Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS) has been considered to be the gold standard for differential diagnosis of Cushing’s Disease (CD) and ectopic ACTH secretion (EAS).Aim: To describe the experience of our centre in performing IPSS, its safety and efficacy; assess remission rates from transphenoidal surgery and clinical course; approach to the difficulty in the etiological diagnosis of ACTH-dependent Cushing’s Syndrome.<p c...

Infertility is a growing concern in Western countries. Several factors, including lifestyle habits and increased prevalence of chronic disorders associated with hormonal alterations, increased chronic inflammation and systemic oxidative stress (such as obesity and diabetes mellitus), are contributing to the reduction of reproductive potential among males in modern societies. Evidence suggests these factors negatively impact human sperm quality resulting in a combination of alt...

Introduction: MODY 5 is a rare form of autosomal dominant monogenic diabetes with a broad phenotypical spectrum that occurs with pancreatic and extra-pancreatic clinical manifestations, such as: malformation and dysfunction of the pancreas, nephrourologic anomalies, impaired renal function, hepatopathy and neurocognitive defects. It is caused by a mutation of the gene encoding hepatocyte nuclear transcription factor 1 beta (HNF1β).Case 1: M...

Introduction: Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are mitochondrial transmembrane channels belonging to the anion carrier family. Six UCP homologues (UCP1-6) had been identified with a ubiquitous distribution throughout the body and many different physiological functions. UCPs are important regulators of several biological processes, including thermogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation, ROS production, as well as cellular metabolism. However, the knowledge concerning the mo...

Infertility is a global health problem that affects about 15% of couples and approximately half of infertility cases are associated with male factors. Oxidative Stress (OS) is reported as one of the major causes of male infertility, mainly due to spermatozoa’s vulnerability to the attack of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Infertile couples often recur to assisted reproductive technology (ART) to achieve a successful pregnancy. However, ART protocols also increase the expos...

Introduction: Thyrotoxic crisis is a rare endocrinological emergency with high mortality and it is more frequent in Graves’ disease.Clinical case: A 66-year-old women with schizophrenia was admitted to the Emergency Department due to altered state of consciousness, fatigue, constant moaning interspersed with unusual psychomotor agitation, heteroaggressiveness, diarrhea and anorexia. Lack of compliance with her psychiatric medication, new delusional ...

Objectives: Hürthle cell (oncocytic) lesions can be metaplastic or neoplastic events. The neoplastic entities -formerly, oncocytic variant of follicular tumours; Hürthle cell neoplasm (HCN) - include HC adenomas and HC carcinomas and have been recognized as a separate class of tumours by the WHO. The remaining of the thyroid tumours demonstrating “mitochondrion-rich cells” and oncocytic morphology are referred under the umbrella term of “oncocytic vari...

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between free T3 (FT3) levels with symptoms suggestive of thyroid dysfunction, and quality of life (QoL) outcomes, in patients with compensated primary hypothyroidism (PH).Methods: Cross-sectional study encompassing Portuguese levothyroxine(LT4)-treated patients for PH who presented Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free T4 (FT4) within the normal range. Pregnant women, patients with central hypothyroidism and/...

Perinatal maternal high-fat (HF) and isocaloric diet induced obesity and metabolic disorders in the offspring since weaning. At adulthood, oxidative soleus skeletal muscle of HF male offspring exhibited lipid accumulation and mitochondrial damage. At birth, HF offspring have higher n-6:n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) plasma ratio. We hypothesized that HF offspring´s mitochondria of skeletal muscle exhibit damages at weaning that could be mitigated by fish oil (FO, ...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) and insulin resistance (IR) in kidney cells are considered the main cause of end-stage renal failure. Additionally, hyperglycemia and increased fatty (FA) acids are observed in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, where lipid accumulation has been correlated to IR. Nonetheless, the impact of IR in early disease stages is still unclear. Moreover, proximal renal tubular cells have high mitochondrial content where aerobic respiration is their primary ...