Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Obesity is a major public health issue frequently associated with increased complication rates after elective general surgery. Previous reports on complications after thyroid surgery in obese patients were performed on selected cohorts. In this study, we sought to explore the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and postoperative morbidity after thyroid surgery in a large cohort of consecutive patients.Materials and Methods: A single-ce...

Background: Ultrasound guided minimally invasive therapies are becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of symptomatic benign thyroid nodules. Efforts have been directed on the prediction of volume reduction as a measure of efficacy of the procedure. Aim of the present study is to identify predictors of 6-months volume reduction rate (VRR) after radiofrequency ablation of benign thyroid nodules.Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective s...

Epi/genetic defects at the imprinted GNAS locus, that encodes the α subunit of the stimulatory G protein (Gsα), have been associated with a heterogeneous group of rare diseases, termed as Pseudohypoparathyroidism. Most GNAS-based disorders have the common feature of episodic de novo formation of heterotopic ossifications (HO) in subcutaneous tissues. The mosaic tissue distribution of HO suggests that pathogenesis involves an abnormal differentiation of precu...

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a class of rare and heterogeneous neoplasms derived from the neuroendocrine system. Animal models are indispensable tools for investigating the pathogenesis, mechanisms for tumour invasion and metastasis and new therapeutic approaches for cancer. Unfortunately, only few models are available for NETs, probably due to the rarity and heterogeneity of this group of neoplasms. The tropical teleost zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a popular vertebrate mode...

A variety of endocrine and metabolic signals regulate pituitary cell function acting through the hypothalamus-pituitary neuroendocrine axes or directly at the pituitary level. The underlying intracellular transduction mechanisms in pituitary cells are still debated. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) functions as a cellular sensor of low energy stores in all mammalian cells and promotes adaptive changes in response to calorie restriction. It is also regarded as a target for t...

Introduction: Obesity is a cause of erectile dysfunction (ED) whereas its relationship with male infertility is more conflicting. The term metabolically healthy obesity (HO) has been used to describe an obese phenotype that does not have the burden of any metabolic disorder. The aim of the present study is to analyse the contribution of HO in the pathogenesis of ED and male infertility and to verify the value of HO in predicting major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).<...

Acquired lipodystrophies (AL) are syndromes characterized by an irreversible loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue and are conventionally distinct in partial (Barraquer-Simons) or generalized forms (Lawrence Syndrome) based on the pattern of adipose tissue disappearance. Alike to congenital forms, AL exhibit metabolic abnormalities that include insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, hypertliglycerdidemia, reduced leptin levels, hepatomegaly and steatosis. While in most cases of ...

We investigated the direct effects of the somatostatin analog octreotide on hallmarks of autophagy and of cell viability and metabolic activity in rat pituitary tumor cells (GH1 and GH3 cells). The Western blot analysis of cell lysates suggested that octreotide (100 nM) treatment could induce changes in hallmarks related to autophagy activation (increased LC3-I protein lipidation) and to enhanced autophagic flux (SQSTM1/p62 protein downregulation) in pituitary tumor cells in d...

Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) tend to be slow growing (although aggressive forms exist) and are often diagnosed when they have already metastasised.Treatment of NETs is typically multidisciplinary and should be individualised according to the tumour type, burden, and symptoms. Therapeutic tools in NETs include surgery, interventional radiology and medical treatments such as somatostatin analogues, interferon, chemotherapy, new targeted drugs and peptide ...

Hereditable forms account for 30–40% of pheochromocytomas (pheo). The role of germ-line mutation of VHL, RET, SDHB, SDHD gene has been largely elucidated. However, genotyping a group of 172 sporadic or familial pheo, we have characterize five unrelated probands with familial pheo without any sequence variants of RET (7 exons), or of the entire coding sequence of VHL, SDHB, SDHC or SDHD.The proband #1 had a bilateral pheo when 32 and a local recurren...