Endocrine Abstracts

Adrenal insufficiency is not commonly associated with a finding of bilateral enlarged adrenal gland when diagnosed in late adulthood. Various cases in the literature to date seem to indicate that the combination of these two findings may be suggestive of adrenal lymphoma. Our patient was initially referred to Gastroenterology with weight loss, nausea and early satiety from where he was referred for a whole body computed-tomography (CT) scan as part of a screen for malignancy. ...

We measured chromogranin A (CgA) and chromogranin B (CgB) in 36 patients, recently confirmed to have a midgut carcinoid tumour (MGC), prior to the commencement of octreotide treatment. Blood samples were taken before and after a bolus injection of 50 μg octreotide. There were 21 males, 15 females, age range 28–76 median 61 years.Basal CgA, expressed as times the upper limit of normal (ULN) ranged from 333.3 to 0.5 ULN. Basal CgB ranged from 33....

Gonadotrophs in rats, mice and humans, express an intact natriuretic peptide system, in which C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is the predominant member. Despite showing an interaction between CNP and GnRH at the level of cGMP and Ca2+ signalling, the role of CNP in gonadotroph biology is poorly understood. In this study, we utilise a novel multiplex qRT-PCR assay, examining simultaneous expression of natriuretic peptide genes along with genes for gonadotroph transc...

A 36-years-old male with mild hypertension was diagnosed with pseudocystic tumor (67 mm) in pancreatic region and liver metastasis in April 2010. One month later, the extirpation of retroperitoneal mass and metastasis was performed in local medical centre. Pathohistological diagnosis was metastatic paraganglioma (Ki67, 3.5%). In June 2010, he was transferred to our Institution, and (131) I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy was negative. However ((18) F) fluorodeoxygl...

Mutations in the mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) subunits A, B, C, and D have been shown to hamper oxidative phosphorylation and predispose to pheochromocytomas (PHEOs) and paragangliomas (PGLs). These tumors are characterized by a glycolytic and pseudohypoxic phenotype, which is also seen in most PHEOs/PGLs occurring as part of von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) syndrome, due to VHL gene mutations. The rate of extra-adrenal tumor origin and malignancy however is particu...

Recent studies in various species have pointed out that Neurokinin B (NKB), encoded by Tac2 in rodents, and its receptor, NK3R, are important regulators of reproduction. NKB is co-expressed in Kiss1 neurons of the arcuate nucleus (ARC) and stimulates, via auto-regulatory loops, kisspeptin output onto GnRH neurons, therefore stimulating gonadotropin secretion. However, important aspects of the roles of NKB as regulators of the gonadotropic axis remain unknown. We report here th...

Instruction: Previous studies have been shown that obese individuals have reduced natriuretic peptide levels. But conflicting data exist on the relation of natriuretic peptide levels to other metabolic risk factors. We investigated the relationship between plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels (NT-proBNP) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), metabolic risk factors in 469 patients free of heartfailure.Material and methods: Two hundred and thir...

Glial-cell missing b (GCMB) is a parathyroid-specific gene whose loss results in parathyroid agenesis while haploinsufficiency of GATA3, which belongs to a family (GATA1-6) of dual zinc-finger transcription factors causes the hypoparathyroidism-deafness-renal dysplasia (HDR) syndrome. We investigated the possibility that GATA3 regulates GCMB expression. Our bioinformatics analysis revealed 5 putative GATA3 binding sites in the 1.3 kb region upstream of exon 1 of GCMB...

Aim: To assess concentration (conc) of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and conc of N- terminated naturetic propeptyde type B (NTpBNP) in patients (pts) after cardiac arrest (CA) and their role for clinical state of pts after CA.Material: 52 pts after CA, 36 men and 16 women, in the age 62±13 years. CA was caused by ventricular fibrillation in 31 cases, by asystolia in 15 and by pulseless electrical activity in 6. 28 pts died after CA (P-CA-D), 24 survive...

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...