Endocrine Abstracts

Hypopituitary patients on conventional hormone replacement, excluding GH have a reduced quality of life (QoL) and an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. NICE guidelines on criteria for initiation and maintenance of therapy rely on QoL score defined by the Adult GHD assessment (AGHDA) questionnaire. However, it is uncertain how this score is related to other biological effects such as vascular risk.Methods: Sixteen hypopituitary patients were recr...

A common NOS3 polymorphism (the gene which encodes endothelial nitric oxide synthase), a variable number of tandem repeats within Intron 4 has been associated with cardiovascular disorders in which nitric oxide bioactivity is impaired including myocardial infraction. Consistent characteristic changes in the pressure pulse wave shape have been associated with ageing, risk factors for cardiovascular disease and impaired NO bioactivity. Therefore pulse waveform analysis can be ut...

Transient insulin resistance (IR) is a recognized facet of metabolic phenotype in pubertal boys. However, it remains unknown how the Y chromosome and adolescence as a transition from pubertal period to adulthood affects markers of insulin resistance, particularly in relation to body mass index, blood pressure and androgens.We analyzed associations among indicators of insulin resistance, total adiposity, androgen profile and the Y chromosome in a sample of 1745 males divided in...

We hypothesised that SNPs within oxidative stress genes influence vascular compliance in patients with coronary artery disease.A SNP within the gene encoding the eNOS (NOS3) which encodes a Glu298→Asp amino acid substitution has been associated with cardiovascular disorders in which NO bioactivity is impaired. The gene coding for p22phox, a critical component of the NADH/NAD(P)H oxidase enzyme system, a major source of vascular SO, is CYB...

The regulation of aldosterone secretion is altered in essential hypertension: the phenotype of relative aldosterone excess is present in up to 15% of subjects. The gene encoding aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) offers an obvious candidate to account for this and a polymorphism in its 5′ untranslated region (UTR; −344C/T) is associated with increased frequency of hypertension and higher aldosterone levels. However, this variation is more closely associated with...