Endocrine Abstracts

Decades of clinical experience and research in human and non-human primates demonstrate that maternal care received early in life strongly influences the development of parenting and other social skills as well as resiliency in the face of stress. Analogous intergenerational effects of maternal nurturing have recently been reported in rats. Adult stress responses (anxiety and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation) are inversely related to the amount of maternal lickin...

There is an association between high LDL-Ch levels and cardiovascular disease in T2DM patients. Clinical trials have shown that reduction of LDL-Ch with statins has a beneficial effect on macrovascular complications in patients with T2DM, but is this a relevant effect in clinical practice? LAF has a slower absorption, longer action time and less side effects than other statins.Objective: To assess in clinical practice, the effect of LAF on LDL-Ch and the...

Phyto-oestrogens are plant-derived compounds that have oestrogenic and/or anti-oestrogenic activity. They are constituents of many human foodstuffs but exposure is on the increase due to increasing availability of ‘herbal’ type medicines. The current study was initiated following the identification of large concentrations of lignan related phyto-oestrogen metabolites in the urine from a girl under investigation for precocious puberty.A GC-MS pr...

Thyroid dysfunction affects a considerable number of elderly subjects. However the role of screening and treatment of thyroid disorders in geriatric population is still debated. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and its impact on comorbidity and comedication.Two independent populations were evaluated: 2001 residents in 21 federated nursing homes in the province of Pavia (Northern Italy), age >60 y, and ...

C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is encoded by the Nppcgene and is abundant in the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gonadotrophs. Nppc deletion leads to skeletal deformity, dwarfism, early death and female infertility. To investigate regulation of Nppcexpression and action in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, we investigated transcriptional regulation of the Nppc promoter in alphaT3-1 gonadotroph cells by transient transfection of reporter...

MA is a marker of greatly increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in T2DM patients.Objective: To perform a prospective study of normoalbuminuric T2DM patients, analysing the association between CVRF at baseline and the development of MA at follow-up.Materials and methods: The prospective observational study was performed at Montes de Barbanza public health center, a specialized secondary referral center, which provides ser...

Although leptin is important in the control of appetite and energy expenditure in adulthood, its actions before birth are unclear. This study investigated the effects of leptin on hepatic carbohydrate metabolism and insulin signalling in fetal sheep. Twelve sheep fetuses were chronically-catheterised at 115–120 d of gestation (term 145±2 d), and infused intravenously with saline (0.9% NaCl; n=6) or recombinant ovine leptin (0.5–1.0 mg/kg/d; Protein Labora...

Glucocorticoids (Gcs) are important regulators of cellular homeostasis, with their effects mediated by the intracellular glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Once activated, the GR may initiate rapid effects within the cytoplasm, but also translocate to the nucleus to affect gene transcription. The subcellular localisation of the GR is therefore an important determinant in the cellular response to Gcs.To analyse subcellular trafficking of the GR, HeLa cells wer...

RET is a tyrosine-kinase receptor having a GPI-linked co-receptor or GFRα. Moreover, RET has four different ligands (GDNF, NTN, ART and PSP) with its respective co-receptor (GFRα-1,-2,-3 and 4). Pituitary cells are differentiated specialized secretory cells. Sommatotrophs are responsible for growth during infancy and puberty until achievement of the final adult height. Although genetic factors leading to somatotroph hypoplasia are well known, no much is known about t...

Approximately 50% of patients with severe AGHD (defined by the international consensus criteria, peak GH <3 ng/ml) have a normal age- and gender-related IGF-I. It remains unclear whether in these individuals IGF-I is GH-dependent.We performed a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, cross-over study on the effect of pegvisomant (20 mg daily for 14 days) on the relationship between GH and IGF-I in 3 age-, gender- and BMI-matched cohorts (Norms:...