Endocrine Abstracts

Increased serum TSH has been reported in obese children and adolescents and is considered an adaptive mechanism secondary to obesity. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that this adaptation is not associated with obesity per se but with its related metabolic alterations. Using a cross-sectional approach, we collected retrospectively fasting serum TSH concentration (if within the normal range), anthropometric parameters and criteria for the diagnosis of t...

Background: The Phase III PAOLA study assessed the efficacy and safety of pasireotide LAR versus continued treatment with octreotide LAR or lanreotide Autogel in patients with uncontrolled acromegaly. The current analysis investigated overall baseline characteristics and response rates to pasireotide according to co-morbidities.Methods: Patients were classified into five groups of co-morbidities related to acromegaly: glucose- (n=104), endocrine...

Introduction: In PAOLA study, pasireotide showed superior efficacy over continued treatment with octreotide/lanreotide in patients with inadequately-controlled acromegaly; 64% of patients receiving pasireotide long-acting release (LAR) reported hyperglycaemia-related adverse events. Pasireotide has been shown to inhibit insulin secretion. The aim of this exploratory analysis was to investigate the effect of timing of antidiabetic medication (ADM) intervention on the fasting pl...

Introduction: The PAOLA study in patients with inadequately-controlled acromegaly (n=198) demonstrated superior efficacy of pasireotide long-acting release (LAR; 40 mg/60 mg) in biochemical control (GH <2.5 μg/l and normalized IGF-1) vs continued treatment with octreotide LAR 30 mg/lanreotide Autogel 120 mg (15.4% and 20.0% vs 0%). Here we report preliminary data from the extension phase of PAOLA at wk28.Methods: Pasireotide-LAR (40 mg/...

Background: The PAOLA study assessed the efficacy/safety of pasireotide LAR vs continued treatment with octreotide LAR/lanreotide Autogel in patients with inadequately controlled acromegaly. An exploratory objective was to measure changes in various associated biomarkers, including IGF1 and IGFBP2 (released from white fat cells and known to prevent insulin resistance), glucose and HbA1c.Methods: Adult patients (GH >2.5 μg/l and IGF1 >1.3&#21...

An increase in basal and Pentagastrin (Pg) stimulated calcitonin (CT) concentration is a specific feature of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Routine basal CT measurement in nodular thyroid diseases is controversial. Pg stimulation is expected to increase the basal CT specificity in MTC screening, although false positive responses in patients without MTC have been reported.Aim: To report the diagnostic accuracy of Pg-stimulated CT in surgically treated...

Introduction: Obesity is a chronic neurometabolic disorder with complex psychological aspects. Patients with obesity often suffer from eating disorders and altered body image perception and show increased plasma concentrations of oxytocin (OT).Objective and Design: This pilot study investigates the interplay between psychological factors, OT levels, and very-low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD)-induced weight loss. We collected data from patients with over...

Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) is an ovarian defect characterized by the premature depletion of ovarian follicles before 40 years and represents one major cause of female infertility. POI is a heterogeneous disease but, despite its idiopathic origin in most of patients, there is a strong genetic evidence, in particular for X chromosome-linked defects. BMP15 gene maps to Xp11.2 within a Turner locus critical for ovarian function and mutations in this gene have been found i...

The pathogenesis of premature ovarian failure (POF) is largely unknown. However, the evidence of a frequent familiarity for the anticipation of menopause among POF women supports the concept of a strong genetic component at the origin of POF. This is further supported by the findings of several candidate genes and by data coming from natural and experimental animal models. On these bases, several groups are involved in the search for markers able to predict the risk of POF. Th...

The X-linked genes accounting for the determination of the ovarian function are still undefined. In the last few years, a large interest has been dedicated to the BMP15 gene. BMP15 gene encodes for a TGFβ-like growth factor of oocyte origin with a critical role in female fertility in mammals and several other species. This gene maps to a locus on the short arm of X chromosome were locates several traits of TS, including ovarian failure. Several missense variations have be...