Endocrine Abstracts

The incidence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and obesity is constantly growing in Latvia. Obesity in children is a globally progressing public health problem that can lead to serious metabolic abnormalities - insulin resistance and associated metabolic syndrome.Our objective was to determine the risk factors that contribute to the development of arterial hypertension in schoolchildren. 238 schoolboys between the ages of 7 and 19 were scree...

The incidence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and obesity is constantly growing in Latvia. Obesity in children is a globally progressing public health problem that can lead to serious metabolic abnormalities - insulin resistance and associated metabolic syndrome.Our objective was to determine the risk factors that contribute to the development of arterial hypertension in schoolchildren. 238 schoolboys between the ages of 7 and 19 were scree...

Introduction: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an inducible enzyme in prostaglandin synthesis, plays a major role in the pathogenesis of sporadic colorectal carcinoma (CRC). COX-2 inhibitors reduce the mortality from sporadic CRC. Acromegaly is associated with an increased risk of CRC, with a preponderance of right sided disease, but COX-2 protein is reduced or absent in acromegalic normal and malignant colonic mucosa. The mechanisms responsible for this are unknown.Aims: (i) To ...

Introduction and aim: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion via insulin pump is the most efficient way of imitating physiological insulin secretion, and it also provides better management of diabetes, lower rate of hypoglicemic episodes, better quality of life and prevention of long-term complications of diabetes mellitus. Aim of the research was to determine effects of subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy on parameters of glycoregulation during the two years trial.<p ...

Background: Infants born small for gestational age (SGA) usually show catch-up growth during the first few years of post-natal life. However, some infants remain small and little is known about the factors governing their growth failure. IGF-I receptor mutations account for a minority of cases therefore we have initiated an assessment of signalling molecules downstream of the receptor.Method: Skin biopsies were obtained with local ethics approval from he...

Child and adolescent adiposity is a problem of major concern not only for Europe, but also for the world at large. Increase of waist circumference, BMI and arterial blood pressure are metabolic syndrome risk factors which contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.To determine whether changes in arterial blood pressure are related to the increase of waist circumference and BMI in childhood and adolescence....

Somatostatin (SST) and cortistatin (CORT) are two highly related neuropeptides involved in the regulation of several endocrine secretions. In particular, SST and CORT are two primary negative regulators of GH secretion. Consequently, SST or CORT knockout (KO) mice exhibit elevated GH levels; however, this does not lead to increased IGF-I levels or somatic growth, which has been suggested that could be due to a compensatory mechanism between both peptides. In order to test this...

Introduction: Using discriminant analysis, a method based on two growth hormone (GH) dependent markers, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and pro-collagen type III N-terminal peptide (P-III-P) has been devised to detect exogenously administered GH. It is believed that GH is a popular substance of abuse amongst adolescent athletes. As previous studies on the detection of GH abuse involved predominantly adult athletes, it is necessary to validate the method in adolescent athl...

Many PhD graduates will pursue a postdoctoral training position, most commonly in an academic laboratory. What can you expect from this period in your career? Do you need to go abroad to do a postdoc? What could/should you do to benefit the most of this time? And how can you use your time as a postdoc to help you with your career path once you leave?I recall being very excited about beginning my postdoc and leaving the ‘PhD nest’. I trained and...

Neuroprotection defines a set of homeostatic, self-repair mechanisms that probably evolved for the specially demanding conditions imposed by brain function. Among these, intercellular messengers such as the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), that appeared very early during phylogeny, apparently play a prominent role despite their peripheral origin. In contrast to the heterogeneity seen in primitive organisms where at least 30 different IGF-like peptides are described, in mamm...