Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: We have proposed to study the modulation of the Notch pathway in diabetes having in mind the essential role played by the Notch system in the regulation of cell differentiation and angiogenesis.Methods: The effect of hyperglycemia on Notch system was studied in vitro and in vivo using western blot, reporter gene assay or evaluation of target genes (qRT-PCR). The functional consequences of the Notch system modulation were studied by the...

Introduction and objective: This study aims to report if hormone therapy modifies sleep architecture and dreams in menopausal women. Women with no hormone therapy for flushes usually present sleep deprivation and daily sleepiness as a result of nocturnal arousals. Estrogen and progesterone brain receptors can influence memory and cognition processes. Dreams modulators are cognition, socio-cultural factors, personality and brain physiology (REM/NREM percents, circadian influenc...

Background: Long-acting depot somatostatin analogues injections are useful drugs in the medical treatment of acromegaly. No previous study has assessed the value of acute octreotide suppression test in predicting responses to depot injections.Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of the acute octreotide suppression test (100 micrograms subcutaneously, GH measurements hourly for 8 hours) in predicting the long-term response to long...

Introduction: The pathogenesis of pituitary adenomas is incompletely understood. It was recently demonstrated that mutations in AIP, a novel tumor suppressor gene, are causing the familial isolated pituitary adenoma syndrome. Although initial data suggested that AIP mutations are rare in non-familial cases, a recent study demonstrated an increased prevalence in young sporadic macroadenoma patients.Aim: To perform a systematic screening of AIP mutations i...

Introduction: Monoclonality of pituitary adenomas is an established fact. Still, there are exceptions and polyclonality may correlate with aggressive tumor behavior. In order to test association of clonality with pituitary adenoma characteristics in a series from Romania, we implemented a protocol for X-chromosome inactivation analysis at the androgen receptor (AR) locus (HUMARA) and validated it in a number of tumor samples.Objective: To establish and v...

Diabetic wounds represent a medical and economical burden with a high need to develop more efficient therapies.Estrogens have a positive effect on cutaneous wound healing. Their decreased levels could count for impaired wound healing in elderly. The biological estrogen’s effects are mediated by two nuclear receptors subtypes (ERα and ERβ) and they were differently implied for the wound healing benefic processes. However, the estrogen effec...