Endocrine Abstracts

Background, aims: Acromegaly is caused by excessive growth hormone (GH) secretion, usually by a pituitary adenoma. Surgical removal of the GH-producing adenoma is the most effective treatment. Drug treatment is second-line option. Earlier work suggested Soluble (s)Klotho levels to be a supplementary biomarker to IGF-1. We tested whether IGF-1 and sKlotho serum levels show a concomitant reduction under medical treatment. If yes, is the extent of reduction in serum IGF-1 and sKl...

Objective: The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the bone status in patients receiving oncological treatment, like radiation, chemotherapy, adjunctive therapies, and surgery.Material and methods: Medical records of 102 womens (mean age 59.12 yrs) with breast cancer history reffered for endocrine evaluation were retrospectivelly analysed. Demographic data, bone densitometry parameters, prevalent fractures and antineoplastic treatments history...

Feral cat numbers in the UK are thought to number around one million and the Dogs Trust estimates it dealt with just over 110 000 stray and abandoned dogs in 2013. This scenario is common across the world and in the developing world in particular the control of feral populations is an ongoing challenge as well as a huge welfare issue. The only options currently available are expensive surgical neutering, or euthanasia of otherwise healthy animals. There is an urgent need to de...

Context: Primary aldosteronism (PA) represents the most frequent cause of a curable secondary arterial hypertension. Conflicting data have been published regarding the effect of aldosterone excess on glucose and lipid metabolism.Objective: Our aim was to analyze insulin sensitivity and beta cell function in a cohort of PA patients. Prospective follow-up investigations were performed in a subgroup of patients before and after adrenalectomy to assess the m...

Mass spectrometry based clinical metabolomics needs standardization of analytical assays to improve future inter-laboratory comparability and to become a successful new and established technology in clinical routine laboratories such as mass spectrometry based therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) over the past 10 years. Steroid hormones are one of the most interesting endogenous metabolite class in clinical metabolomics today. Standardized determination of concentrations of stero...

Background: Resistin was originally proposed in animal models as a link between obesity and insulin resistance, but later studies in humans have shown a divergent role. Yet, resistin seems to be involved in the development of atherosclerosis in humans by promoting the formation of foam cells; further, its expression is induced by oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in human macrophages.Methods: We assessed the relationships between resistin and marke...

The endocrine active compound 4-methylbenzylidene-camphor (4-MBC) is frequently used as an UV absorber in sunscreens and various skin care products. Though 4-MBC is weakly estrogenic in the reproductive system of fishes and rodents it shows strong anti-osteoporotic effects. Furthermore, different studies show percutanous absorption of 4-MBC after dermal administration resulting in identical biotransformation in humans and rats. Female Sprague-Dawley rats received five concentr...

Background: Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is released upon osmotic stimulation or hypovolemia in order to maintain water balance. A recent study showed a role of AVP in haematopoiesis by stimulating red blood cell precursors, suggesting a higher risk of anaemia in patientis with AVP deficiency. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of low AVP levels in patients with central diabetes insipidus (cDI) and primary polydipsia (PP) on haemoglobin and the prevalence of anaemia...

Despite their nature of being clinically inapparent, subtle laboratory abnormalities are sometimes detected in patients with adrenal incidentalomas and the question arises whether these changes justify surgical intervention in a patient with an otherwise benign adrenal tumour. Therefore, we aimed at finding further expressions of adrenal hormone excess that reflect net glucocorticoid action.Since glucocorticoids are potent immune suppressants we studied ...

Imbalanced maternal nutrition during pregnancy can cause fetal growth retardation, metabolic changes and alterations of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) system in the offspring. Here, we investigated the effects of maternal low and high protein diets during pregnancy in pigs on materno-fetal HPA regulation and expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR), mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (11β-HSD1 and 11β-...