Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: HMβ is a metabolite of leucine commonly used by athletes and in medical practice in order to increase muscle mass and/or minimize protein degradation. We have previously shown that chronic intake of HMβ increases GH synthesis and secretion in rats, which might account to its anabolic effect. However HMβ-treated rats, although normoglycemic, exhibited hyperinsulinemia, suggesting an apparent insulin resistance (IR) state. The present study attempted to inves...

Introduction: Over the last five years testosterone therapy in men became more safe, efficient and ‘patient-friendly’ with the introduction of new testosterone preparations. Testosterone gels are in widespread use, but they are associated with the risk of interpersonal transfer and need daily application. Recently, injectable testosterone undecanoate (TU, Nebido®) has become available in Europe.Long term data of aging males with...

Introduction: Pregnancy is a stress test on maternal thyroid and pregnant women may be more susceptible to thyroid dysfunction. Consequences of this may be harmful for the mother and fetus. Smoking has been associated with alterations in thyroid hormone concentrations, but little knowledge exists on this association in pregnant women.Subjects and methods: The study population is large, prospective population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n...

Introduction: Foetus is dependent on maternal thyroid hormone production during the first trimester. Thus, maternal thyroid dysfunction and thyroid antibodies may affect thyroid function of the offspring.Subjects and methods: We studied a subcohort (n=2000 mother–child-pairs) from a prospective population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (singleton births, total n=9247) covering data throughout pregnancy, childhood and adolesce...

Introduction: Intramuscular Testosterone Undecanoate (TU, Nebido®) has become available in November 2004 in Europe for the treatment of male hypogonadism. Continuous physiological hormone replacement is necessary for transgender patients, both prior to the gender adjustment operation and for the remainder of the individual’s lifetime. The administration of long-acting TU therefore stood to reason as part of cross-gender testosterone therapy for female-to-m...

Disorders of male reproductive health, including testicular cancer, cryptorchidism, hypospadias and low sperm counts, are common and may be increasing in incidence. These conditions manifest at different life stages (low sperm counts and testicular cancer in adulthood; cryptorchidism and hypospadias at birth) but are proposed to originate in fetal life. These disorders have therefore been hypothesized to comprise a ‘testicular dysgenesis syndrome’ (TDS), which result...

3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3beta-HSD) expression is essential for the synthesis of all classes of steroid hormones, converting delta5-3beta-hydroxysteroids into hormonally active delta4-3-ketosteroids in NAD+-dependent reactions. A variety of 3beta-HSD isoforms have been described in primate, rodent and other mammals, often exhibiting distinct kinetic properties, preferential subcellular localization, as well as alternative substrate s...

Acute hyponatraemia is a medical emergency with high mortality. Recent expert guidelines advocate treatment with intravenous boluses of 3% saline with the aim to reduce cerebral oedema more rapidly than traditional slow intravenous infusion, but there is a poor evidence base for this policy change. We retrospectively audited treatment of symptomatic hyponatraemia due to SIAD (n=57, age 22–76 year), comparing low dose (20 ml/h) and bolus infusion of 3% saline. Bol...

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is characterized by insulin resistance accompanied byreduced beta-cell compensation to increased insulin demand, typically observed in the secondand third trimester and associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. There is a need for abiomarker that can accurately diagnose GDM, predict onset and accurately monitor status, reducing foetal-maternal morbidity and mortality risks. To this end, circulating microRNAs(miRNAs) present themselves as p...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders affecting reproductive women. Treatments with Chinese herbal mixtures (HM) and electro-acupuncture (EA) have been proven efficient in clinic. This study evaluated the peripheral and central effects of HM and EA in dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-induced PCOS rats. The female Wistar rats were divided into control (C), control with placebo (CP), DHT-induced PCOS model (PCOS), PCOS model exposed to herbal mi...