dogs were fed for 4 months. The diabetic dogs of the foregoing two groups were kept poorly controled. Lipids and fatty acid composition of the sera of the dogs were observed monthly. The diabetic dogs of the two groups showed elevated levels of serum cholesterol, triglyceride, NEFA (non-esterified fatty acid) and phospholipid. Fatty acid analysis revealed changes of lipid metabolism during the diabetic state. Linoleic acid percent of total fatty acid in blood serum was increased. Palmitic acid was decreased. The increase in linoleic acid was seen in every lipid fractions; cholesterolester, triglyceride and phospholipid. In cholesterolester fraction, oleic acid was decreased. Oleic and palmitic acid were decreased in triglyceride. In phospholipid fraction, arachidonic acid was also increased, and stearic and palmitic acids were decreased. Changes in fatty acid composition was essentially the same in pancreatectomized and alloxan-treated dogs. It is presumed that in the insulin-depleted state the difference in the rate of recycling of linoleic and palmitic acid was augmented and resulted in the accumulation of linoleate in the blood. Diabetic hyperlipemia is, therefore, supposed to have two opposite aspects : one is for and the other is against atherogenicity.

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A radioimmunoassay has been developed which is capable of determining DOC concentration in human peripheral plasma. Anti-DOC antiserum was obtained by immunizing rabbits with DOC-21-hemisuccinate-bovine serum albumin. Plasma volume of 0.5 to 2.0 ml was used for analysis. After a preliminary solvent wash, the plasma was extracted to methylene chloride and the extract was applied to thin layer chromatography (benzene : ethyl acetate 1 : 1) and then paper chromatography (Bush B₃). Following elution, the dried purified extracts were incubated with antiserum (1 : 10,000 dilution) containing pepsin treated human immune serum globulin at room temperature for 30min. and then at 4°C for overnight. Salting out with cold saturated ammonium sulfate was used to separate the free from the bound DOC. DOC-1, 2-³H was used for recovery and for determination of the %free. The accuracy and the precision of the method were satisfactory. Although the antiserum cross reacted with the other 3-keto-Δ⁴ steroids, complete separation of DOC from the other 3-keto-Δ⁴ steroids was achieved chromatographically.
Using this method, mean plasma DOC level in 40 normal subjects was 7.8 (range 2 to 16) ng/100 ml, which was similar to those reported by other investigators using different methods.
Clinical disorders associated with high plasma DOC levels were Cushing's syndrome due to pituitary origin (2 cases) and those with low plasma DOC levels were Addison's disease (2 cases). Plasma levels of DOC in Cushing's syndrome due to adenoma (4 cases), primary aldosteronism (3 cases) and essential hypertension with normal (22 cases) or low renin (24 cases) were all within normal range.

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A simplified method was devised for simultaneous determination of thyroxine (T4) and free T4 index (FT4I) by using a single kit of Thyopac-4. Firstly, T4 values of patient and pooled normal serum were determined according to the instruction. Thereafter, 5 μl of the patient or pooled normal serum was added to each Thyopac-4 vial, and incubated for 60 min. After settlement of granules, supernatants were removed for counting. FT4I was calculated by the following equation :
Y=T4p/T4n÷Fp-Ep/Fn-En where E and F were net counts in the supernatants before and after addition of serum, and suffices p and n indicate patient and pooled normal serum. For comparison, Tetrasorb and Triosorb tests were performed using the same samples, and free T4 indices were calculated according to Clark's, Tetrasorb × Triosorb/ 100, and our previously reported method, Tetrasorb × Triosorb/100÷ (1-0.6 × Triosorb/100), which bore a straight-line relationship to measured free T4 (Hamada et al, J. Clin. Endrocrinol. Metab. 31 : 166, 1970). Dual competitive protein binding analysis of T4, Thyopac ETR, was carried out by the method reported elsewhere : Fn/Fp (Hamada et al, J. Clin. Path. in press).
T4 values obtained by Thyopac-4 kits bore a linear relationship to but tended to be slightly higher than those by Tetrasorb kits, as expressed by a regression equation : Y=0.99x+1.35.
Values for Thyopac ETR were significantly increased and decreased in hyper-and hypothyroidisms, respectively, whilst they remained within the normal range in pregnancy and TBG deficiency, the results confirming our previous report.
A ratio of increased radioactivity after addition of patient or pooled normal serum, (Fp-Ep) / (Fn-En), was shown to have relationships reciprocal to T3 resin sponge up-take (r=-0.71) and linear to the reciprocals of the latter (r= +0.78). Therefore, it was possible to determine the present FT4I according to Clark's approximation to free T4.
The simplified FT4I values were 1.05±0.36 (mean±SD) for normal, 3.46±1.25 for hyperthyroid, 0.16±0.13 for hypothyroid, and 0.95±0.29 for pregnant subjects. Further, the present index was shown to bear almost linear relationships to both Clark's and our previously reported indices, correlation co-efficients of which were +0.92 and +0.88, respectively.
It was concluded, therefore, that the present method was very useful as a routine test for assessment of thyroid status, because only 0.505 ml was required to obtain the values for all the three indicators of thyroid function, namely, T4, FT4I and Thyopac ETR.

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Isolated human utero-tubo-ovarian units were perfused in vitro for 210 min at 37°C and in 100% humidity with our newly developed perfusion apparatus with the perfusate containing 20% whole blood. Histology, autoradiography for DNA and RNA synthesizing activity, histochemistry for 3β-HSD, G-6-PDH, LDH and acid phosphatase, and action potential of the ovary were studied to obtain reliable parameters for evaluating the viability of the ovary during perfusion.
The results were summarized as follows :
1) After the perfusion for 210 min., histologically there were sludging of the blood in some vessels and slight edematous change in the ovary.
2) DNA and RNA synthesizing activities were recognized radioautographically high in the granulosa cells of the growing follicles and of some kinds of atretic follicles, and weakly in the theca cells closed to granulosa layer before and after perfusion.
3) After 120 min. perfusion, 38-HSD, G-6-PDH, LDH activities were present in the follicles and corpora lutea, and acid phosphatase activity was increased in the course of the ageing of corpora lutea.
4) Ovarian action potential, considerd to show ovarian electromyogram, became weak and its frequency became less at the end of perfusion, which responded to Prostaglandin F_2α administration.

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