Benjamin Simkin’s research while affiliated with University of Southern California and other places

Prolactin activity appeared in the blood of normal young women during the first 5 and last 10 days of a 28-day menstrual cycle, whereas no activity was demonstrable during days 6 to 18 of the cycle. Blood prolactin activity appeared to be present in the latter part of the cycle of a normal woman receiving the gonadotropin inhibitor, Enovid. No blood prolactin activity was found in a normal male subject during a 31-day period. These observations suggest that prolactin acts in opposition to the other 2 pituitary gonadotropins, FSH and LH, in the normal human menstrual cycle.

Obese subjects exhibit 2 different responses to an 11β-hydroxylase inhibitor, methopyrapone (SU-4885), depending upon the level of the base-line urinary 17-ketogenic steroid excretion. Subjects with a normal base-line 17-KGS excretion have a normal response to methopyrapone, whereas subjects with base-line elevated urinary 17-KGS give a markedly impaired response to this inhibitor.

PURPLE or red abdominal striae are one of the striking physical signs of Cushing's syndrome. However, they are not pathognomonic of this disease, since they are also seen occasionally in pregnant women, obese normal persons and in adolescent children. In these conditions white or colorless striae are quite common, but those of the tinted variety are not. In the dermatologic literature synonyms for striae are striae albicantes,1 striae atrophicae2 and striae distensae.3 In the vernacular striae are referred to as "stretch marks." Various dermatologic textbooks1 2 3 4 5 ascribe this curious condition to distention or stretching of the skin, with an associated loss . . .

A double blind study was performed comparing the efficacy of benzphetamine (Didrex) and d-amphetamine in the management of obese outpatients. It was found that both drugs were equally effective in inducing weight loss, which averaged 1 pound per week over a fifteen- to sixteen-week period for patients treated by each drug. It was found that 40 to 80 mg. benzphetamine was equivalent in anorexigenic potency to 5 to 10 mg. of d-amphetamine. Side effects registered for patients in both drug groups were similar in nature and frequency. Comparison with side effects noted in patients receiving placebos in previous studies suggested that some of the side effects were in reality the symptoms of obese patients undergoing semi-starvation on low calorie diets, rather than true effects of the drugs in question. In this and other studies, benzphetamine has been demonstrated to possess significant anorexigenic activity, and therefore is a useful aid in the management of obesity.

AS a consequence of the more than occasional finding of increased urinary 17-ketogenic steroid excretion in selected obese patients during the past four years, it was considered worth while to expand further and document this observation by urinary steroid determinations in a larger number of consecutive, unselected obese patients and a concurrent control group of healthy persons of normal weight. This resolve was strengthened by published reports of a higher than normal average urinary 17-hydroxy-corticosteroid output in a small group of obese men1 and increased 17-ketogenic steroid excretion in obese children.2 A final factor prompting this study was the frequent . . .