Endocrine Abstracts

Key4OI : Development and implementation of a Standard set of Outcome measures for Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder also known as ‘brittle bone disease’. The clinical manifestation of OI shows a wide variation. Therefore, care for patients with OI requires an interdisciplinary approach. The effectiveness of particular interventions and treatment protocols of interdisciplinary teams is not clear due to a non-standardized and w...

The mechanisms responsible for the progressive failure of hypoglycemia counter-regulation in type-1 diabetes (T1DM) are poorly understood. Alterations of brain energy metabolism could influence glucose sensing by the brain and, thus contribute to hypoglycemia associated autonomic failure. Thus, we measured intraneuronal kinetics of total ATP-synthesis from PCr (kfor) in T1DM patients and effects of hypo/hyperglycemia on this brain energy metabolism. Healthy n...

Due to limited treatment options the prognosis of patients with advanced hepatocellular cancer (HCC) has remained poor. We therefore examined the feasibility of radioiodine therapy of HCC after human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS) gene transfer, using the tumor-specific alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) promoter for transcriptional targeting. For this purpose NIS gene transfer was performed in vivo in human HCC cell (HepG2) xenografts, using replication-deficient adenoviral vecto...

Recent case reports describe hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia after gastric bypass. The aim of this study was the assessment of insulin resistance and insulin secretion in non-diabetic morbidly obese patients before and six months after bariatric surgery.In 8 non-diabetic morbidly obese patients (OB:6f/2 m, age:42±3a, BMI:47.29±2.2 kg/m2) and 6 controls (CON:4f/2 m, age:43±0a, BMI:23.8±0.5 kg/m2) we performed a freq...

Background: GH plays an important role in maintaining physiological morphology and function of the left ventricle (LV). In GH deficient (GHD) patients a systolic and/or diastolic LV dysfunction has been documented. LV systolic dysfunction results from reduced LV mass (LVM), which subsequently leads to a decrease of the LV ejection fraction (EF). Results from clinical trials evaluating the effect of GH replacement therapy on the morphological and functional changes of the LV in...

Glucocorticoids suppress insulin secretion, inhibit glucose uptake in peripheral tissues, and promote gluconeogenesis in the liver. These effects are known to be mediated via genomic mechanisms of slow onset. Despite recent evidence on rapid non-genomic glucocorticoid signaling in several organs, there is no information on rapid glucocorticoid effects on carbohydrate metabolism in humans.Here we present data on the rapid effects of hydrocortisone on the ...

Adrenomedullin is a vasoactive peptide originally discovered in extracts of human pheochromocytoma. It is highly expressed in plasma and adipose tissue of obese subjects and considered as a member of the adipokine family. Adrenomedullin inhibits adipogenesis under the transcriptional control of insulin. We determined plasma adrenomedullin concentrations in a cohort of 360 healthy subjects and found a very significant positive correlation to body mass index (BMI). In parallel, ...

Ghrelin and PYY are gastrointestinal peptides involved in appetite regulation. The cholinergic part of the vagal nerve participate in the regulation of glucose and insulin levels. We aimed to examine the effects of the cholinergic antagonist atropine on ghrelin, PYY, glucose and insulin under basal conditions and after meal ingestion in lean and obese subjects. Eight lean and eight obese subjects received in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled crossover study design...

The incidence of diabetes, a disease characterized by high blood glucose levels, is increasing worldwide. Besides the well-known complications of diabetes including cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy, also bone fragility has recently been recognized as a complication of diabetes. In fact, type 1 diabetes is associated with a 6-fold increase in hip fractures with a marked loss of bone mineral density, while type 2 diabetes is associated with a 1.5-...

Skeletal lesions are a frequent complication of breast and prostate cancer. At present, 60–80% of patients with breast or prostate cancer develop bone metastases, which frequently result in skeletal-related events, including pathological fractures, pain, and neurological syndromes that require surgery or radiotherapy, and reduce quality of life. Autocrine and paracrine factors modulate various aspects of bone metastasis, including tumor proliferation, epithelial-to-mesenc...