Endocrine Abstracts

Context: Initial studies reported that RET rearrangements, RAS mutations and BRAF mutation are mutually exclusive genetic events in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Subsequently, simultaneous occurrence of BRAF mutation and RET/PTC or H4-PTEN has been described in few PTC cases, indicating that these genetic alterations might coexist in PTC in the same cell or in different cells, at least sporadically. In light of the recent finding that frequently BRAF mutation is present o...

Context: Although unexplained conflicting results are present in the literature, most of studies report the association of BRAFV600E in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with a more advanced disease and with a worst prognosis. We recently demonstrated that in most of the cases PTC consists of a mixture of tumour cells with wild-type and mutant BRAF. Hence, we examined the association of percentage of BRAFV600E alleles with clinicopathologic parameters at diagnosis and disease ...

Objective: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a multifaceted disease characterized by metabolic and reproductive disorders associated with hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance. Berberine (BBR) is an isoquinoline derivative alkaloid extracted from chinese medicinal herbs that has been used as an insulin sensitizer.BBR could represent a potential therapeutic tool for PCOS.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of BBR on the clinical, metabol...

Objective: The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that the risk of persistent glucose impairment after gestational diabetes (GDM) is increased in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).Research design and methods: The prospective case–control study included 42 pregnant patients with PCOS and GDM and 84 pregnant control patients with GDM but without clinical and biochemical hyperandrogenism, polycystic ovaries and oligo-anovu...