Endocrine Abstracts

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is key in energy homeostasis. Catecholamines are critically involved in the regulation of BAT-thermogenesis, yet current research has focussed on noradrenaline and adrenaline. Some evidence suggests a role of dopamine (DA) in BAT-thermogenesis but the intracellular mechanisms have not been addressed. We applied our extensively characterised murine brown adipocyte cell line to address these questions.D1-like and D2-like receptor...

Background: Hydrocortisone replacement for primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is targeted to mimic circadian endogenous cortisol secretion. Nevertheless, patients on stable treatment report impairments in quality of life. The brain is a major target area for cortisol considering it high density of glucocorticoid receptors and previous studies in patients treated for Cushing’s disease (CD) suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation is related to cognit...

Background: Several studies showed that there is a relationship between vitamin and mineral status and muscle strength. In particular this is the case for handgrip strength (HS) and vitamin D deficiency. In bariatric surgery there is a risk of decrease in muscle strength after surgery and also vitamin and mineral deficiencies are not uncommon. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of low vitamin 25 (OH) cholecalciferol levels, high dose cholecalciferol supplementation ...

Introduction: Male obesity is associated with an increase in estradiol (E2) and a decrease in testosterone (T). And, although sex steroids are associated with cardiovascular disease, direct effects on cardiac structure and function are hardly investigated in humans.Methodology: Twenty healthy men aged 20–40 years were randomized into two groups. One group was given an aromatase inhibitor (letrozole) only, thus obtaining a high testosteron...

Objective: Sexual orientation in males and females is considered to be determined in early life and to be virtually unchangeable in the course of adulthood. In contrast some transsexuals report a change in their sexual orientation most overt following sex reassignment procedures. The reason for this phenomenon is unknown.Methods: We asked 106 transsexual (66 MtF and 40 FtM) patients from our endocrine outpatient clinic to complete a questionnaire, retros...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is clinically associated with increased risk of CVD. Thrombin generation (TG) is a measure of the thrombotic potential. This can be expressed as endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) representing the total amount of generated active thrombin over the time (nmol/l×min). ETP is considered the most predictive parameter of thrombosis and is associated to both venous and arterial thrombotic disease. Setting: PCOS women prospectively r...

Introduction: Available clinical literature raises the possibility that stress-responsive mechanisms differ by gender, especially in older individuals; however the accompanying evidence is both limited and discrepant. We hypothesize that gender determines the degree of ACTH inhibition by and recovery after an experimental cortisol clamp in older subjects.Subjects and design: We conducted a prospectively randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross...

Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) can occur after treatment for acromegaly. It is unclear whether treatment with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) in these patients is beneficial. Patients were randomized to either 1 year of rhGH replacement (n=10) or placebo followed by rhGH replacement for 1 year (delayed rhGH treatment, n=6). Sixteen patients (8 men, mean age 56 years) with GHD after treatment for acromegaly were studied. Study parameters were assessed at ...

Objectives: Graves’ disease (GD) is characterized by variable disease severity at diagnosis and variable disease activity during follow-up. Antithyroid drugs (ATD) such as carbimazole (CMZ), methimazole or propylthiouracil are the first-line treatment. Current guidelines recommend a range of ATD starting dose according to GD severity, followed by dose titration until euthyroidism is reached and a maintenance dose for a specific patient is established. As thyroid hormones ...

Objective: To identify factors influencing the development of osteoarthritis during long-term control of acromegaly, focusing on disease specific parameters, growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations and duration of disease, adjusted for the well-known determinants of primary osteoarthritis.Design: Follow-up study.Methods: We studied 67 patients, with adequate biochemical control of acromegaly for ...