Читать книгу Old Age Deferred. The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures онлайн

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The action of the pituitary body upon metabolism has been shown by Narbuth, who found a diminution of oxidation after degeneration of the pituitary body, and an increase after medication with extracts of the same organ. This fact is also shown clinically by cases of obesity after degeneration of the pituitary body in acromegaly, and by the interesting fact (shown by a great number of authorities and recently by Fröhlich,^[39] Berger,^[40] and Erdheim^[41]) that cases of pituitary tumor may be met with, associated with obesity, and without any of the symptoms of acromegaly. Especially interesting is the case of Madelung^[42] showing a colossal obesity in a girl aged 9 years, after a gunshot injury of the pituitary body. This observation sustains, and is clearly explained by, Sajous^[43] who showed that the posterior or neural lobe of the pituitary body contained a nerve center which governed the functional activity of the thyroid, and that the secretion of the latter insured the catabolism of fats by increasing their vulnerability to oxidation.