Endocrine Abstracts

Hypopituitarism and impaired fertility in adulthood may result from congenital genetic defects detected during childhood or acquired pituitary dysfunction after apoplexy or resection of a pituitary tumor or following radiation therapy. This lecture will review the fertility options for hypopituitary patients, success rates and predictors of outcome for conception and live births. In those with normal pituitary function planning surgery and/or radiation to the hypothalamic-pitu...

For >50 years female cardioprotection was attributed to premenopausal endogenous estrogen levels. We describe here how cardioprotection is greatly reduced in the presence of diabetes and endogenous testosterone levels.Forty years ago we measured total and bioavailable testosterone (bioT), total and bioavailable estradiol, and SHBG in community-dwelling older men and women from the Rancho Bernardo Study, using organic solvent extraction and celite col...

The HPA axis facilitates adaptation to stress and is essential for metabolism and health, but dysregulation of the HPA axis compromises resilience and promotes vulnerability to stress-related diseases. This includes diseases of the brain where an aberrant stress hormone action targeting susceptibility pathways causes emotional and cognitive disturbances, and affects the onset and progression of neurodegenerative processes, while impairing recovery and neurogenesis. This action...

Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta is a group of heterogenous disorders affecting connective tissue. The disorders are inherited by autosomal dominant or recessive patterns. The phenotypes vary both between and within the subgroups of which there are eight described by the modified Sillence criteria. The common features are reduced bone mineralization, predisposition to fracture and resulting bony deformities. In addition blue sclerae and joint hyperlaxity can be present....

Introduction: PTH concentrations obtained with the second generation (2G) assays may vary widely according cross-reactivities against 7–84 PTH fragments. 1–84 bio-intact PTH is only measured with a third generation (3G) assay.Objective: To evaluate whether the results found with a 3G method improve the classification of dialysis patients according to the KDIGO recommendations.Patients and methods: We studied the PTH value...

Background: Vitamin D3 is the common supplemented form, vitamin D2 is often provided as prescribed supplement in many countries, such as the USA. In these countries, measuring 25(OH)D in patients treated with vitamin D2 using an assay that measures 25(OH)D2 poorly may confound clinical care. Recently, the ADVIA Centaur vitamin D assay has been commercialized for use in the clinical laboratory. We evaluated the assay’s ability of measuring both 25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3 and co...

Vitamin D deficiency causes rickets in children and osteomalacia in adolescents. Rickets cases are still being reported in the Arab gulf area and worldwide. The clinical spectrum ranges from subclinical (asymptomatic) form to severe symptoms and signs including progressive bone pains, myopathy, waddling gait and bone deformities.We recorded the clinical, biochemical and radiological data 50 adolescents with severe vitamin D deficiency. Clinical symptoms ...

Introduction: Disorder of water and electrolyte balance may develop after transsphenoidal (TNS) surgery for pituitary adenomas. In particular, delayed hyponatremia (Na<135 mEq/l) due to SIADH is reported in 8–35% of patients and usually resolves with fluid-intake restriction within 6 days. The possible role of vasopressin-2 receptor antagonists in this clinical setting has not been elucidated.Case report: We report a case of a 57-years-old Cauca...

Objective: To describe a patient with an unusual course of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) due to parathyroid adenoma in 2004, who developed recurrent hyperparathyroidism due to parathyroid carcinoma in 2010, and a subsequent adenoma in 2011.To our knowledge, this sequential occurrence has not been previously reported in literature.Case: A 57-year old male was operated on for a parathyroid adenoma in the right inferior gland in 2004. He was asymptomat...

Several studies have addressed the possible role of leptin, the product of the obesity gene (Ob), in ovarian cancer development and progression. Herein, we used the OVCAR-3 cell line expressed both the long (ObRb) and short (ObRt) isoforms of the mRNAs of the leptin receptor, to analyse the effect of leptin on the expression of selected genes involved in the cell cycle and apoptosis. OVCAR-3 cells were exposed to 2 and 20 ng/ml of leptin (noted in non-obese women) or 40 and 10...