Serum leptin concentrations rose slightly during pregnancy, fell following delivery and subsequently increased during the first six months postpartum. These variations were unrelated to changes in body composition, and may be responsible for the postpartum weight gain observed in some women. Abnormally low serum leptin levels were observed in women suffering spontaneous abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.

This study was carried out to investigate the clinical and biochemical factors which might be of importance in predicting the outcome of patients with myxoedema coma. Eleven patients (ten female) aged 68·1 19·5 years attended our institution over a period of 18 years.Glasgow and APACHE II scores and serum free thyroxine and TSH were measured in all the patients on entry. Patients were selected at random to be treated with two different regimens of -thyroxine.Four patients died with the mortality rate being 36·4%. The patients in coma at entry had significantly higher mortality rates than those with minor degrees of consciousness (75% vs 14·3% respectively, P=0·04). The surviving patients had significantly higher Glasgow scores than those who died (11·85 2·3 vs 5·25 2·2 respectively, P,0·001). Comparison of the mean values of APACHE II scores between the surviving group and those who died was significantly different (18·0 2·08 vs 31·5 2·08 respectively, P,0·0001).The degree of consciousness, the Glasgow score and the severity of the illness measured by APACHE II score on entry were the main factors that determined the post-treatment outcome of patients with myxoedema coma.

In northwestern Spain, the incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing. These data should be taken into account when planning health resources for these patients. Our results may reflect the contribution that other factors, besides increased diagnostic activity, have made to the rise in thyroid cancer incidence in our region. Additional studies are needed to explain the rise in PTC incidence throughout the world and to search for potential risk factors that are currently unrecognized.

Sex-based differences in serum leptin concentrations have been reported in adolescence and adulthood. To discover when such differences were generated, serum leptin concentrations were measured in umbilical cord blood from 46 healthy infants and in the mother's blood at delivery. Considering the respective body weights of the mothers and infants (68.5Ϯ1.3 kg and 3.3Ϯ0.0 kg), umbilical cord concentrations of leptin were disproportionately high in the infants (9.4Ϯ1.2 mg/l) compared with those in the mothers (18.7Ϯ1.3 mg/l). There was a wide variation in the infant leptin values (1.2-56.8 mg/l) that did not correlate with height, weight, cephalic circumference, or any other growthrelated parameter. The most striking differences emerged when results were analysed by sex: umbilical cord concentrations of leptin in the girls (12.9Ϯ2.5 mg/l) were significantly (P<0.01) greater than those in the boys (6.8Ϯ0.9 mg/l), although no differences in leptin concentrations were observed between the mothers who gave birth to a girl (19.5Ϯ2.2 mg/l) and those who gave birth to a boy (18.1Ϯ1.7 mg/l). The sex-based differences were not attributable to any growth-related differences between the sexes, except heavier placental weights in the girls (P<0.007) than in the boys. These differences in leptin concentrations may reflect a sex-based difference in the regulation of leptin production by the fetal adipose tissue. European Journal of Endocrinology 137 655-658

Contrary to previous estimates, GH elimination kinetics follows a bi-exponential model and in normal subjects the GH half-life of the second phase is 13.8 +/- 1.6 minutes. Uraemic patients have impaired clearance of GH, suggesting that the kidney plays a role in GH disposal. However, the degree of impairment does not fully explain the alterations in GH secretion previously described in chronic renal failure.