Endocrine Abstracts

Background: HIV is associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and decreased muscle mass. Osteoporosis and sarcopenia often co-exist and their onset is multifactorial. Sex steroids play a key role in the homeostasis of bone health and body composition in HIV-uninfected men, but data in MLWH are scanty.Aim: To investigate the frequency of low BMD and sarcopenia and their relationship with gonadal function in MLWH younger than 50.<p class="abs...

Background: The diagnosis of PHPT and chronic HypoPT is still challenging, mainly due to the wide spectrum of clinical and biochemical presentation and the lack of validated diagnostic index in literature. The serum Ca/P ratio has been proposed as an accurate tool to diagnose PHPT in a small sample of patients, while no data is available about its possible application for HypoPT.Aim: To validate the serum Ca/P ratio as a diagnostic index for PHPT and to ...

Background and aim: Several ultrasound (US) classifications for thyroid nodules have been proposed. Since most of them are hardly applicable in clinical practice, we set up the Modena US Thyroid Classification (MUT) that stratifies the risk of malignancy considering both knowledge derived from scientific literature and clinician subjective impression. The aim of the present study was to test the diagnostic accuracy of different thyroid US classification systems, AACE/ACE-AME, ...

Background: Primary hyperparathyroidism (HyperPT) and primary hypoparathyroidism (HypoPT) are often underdiagnosed. Several strategies have been investigated in the past in order to identify diagnostic parameters, although the diagnosis of both HyperPT and HypoPT remains challenging so far, especially in asymptomatic patients. Calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) are inversely related together, thus the Ca/P ratio could be an useful tool to define these conditions. Recently, we pro...

Background: HIV-infection is associated to an increased prevalence of age-related comorbidities, such as erectile dysfunction (ED) and testosterone (T)-deficiency.Aim: Definition of ED and T-deficiency in HIV-infected men using validated sexual questionnaires and the gold standard assay for T measurement: isotopic dilution–liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (ID–LC–MS/MS)Methodology: Prospective, cros...

Introduction: The role of testosterone supplementation (TS) as a possible treatment for male sexual dysfunction remains questionable. The aim of the present study is to meta-analyse data evaluating the effects of TS on male sexual function and its therapeutic synergism with the use of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5i).Methods: An extensive Medline Embase and Cochrane search was performed including the following words: ‘testosterone’, ‘erect...

Introduction: The use of multigene panels in thyroid nodule diagnosis is still limited, due to high costs and need for ad hoc sampling. Since BRAF-V600E is the commonest genetic alteration in differentiated thyroid cancer, this is the mostly tested genetic parameter in clinical practice.Aim: To evaluate the use of BRAF mutation analysis in wash-out liquid from fine needle aspiration (FNA) in clinical practice, characterizing th...

Background: GH–IGF1 status is important for bone health. Acromegaly affects bone status, but less is known on the role of treatments for acromegaly on bone mineral density (BMD). Pegvisomant (Peg) is effective in treating acromegaly by reducing IGF1. As serum GH is not influenced by Peg, it is not known if residual, direct GH effects on bone (not IGF1 mediated) are preserved during treatment.Methods: To evaluate the effects of Peg on BMD, we compare...

Introduction: At present, only eight men with loss-of-function mutations in the CYP19A1 gene have been described. Here we report the genetic study of four adult men with undetectable serum estrogens, unfused epiphyses, eunuchoid skeletal proportions, continuing linear growth, tall stature, genu valgum, osteoporosis, obesity and achantosis nigricans. Patient 1 (26-years/182 cm) and 2 (28-years/187 cm) are from Turkey with a history of consanguinity. Patient 3 (44-years...

Introduction: Thyroid volume (TV) depends on age, gender, anthropometry, smoking and iodine status. IGF1 plays a role on thyroid growth, as demonstrated in acromegaly and GH-deficiency. Finally, TSH is a well recognised permissive factor for thyroid tissue growth. The aim of the study is to evaluate the long-term effect of TSH-deficiency on TV in hypopituitaric patients compared with healthy volunteers.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional, controlled ...