Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Hormonal activity and insulin resistance (IR) in patients with incidentally discovered bilateral adrenal adenomas (BA) has not been evaluated until now. Therefore, we have investigated cortisol and aldosterone secretion and IR in 29 patients with BA, in 113 patients with unilateral adrenal adenomas (UA) and in 89 healthy subjects (C).Methods: All subjects underwent the following investigation: 1) Low dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST...

Background: Incidentally discovered adrenal adenomas (AA) are associated with increased prevalence of hypertension, obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance, all established risk factors for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity. However, most studies were performed in patients with AA and autonomous cortsisol and/or aldosterone secretion, whereas the presence of cardiovascular risk in patients with non-secreting AA has not been looked into detail.Methods: Cardio...

Background: Conflicting results regarding adiponectin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have been reported. To evaluate adiponectin levels in PCOS, a systematic review of all studies comparing adiponectin levels in women with PCOS to healthy controls and a meta-analysis of those involving women with similar Body Mass Index (BMI) were performed. Influence of possible effect modifiers, such as insulin resistance (IR) and testosterone, was investigated. Influe...

Background and aims: Exercise intervention programs have been proved beneficial for inactive type 2 diabetes patients by improving physical fitness, anthropometric parameters, glycaemic control and lipid profile. The aim of this study was to examine the additional benefits of a supervised systematic exercise program in physically active postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes.Materials and methods: Ten physically active, postmenopausal women with type ...

Background of study: Twin studies have shown that age at menarche may be subject to hereditary influences but the specific determinants are unknown. Estrogens are known to have an important role in menarche. Since aromatase is responsible enzyme for the conversion of androgens to estrogens, the aromatase (CYP19) gene could be a candidate gene for the regulation of menarche. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible association of the CYP19(TTTA)n poly...

Background of study: Experimental research supports the hypothesis that fetal exposure to androgen excess may programme in utero the development of PCOS in adult life. Potential mechanisms for prenatal androgenization could be a reduced binding capacity of androgens by SHBG or reduced aromatization of androgens by aromatase. The aim of this study was to examine whether the SHBG(TAAAA)n polymorphism, known to be associated with SHBG levels and the CYP19(TTTA)n<...

Background: Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and the Matrix Metaloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) have been considered as important mediators of vascular remodeling and plaque instability. The formation of a complex with NGAL and MMP-9 is crucial for atherotic plaque erosion and thrombus formation. In women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) the incidence of cardiovascular clinical events is not increased, despite the fact that they display a wide spectrum of risk fac...

Introduction: The vascular protective effects of estrogens are known to be mediated by their binding to specific estrogen receptors (ER). However, the significance of genetic variations of the ER in vascular diseases has not been reported. We have examined the association between stroke and PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms of the estrogen receptor-alpha gene in patients with metabolic syndrome.Methods and subjects: The study population consisted by 84 male a...

Introduction: 17- α hydroxylase deficiency, an autosomal recessive disorder, is a rare cause of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). The disease is usally diagnosed during infancy and childhood. We present here a rare case of an adult woman with 17-α hydroxylase deficiency diagnosed for first time in adulthood.Presentation: A 49 year old woman, with no previous medical history came to the emergency department of our hospital unconscious with G...

Introduction: Infectious diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) have been associated with hypopituitarism which relates to the severity, the localization and the cause of the infection. We present here a case of a CNS abscess and hormone deficiencies. A 53 years old man referred to the emergency department of our hospital with high fever and confusion and a 3 day history of weakness and anorexia. On clinical examination he was febrile (38.4oC), disoriented in ...