Endocrine Abstracts

PCOS is the most common hyperandrogenic disorder, with a high prevalence of metabolic comorbidities, including obesity and central fat distribution, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. With this background, it should be accepted that androgen excess must be present in all women with PCOS. Thanks to the advance in measuring blood androgen levels by LC-MS/MS, it has become clear that almost all typical cases of PCOS have a variable pattern of androgen excess. An andro...

A recent questionnaire aiming to understand which is the practice on diagnosis and management of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been sent to all members of ESE. More than 13% of members of ESE participated in the survey. The main results were the following: i) the NIH criteria are followed by the majority of respondents; ii) obesity and type 2 diabetes were regarded as the principal long-term concerns, whereas much less concern was given to infertility; iii) the most com...

The National Institute of Health (US) recently organized an Evidence-based Methodology Workshop on the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), focused on definition of the syndrome. Among others, the conclusions included the following: i) the need to assign a name that reflects the complex interactions that characterize the syndrome; ii) it is advisable to maintain a broad, inclusionary diagnostic criteria of Rotterdam, while specifically identifying the most common phenotype, chara...

Lifestyle interventions and insulin sensitizers play a fundamental role in the treatment of PCOS, particularly in the presence of obesity. The rationale is represented by the reasoning that the decrease in insulin concentration, as a result of improved insulin resistance, may lead to metabolic alterations and have important effects on hyperandrogenism, and, in particular, on fertility. Insulin sensitizers can be added to lifestyle intervention, when obesity is present, althoug...

Hyperandrogenism, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are the cardinal features of most women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). They contribute in different ways to its phenotypic expression, including hirsutism, menses abnormalities, oligo-anovulation, metabolic disturbances, and susceptibility to develop type 2 diabetes. From the theoretical point of view, individual pharmacotherapy of PCOS should be planned in order to counteract the main pathophysiological mec...

Levo-thyroxine (LT4) formulations are available on tablets (TAB) or liquid solution (SOL). LT4 TAB absorption could be affected by several gastric diseases as Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection or chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), instead no data are available on absorption of the LT4 SOL in these conditions. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of TAB or SOL LT4 formulations in patients with dyspeptic syndrome (DS) and subclinical ...

Recent data showed the existence of a specific adipocyte population composed of ‘brite’ cells in white adipose tissue (WAT), characterized by a peculiar gene expression pattern including PRDM16. Despite showing a low basal UCP1 expression, these cells display higher UCP1 expression when stimulated. In view of the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in energy homeostasis, the aim of our work is to establish whether the CB1 receptor could be a target for brown ph...

We report of two sisters with hyperandrogenism, menstrual abnormalities, and severe insulin resistance. The elder sister was seen after puberty at age 21 and she was referred for the evaluation of hirsutism and polymenorrhoea; the younger was seen earlier in life, at age 15, for the evaluation of secondary amenorrhoea. In both of them, we performed the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in accordance to the Rotterdam criteria. They also presented a lipodystrophic ph...

The aim of study was to evaluate in a group of obese women the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, defined accordingly to the International Diabetes Federation, of single factors of the syndrome and the correlations with endocrine factors. We evaluated 351 women, 262 overweight-obese and 89 normal weight controls, which underwent physical, biochemical and hormonal evaluation. The prevalence of MS in obese and overweight subjects was 62.3%; the prevalence increased significan...

Introduction: Primary aldosteronism (PA) features a higher prevalence of cardiovascular events and renal complications as compared with essential hypertension. The effects of aldosterone excess on ascending aorta have never been investigated in human subjects.Methods: From August 2014 to December 2015, we enrolled forty-seven consecutive PA outpatients who had not undergone surgery of the adrenal mass. Hypercortisolism and pheochromocytoma were excluded....