Intravenous infusion of 3.75 mg/kg Na₂EDTA along with 4 mg/kg procaine resulted in a difinite fall of serum calcium which gradually recovered towards the previous level in endocrinologically and metabolically normal subjects with the expected time of recovery of 5.4±0.4 hours and a rise of serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone by about 5 times. In postoperative and idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, on the other hand, the rerecovery of serum calcium was delayed, with prolongation of the expected time of recovery and scarecely any rise of serum parathyroid hormone. Na₂-EDTA appears to be useful to stimulate the parathyroid hormone secretion and to test the functional reserve of the parathyroid glands in man.

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Plasma growth hormone (GH), plasma cortisol and blood sugar levels during insulin tolerance test (ITT) were determined in seventeen patients (five male and twelve female, aged 18 to 51 years) suffering from atypical psychoses. Patients were examined during three different clinical states, i.e. the acute confusional state, the depressive state and the remissive state. No common feature as a whole was detected. However, different tendencies were found in each clinical state.
Results are summarized as follows :
1) Plasma GH response to ITT in patients during depression and remission was significantly lower than that of normal subjects. No clearcut tendency, but rather a wide scattering was found in the response of patients in acute confusional states.
2) Plasma cortisol levels during ITT in patients in acute confusional states were significantly higher than those of normal subjects. The levels of patients during depression and remission showed no statistically significant difference from those of normal subjects.
3) No statistically significant difference was found between minimal blood sugar levels of normal subjects and those in patients during each clinical state.
4) Regarded as a whole, no significant correlation was found between minimal blood sugar level and maximal level of plasma GH or cortisol in each patient during ITT, nor was there any between maximal plasma GH and maximal cortisol levels. In each clinical state, however, maximal plasma GH levels were correlated with minimal blood sugar levels negatively during depression and positively after remission. Maximal cortisol levels were negatively correlated with minimal blood sugar levels both during depression and remission. Maximal GH levels and maximal cortisol levels were correlated positively during depression and negatively during remission. No significant correlation was found between any of the parameters during the acute confusional state.
The similarities of the above results to reports of other investigators on depressive patients and acute schizophrenics, as well as those on stressed animals, were discussed.

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The insulin tolerance test (ITT), rapid ACTH test, dexamethasone test and metyrapone test were carried out serially on eleven depressive patients (four male and seven female, aged 12 to 60 years). Six of them were bipolar and five were monopolar.
Levels of plasma growth hormone (GH), plasma cortisol and plasma ACTH were determined by radioimmunoassay. Blood sugar levels were determined by autoanalyser.
Each patient undertook the same series of tests twice at two different clinical stages, i.e. during depression and after recovery. No drug was administered in four patients for more than three days before the beginning of each series of tests. The other seven were under the same medication at both clinical stages.
Results were as follows :
1) Blood sugar
Blood sugar response to ITT was almost identical and within normal range at both clinical stages.
2) Plasma Growth Hormone
The response of plasma GH to ITT in patients during depression was significantly lower than that of normal subjects. It also tended to be lower than that of patients after recovery, although the difference was not statistically significant. Mean GH response in patients to the rapid ACTH test also tended to be lower during depression than after recovery.
3) Plasma Cortisol
Mean basal levels of plasma cortisol of patients at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. did not show any statistically significant difference from those of normal subjects. Every morning level was higher than the evening level, although during depression some patients had higher evening levels than normal. Some patients during depression also had insufficient suppression of plasma cortisol levels after dexamethasone administration. Response of plasma cortisol to ITT in patients was almost identical and within normal range both during depression and after recovery. Cortisol response to the rapid ACTH test during depression was significantly higher than that after recovery.
4) Plasma ACTH
No difference was found between basal morning plasma ACTH levels as well aslevels after metyrapone administration in patients during depression and after recovery. Each mean fell within normal range in both clinical stages.
No significant correlation was found between maximal GH levels and maximal cortisol levels during ITT and the rapid ACTH test in patients in depressive states.
The possible existence of complicated neuroendocrine and metabolic turmoil in depressive patients was discussed.

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Wurtman et al. demonstrated in rats that low doses of glucocorticoid depress the endogenous steroid secretion in the adrenal sinusoid, consequently inhibit the activity of phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase and decrease the content of adrenaline in the adrenal medulla. They also suggested that patients who have been maintained chronically on low doses of glucocorticoid may show an abnormality in their ability to synthesize adrenaline. In this paper, the author attempted to observe the urinary excretion of catecholamines and their metabolites in patients on steroid therapy and to determine whether Wurtman's suggestion may be applied clinically.
Forty patients who were receiving 1.0 to 4.0 mg betamethasone daily and twenty who had been absolutely free from steroid for at least one year, were studied. Urine specimens were assayed for free catecholamines as described by Sugano (1965) with minor modifications, total metanephrine & total normetanephrine by the method of Häggendal (1962), vanillyl manderic acid by the method of Sandler & Ruthoven (1959), homovanillic acid by the method of Sankoff & Sourkes (1963) and 17-OHCS by the method of Porter-Silber after hydrolysis with β-glucuronidase and extraction with chloroform.
(1) Forty patients who had been receiving steroid were newly loaded equally with 4.0 mg betamethasone daily for 4 days. Between the steroid-loaded patients and the steroid-free patients, no significant differences in the daily urinary excretions of catecholamines and their metabolites were detected.
(2) In thirty-six patients during the course of steroid therapy, urine was collected during the day between 7 : 00 A.M. and 10 : 00 P.M. and again between 10 : 00 P.M. and 7 : 00 A.M. the next morning. (a) The relationship between urinary catecholamine excretion and urinary 17-OHCS excretion, (b) the relationship between the length of the steroid therapy and urinary excretion of catecholamines and their metabolites and (c) the relationship between the total doses of steroid and the urinary excretion of catecholamines and their metabolites were studied respectively. (a) In the steroid treated patients, decreased urinary 1 7-OHCS excretions was observed. But there was no quantitative correlation between urinary 1 7-OHCS and urinary catecholamines. (b) Three groups of patients were compared. The first group included the patients who had been receiving steroid for less than one month. The second group included the patients kept on steroid therapy for more than one month. The third were the steroid-free control group. In comparison with the control group, the urinary excretion rate of adrenaline increased in the first group and decreased in the second group. There were no significant differences in the urinary excretions of noradrenaline in all three groups. Therefore the A/A+NA ratio was elevated in the first group and lowered in the second group. In the study of urinary catecholamine metabolite excretion, there were no significant differences in the three groups. (c) Regarding the total doses of steroid, the patients were divided into four groups : the first group with the total steroid under 50 mg, the second group, 50 mg to 100 mg, the third group, over 100 mg and the fourth group, the steroid-free control group. In contrast to the control group, urinary adrenaline was increased in the first group and decreased in the second and the third group. There were no remarkable differences, in the urinary noradrenaline and the catecholamine metabolites excretion.
(3) Three inpatients were treated with betamethasone, 3.0 mg daily for the first 21 days, 2.0 mg daily for the next 14 days and maintained on 1.5 mg daily after the 35th day. The urinary adrenaline excretion increased in the first week after the beginning of the steroid administration and decreased in the sixthweek.

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According to the Hays' method, the rates of intestinal absorption of thyroxine (T₄) and triiodothyronine (T₃) were estimated from the serum ¹²⁵I/¹³¹I ratio after simultaneous administration of oral ¹²⁵I-T₄ or ¹²⁵I-T₃ and intravenous ¹³¹I-T₄ or ¹³¹I-T₃.
The subjects employed were 11 normal euthyroid volunteers, 16 untreated and 9 treated hyperthyroid patients, 10 untreated and 9 treated hypothyroid patients, 3 patients with liver disease, 5 patients with congestive heart failure, one patient with anorexia nervosa, one patient with postgastrectomic afferent loop syndrome and one patient with gastric cancer.
In the present study, about 15, μCi of ¹³¹I-T₄ or ¹³¹I-T₃ was given intravenously and, at the same time, an equal dose of ¹²⁵I-T₄ or ¹²⁵I-T₃, diluted with 0.9% saline containing 80 ml of 1% bovine serum albumin was given orally.
Blood samples were taken 2, 4, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the dose and duplicate serum samples were counted for ¹²⁵I and ¹³¹I in a dual channel well-type scintillation counter.
Percentage of the dose of each isotope per liter of serum was calculated and percent absorption was calculated as

'The treated patients' indicates the patients who were in euthyroid status by treatment, in this study.
The average values of maximal rate of absorptioh of T₄ were 67.59±19.20% /48 hr for euthyroid subjects, 73.32±18.67% / 4 hr for untreated hyperthyroid patients, 74.63±13.88% / 48 hr for treated hyperthyroid patients, 69.52±18.60% / 24 hr for untreated hypothyroid patients and 66.69±14.67% / 48 hr for treated hypothyroid patients.
The average values of maximal rate of absorption of T₃ were 85.36±14.95% / 4 hr for euthyroid subjects, 92.51±11.53% / 4 hr for untreated hyperthyroid patients, 95.87±10.07% / 4 hr for treated hyperthyroid patients, 84.91±17.23% / 4 hr for untraeted hypothyroid patients and 79.71±12.34% / 4 hr for treated hypothyroid patients.
The rates of absorption of T₄ or T₃ in liver disease, congestive heart failure and gastric cancer tended to be lower than that in euthyroid subjects.
The average maximal rate of absorption of T₄, 67.6%, in euthyroid subjects was quite similar to the Hays' average value, 68.0%, but that of T₃, 85.4%, in euthyroid subjects was lower than the Hays' value, 95.4%.
The average maximal rates of absorption of T₄ and T₃ in untreated hyper- and hypothyroid patients were almost the same as that in euthyroid subjects, but the time required to attain maximal absorption was shorter in hyperthyroid and longer in hypothyroid patients than in euthyroid subjects.
The average maximal rate of absorption of T₄ or T₃ in treated hyper- and hypothyroid patients were almost the same as that in untreated ones. The time required to attain the maximal rate of absorption of these hormones tended to be normalized by treatment both in hyper- and hypothyroid patients, although it was longer in treated hyperthyroid patients than in untreated ones, and, shorter in treated hypothyroid patients than in untreated ones.
The rate of maximal absorption of the hormones observed in the patients with liver disease, congestive heart failure and gastric cancer tended to be lower than that in euthyroid subjects and it was thought that such low rates of absorption of the hormones may be partly due to a stasis of the portal system and stagnation and edema in the intestine.
It was observed that the absorption of T₃ was quicker and its rate of maximal absorption was higher than that of T₄ in every group investigated.

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In sheep, large amounts of propionate are produced in the lumen, where they are absorbed, and then transported to the mammary gland for metabolism. The following results were obtained in a study on the influence of glucose and its metabolites upon the propionate metabolism in the mammary gland slices of normally fed, starved and alloxan diabetic sheep.
1) In the mammary gland slices of sheep, the propionate consumption and transfer of ¹⁴C from ¹⁴C-l-propionate and ¹⁴C-2-propionate (¹⁴C-propionate) into CO₂ and lipid was decreased by starvation and alloxan treatment. 2) In the mammary gland slices of normally fed and starved sheep, the propionate consumption and transfer of ¹⁴C from ¹⁴C-propionate into CO₂ and lipid was increased by the addition of glucose and phosphoenolpyruvate, and there were no effects of the addition of pyruvate and lactate on the propionate consumption and transfer of ¹⁴C from ¹⁴C-propionate into CO₂ and lipid. 3) In the mammary gland slices of alloxan diabetic sheep, there were no effects of the addition of glucose, phosphoenolpyruvate, pyruvate and lactate on the propionate consumption and transfer of ¹⁴C from ¹⁴C-propionate into CO₂ and lipid.
From these results it may be deduced that there were some relationships between the propionate metabolism and the glucose-phosphoenolpyruvate system, and that insulin played some role in the action of glucose and phosphoenolpyruvate on the propionate metabolism in the mammary gland slices of sheep.

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A new index of TBG capacity was devised which could be simultaneously determined by a Thyopac-4 kit together with thyroxine (T4) and free T4 index. Firstly, values for T4 and free T4 index were measured by our method recently reported (Folia endocrinologica Japonica 50 : 942, 1974). Because radioactivity in the supernatant of the Thyopac-4 kit increased proportionally to the amount of TBG contained in the added serum, a ratio of the increased radioactivity after addition of the patients serum over pooled normal serum was designated as the “TBG index”. Validity of the index was assessed in comparison with the values for triiodothyronine (T3) resin sponge uptake and maximal TBG capacity determined by reverse flow paper electrophoresis.
Values for TBG index were 0.809±0.206 (mean±SD) in normal subjects; 1.626±0.675 in hypothyroidism; 1.838±0.655 in pregnant women; 0.665±0.172 in hyperthyroidism. The values were significantly increased in hypothyroidism and pregnancy, but were decreased, though not significantly, in hyperthyroidism, showing a partial overlap with the normal range. In cases with idiopathic TBG deficiency and nephrotic syndrome, the values were decreased to 0.248 and 0.319, respectively. Further, the TBG index was shown to have an inverse relationship to T3 resin sponge uptake, which differed from the former in no appreciable overlap between normal subjects and patients with hyper-and hypothyroidism and pregnant women.
Values for maximal TBG capacity were significantly increased in hypothyroidism and pregnancy, but were significantly decreased in hyperthyroidism, indicating a partial overlap with the normal range. The results obtained were similar to the TBG index, rather than T3 resin sponge uptake. The value for nephrotic syndrome was decreased considerably, while no TBG was detectable in the case of TBG deficiency. Maximal TBG capacity also indicated an inverse relationship to T3 resin sponge uptake.
The TBG index was shown to have a significant correlation (r=+0.776, Fo>F¹₃₇ (0.001)) to the values for maximal TBG capacity, although the relation was slightly curvilinear rather than a straight line.
It seemed reasonable to conclude that the present TBG index can be used as an indicator of TBG level in a routine test of thyroid function, because the values were closely related to the maximal TBG capacity, and further, could be easily measured by Thyopac-4 kit according to our new technique.

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