Endocrine Abstracts

BackgroundIodine is an essential nutrient necessary for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Humans need a daily intake of 90–250 µg per day. The WHO criteria on the adequate iodine intake in the general population is: median iodine 100–199 µg/l, levels <100 µg/l in <50% of the population; <50 µg/l in <20% of the population and iodized salt consumption in >90% of households.Objectives...

Objective: To study the association between the state of iodine nutrition, and the risk of total and cause mortality in a representative sample of the Spanish adult population.Design: Longitudinal observational study to estimate mortality risk according to urinary iodine (UI) concentrations using a sample of 4370 subjects >18 years representative of the Spanish adult population participating in the national study [email protected] (2008–2010). We used ...

Gliomas are derived from glial-cells and are the most common primary brain tumor, characterized by rapid growth and invasion. Astrocytomas are a subset of malignant gliomas which are classified, based on their agresiveness features, in low grades (I and II) to high grades (HGAs; III and IV), being grade-IV (glioblastoma multiforme; GBM) the most malignant and aggressive type. Current standard treatment for GBMs consists on surgery followed by radiotherapy/chemotherapy; however...

Introduction: The metabolic risk associated with air pollution could vary according to the specific pollution levels of each area, as well as factors related to lifestyle (diet, activity physical, socioeconomic status, tobacco), other exposures, comorbidities etc.. and has been insufficiently evaluated in our country.Objective: To study the association between long term exposure to air pollution (measured as PM concentrations) and the incidence of hypert...

Metformin has recently emerged as a potential therapeutic tool for different tumour pathologies, including prostate cancer (PCa)1, one of the leading causes of cancer-deaths in men worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the antitumor effects of metformin in PCa are not fully elucidated. In this context, previous reports have suggested a relationship between metformin and the process of alternative splicing in some cell-types. Nevertheless, the poten...

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are mostly benign lesions originating from the anterior pituitary and represent 10–15% of all the intracranial neoplasms. PitNETscan be classified in non-secretory, clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs), and secretory, comprising prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and adrenocoticotropic hormone (ACTH) PitNETs. Surgical resectionis the first line treatment for PitNETs, whereas chemotherapy and radiotherapy are pr...

Introduction: Non-functioningpituitary adenomas (NFPAs) are of benign nature but a sizeable number of NFPAs show aggressive features. Surgery is not always effective in treating NFPAs and thus other therapeutic options are needed. Previous studies have reported that NFPAs express somastostatin receptors (SSTRs) and dopamine receptors (DRDs).Aim: To systematically analyze the expression of SSTRs and DRDs in a large cohort of clinically well-characterized ...

omatostatin, originally isolated from ovine hypothalami in 1973, and cortistatin, identified a decade ago in amphibians and then in human and rodents, are two highly related peptides thought to derive from a common ancestor gene. Owing to their high structural homology, both peptides bind with similar affinity to the five so-called somatostatin receptors (sst1-sst5), and exert virtually undistinguishable effects on several physiological targets, including inhibition of endocri...

It is widely accepted that, in addition to serving as a repository for energy reserves, adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ that secretes a variety of signalling molecules, the adipokines, which play important roles in the regulation of metabolism, energy balance, feeding behaviour, vascular homeostasis and immunity. In particular, leptin, resistin and adiponectin have been implicated in energy and glucose homeostasis. Additional neuroendocrine functions have also been...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among men population worldwide. This tumour pathology is commonly diagnosed through the determination of serum PSA levels. However, the diagnostic capability of PSA dramatically drops when considering patients with PSA levels lower than 10 ng/ml, the so-called “grey-zone”1. Therefore, additional non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers are urgently needed to substitute/complement PSA. In this se...