Adolescents at genetic high risk (GHR) for schizophrenia have shown social skill impairments and there is some evidence to suggest they have Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits; however no research has used a standardized, performance-based behavioral measure to assess social functioning in this population nor evaluated ToM with a well-validated measure. We evaluated the psychometric properties of a ...

Sepsis induces a state of growth hormone (GH) resistance associated with a decrease of circulating insulin-like growth factor (IGF) I, a GH-dependent anabolic hormone mainly produced by the liver. To address the mechanisms that might trigger GH insensitivity in sepsis, we investigated the regulation of liver GH receptor (GHR) and its gene expression by endotoxin. Endotoxin injection in rats dec...

BACKGROUND The common exon 3 deletion polymorphism of the growth hormone receptor (d3-GHR) is associated with disease severity in acromegaly patients. The GHR antagonist pegvisomant (PEGV) is highly effective in treating severe acromegaly. Response to PEGV treatment seems to be influenced by d3-GHR and appears to be more responsive to PEGV, although available results remain conflicting. OBJEC...

This investigation aimed to study polymorphism of growth hormone (GH), growth hormone receptor (GHR), and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) genes and their associations with growth and carcass traits in Mazandaran native chicken. 200 male chicks were reared and slaughtered at 12 weeks of age. Traits including live weight at 4, 8 and 12 weeks of age, body weight and weights of heart, liver, g...

Global disruption of the GH receptor in mice (GHR-/-) produces a large and reproducible extension in lifespan. Since lack of GH action in muscle resulting in improved glucose homeostasis is potentially a mechanism by which GHR-/- mice are long-lived, and since no information on muscle-specific GHR disruption in females is available, we generated and characterized a line of muscle-specific GHR d...

The gene coding for bovine GHR consists of nine protein-coding exons and untranslated, alternative exons 1A, 1B, and 1C in its 5’-region. Distinct promoters regulate transcription from each of the alternative exons. The P1 promoter which drives growth hormone receptor expression in the liver is associated with exon 1A. Earlier the nucleotide sequence polymorphisms have been identified in the bo...

BACKGROUND Ghrelin plays important roles in glucose metabolism, appetite, and body weight regulation, and recent evidence suggests ghrelin prevents excessive anxiety under conditions of chronic stress. METHODS We used ghrelin knockout (ghr-/-) mice to examine the role of endogenous ghrelin in anxious behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) responses to acute stress. RESULTS G...

OBJECTIVE The exon 3-deleted/full-length (d3/fl) growth hormone receptor (d3/fl-GHR) polymorphism has been associated with responsiveness to GH therapy in some children and also with adult height variation in the general population. We aimed to evaluate the distribution of d3/fl-GHR polymorphism in a Turkish population. METHODS The study included 477 (54 females/423 males) healthy adults with...

Growth hormone insensitivity syndrome (GHIS), a genetic disease characterized by growth retardation combined with high serum concentration of growth hormone (GH) and low insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels, can be caused by mutations in the GH receptor (GHR) gene. We investigated the molecular defects in the GHR gene in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). The patient, a 2-ye...