Endocrine Abstracts

BackgroundAdrenal crisis (AC) is a life threatening medical situation caused by an absolute or relative cortisol deficiency. A biological predisposition may be of importance, because some patients never experience an AC, whereas others are admitted repeatedly to the hospital for an AC. Differences in cortisol pharmacokinetics (PK) and/or pharmacodynamics (PD) may underlie this vulnerability.ObjectiveTo study ...

Background: Nutrition is essential in achieving maximal treatment success after bariatric surgery, and is simultaneously beneficial for avoiding long-term complications. Dietary protein could have an important role, because of its positive effects on preservation of muscle mass and induction of satiety in non-bariatric subjects. Therefore, we investigated the effects of dietary protein, assessed by amino acid composition, on satiety, hunger and gastrointestinal hormones after ...

Context: In untreated acromegalic patients, decreased cognitive functioning is reported to be associated with the degree of GH and IGF1 excess. Whether previous GH excess or current medical treatment for acromegaly specifically affects cognition remains unclear.Objective: To compare cognitive functioning in patients who are treated for acromegaly and non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFA). In addition, we assessed the influence of prolonged medical tre...

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is associated with maladaptive and prolonged neurohormonal and pro-inflammatory cytokine activation causing a metabolic shift favouring catabolism, vasodilator incapacity, and loss of skeletal muscle bulk and function. In men, androgens are important determinants of anabolic function and physical strength and also possess anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory properties. We conducted a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial of testosterone ...

Objectives: Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) almost universally complain of exercise intolerance due, in part, to alterations of skeletal muscle. In men, testosterone is an important determinant of muscle bulk and strength. Relative androgen deficiency in men with CHF could contribute to exercise intolerance. We studied the relationship between plasma levels of testosterone and measures of skeletal muscle bulk and strength and exercise capacity in men with CHF.<p ...

Background: Early diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure (BP) and high cholesterol is important to reduce cardiovascular mortality risk.Methods: We assessed actual BP and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in 88,029 participants (36,122 men), aged 18-80 yrs, without diabetes, from the Dutch Lifelines Cohort study. Participants were categorized according to degree of obesity (normal weight, overweight, obese) and age decade group. BP measurement was r...

Aim: We assessed in both men and women within different BMI- and age classes the prevalence of MetS and its individual components, since these specific estimates obtained simultaneously in a large western European population are lacking. Secondly, we measured as well how age-specific blood pressure (BP) cut-offs affect the prevalence of elevated BP and MetS.Methods: Data of 74 531 western European participants, aged 18–79 years, were obtained from t...

Context: Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is the primary treatment of choice in acromegaly. It is important to identify patients in whom surgical cure is not attainable at an early stage, both to inform patients on expected treatment outcome and to select those who are more likely to need additional therapy.Objective: To identify predictors for remission and relapse after TSS in acromegaly.Design: Retrospective study in three large te...

Background: The clustering of metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors is known as the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Lifestyle factors like smoking may contribute to the differences in prevalence of the MetS. The aim of this study was to examine the association between smoking and the MetS and its components in different BMI classes.Methods: The present cross-sectional evaluation comprised 24 762 men and 35 558 women, participating in the LifeLines Cohort ...

Background: Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is the primary treatment of choice in acromegaly. Previous research succeeded to some extent in predicting remission after TSS. However, it was based mainly on clinical and radiological data, lacking histopathological evaluation.Objective: To produce a clinicopathological prediction model for remission after TSS for acromegaly, enabling clinicians to better inform patients on expected treatment outcome.<p cla...