The great Belgian anatomist Vesalius believed that the pituitary gland, a pea-sized protuberance located at the base of the brain, was an organ for the secretion of waste material. He could not have been more wrong. Though one of the smallest of man's hormone producers, the pituitary is the master gland. It exercises control or influence over virtually every biological functionincluding growthby manufacturing substances that help control the other glands and organs. Thus an underactive pituitary in a child can arrest bodily development and produce a form of dwarfism. Last week a discovery...
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