Role of chemokine receptor 5 during respiratory syncytial virus infection

Studies on head injury-induced pituitary dysfunction are limited in number and conflicting results have been reported.To further clarify this issue, 29 consecutive patients (24 males), with severe (n = 21) or moderate (n = 8) head trauma, having a mean age of 37 ± 17 years were investigated in the immediate post-trauma period.All patients required mechanical ventilatory support for 8-55 days and were enrolled in the study within a few days before ICU discharge.Basal hormonal assessment included measurement of cortisol, corticotropin, free thyroxine (fT4), thyrotropin (TSH), testosterone (T) in men, estradiol (E2) in women, prolactin (PRL), and growth hormone (GH).Cortisol and GH levels were measured also after stimulation with 100 µg human corticotropin releasing hormone (hCRH) and 100 µg growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), respectively.Cortisol hyporesponsiveness was considered when peak cortisol concentration was less than 20 µg/dl following hCRH.TSH deficiency was diagnosed when a subnormal P4 Determination of functional states during sepsis-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis using measurement of ACTH, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)