Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal glands secrete a variety of hormones from the cortex (steroids) and the medulla (amines) that when in excess lead to characteristic clinical syndromes. Dysregulation of the secretory pattern of these hormones or hypersecretion not enough to cause a clinically obvious syndrome is termed subclinical hyperfunction and is mainly found in primary adrenal lesions in the form of adrenal incidentalomas (AI). These are adrenal mass lesions usually >1 cm in diameter that...

Background: A recent study of a small series of patients with appendiceal neuroendocrine tumors (ANETs) fulfilling various criteria for right hemicolectomy (RHC) revealed that ≈ 25% may harbor identifiable extra-appendiceal disease. The residual disease might not have been detected using the latest European Neuroendocrine Tumors Society (ENETs) revised pathological criteria.Aims: To evaluate the latest pathological criteria for completion right hem...

Purpose: The efficacy and safety of RAD, an mTOR inhibitor, in patients with well differentiated metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET).Material and methods: We studied seven male patients (mean age 55 years, range 36–75) with well differentiated non functioning stage IV GEP-NETs (five pancreatic, one hindgut carcinoid, and one NET of unknown primary). All received RAD 10 mg/day in combination with long acting octerotide 3...

Background: The exact indications and/or the type of operation requiring for the treatment of gastric carcinoids (GC) type 1, are not clearly stated. The present study was designed to evaluate the value of the oncological gastrectomy in the treatment of GC type 1.Materials and method: Between January 2004 and December 2010, we advocated gastric resection in cases of GC type 1 when at least one of the following criteria was present: i) multiple recurrent ...

Objectives: To characterize the possible role of the osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) system in thalassemia-related bone loss.Background: Osteoporosis represents an important cause of morbidity in patients with β-thalassemia major and its aetiology is multifactorial.Methods: Serum concentrations of OPG, RANKL, markers of bone turnover and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) were mea...

Introduction: Autonomous aldosterone secretion (AAS) is present in approximately 10% of hypertensives. Adrenal incidentalomas (AI) can be found in up to 19% of hypertensive individuals. However, data on the incidence of AAS in hypertensive patients with AI is scarce. Our aim was to evaluate the adrenal aldosterone secretory profile in patients with adrenal adenomas with and without arterial hypertension.Patients and methods: We investigated 72 normotensi...

The ACTH receptor (ACTH-R) is the second member of the melanocortin receptor family that includes five seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors, and has been shown to be predominantly expressed in the adrenal cortex. It has been postulated that ACTH may regulate its own secretion through ultra-short loop feedback within the pituitary, and as ACTH-secreting adenomas are characterised by resistance to glucocorticoid feedback, they may also have dysregulated ACTH feedback....

Carney complex (CNC) is an autosomal dominant multiple neoplasia syndrome featuring cardiac, endocrine, cutaneous and neural tumours, as well as a variety of pigmented lesions of the skin and mucosa. Pituitary GH-secreting tumours are found in approximately 10% of patients with CNC. One of the genes responsible for CNC, the PRKAR1A gene, located on human chromosome 17q22-24, has recently been cloned. This represents a putative tumour suppressor gene, coding for the type 1alpha...

Sodium glucose co-transporter2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) based on the results of recent cardiovascular outcome studies. Herein, we investigated the effects of long-term treatment with canagliflozin on biochemical and immunohistochemical markers related to atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis development in the aorta of Apolipoprotein E knockout (Apo-E(−/−)) mice. After...

Introduction: Treatment with sodium glucose co-transporter2(SGLT2) inhibitors was found to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in diabetic patients.Herein, we investigated the effects of long-term treatment with canagliflozin on atherosclerosis development in the aorta of Apolipoprotein E knockout (Apo-E(−/−)) mice as well as on biochemical and immunohistochemical markers related to atherosclerosis.Methods: At 4 weeks of ...