Endocrine Abstracts

Type II diabetes is a clinical disorder of glucose and fat metabolism, caused by an inability of insulin to promote sufficient glucose uptake into adipose tissue and striated muscle and to prevent glucose output from the liver. Skeletal muscle is an important element for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis because it can increase, after stimulation, glucose uptake from the blood. In previous experiments we found that acylated ghrelin (AG), unacylated ghrelin (UAG), obestati...

Somatostatin (SST) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) are hypothalamic hormones that, respectively, inhibit and stimulate pituitary GH secretion. In addition, in peripheral tissues somatostatin and its analogues inhibit, whereas GHRH stimulates, both normal and cancer cell growth and survival. Furthermore, both somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR-2) and GHRH expression have been shown in normal human endometrium. Endometriosis is a common estrogen-dependent disorder defined...

Background: Human fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a new liver hormone that stimulate adipocyte glucose uptake and is involved in regulation of body fat.Objective: To define the natural history of FGF21 in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients and analyze its relationship with glucose metabolism, peritoneal function, and residual renal function (RRF).Methods: We studied 48 uremic patients undergoing PD. Patients were evaluated at...

Background: Alterations in thyroid function tests results in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) might represent a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality.Objective: To investigate the relationship of serum TSH, free thyroxine (FT4), and triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations with incident CVD and mortality in PD patients.Methods: Prospective study including all patients attending our PD unit...