A study involving 3 patients was performed to evaluate the efficacy of Matristem, an extracellular matrix scaffold derived from the porcine urinary bladder matrix (UBM), to promote natural healing in patients with severe, chronic wounds that did not respond well to standard wound management. In all cases, the wounds closed after only a few weeks of repeated treatments with UBM, with all patients showing complete epithelialization of the wound with limited formation of scar tissue by 13 weeks after first treatment. These initial results suggest that UBM warrants further investigation for treatment of chronic nonhealing ulcers that are recalcitrant to standard wound therapies.
Urinary GH excretion reflects average plasma levels. Using a highly sensitive sandwich enzyme immunoassay we determined GH concentrations in the 24 h accumulated urine samples of 54 healthy persons (aged 1.5\p=n-\90years), 8 acromegalic patients, 4 acromegalic patients after enucleation of a GH\ x=req-\ producing adenoma, 8 patients with partial hypopituitarism and in first morning urine and 12 h accumulated daytime urine of 4 healthy children and 3 children with growth failure. GH secretion is age-dependent, with high rates between ages 1 and 20 (ages 0\p=n-\20years: 10.4 ng/g creatinine \ m=+-\6.3 vs age > 20\p=n-\75years: 3.1 ng/g creatinine\m=+-\1.6). An age-dependent increase in urinary GH is found in the pubertal age group (10 ng/24 h\m=+-\6.8vs prepubertal group: 4.6 ng/24 h\m=+-\2.95).GH excretion of patients with acromegaly differs significantly from healthy subjects (72 ng/24 h\m=+-\49 vs 3.9 ng/24 h\m=+-\2.3). After a successful operation, acromegalic patients do not differ from the collective norm. Six of 8 patients with partial hypopituitarism show lower GH concentrations in urine than healthy subjects (1.2 ng/l \ m=+-\ 0.2 vs 2.6 ng/l \m=+-\1 . 2 ) , but daily GH output does not differ, since significantly more urine is then excreted. At night, healthy children secrete significantly more GH than during the day (night: 0.16 ng\m=.\kg\m=-\1\m=.\(12h)\m=-\1\m=+-\0.02 vs day: 0.07 ng\m=.\kg\m=-\1\m=.\(12h)\m=-\1 \m=+-\0.03),while output is the same for GH-deficient children. Both groups have similar GH daytime output, but GH-deficient children have significantly less nocturnal output. In conclusion, measuring urinary GH excretion seems to be a suitable means of diagnosing GH hypoand hypersecretion.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.