Endocrine Abstracts

Body surfaces, like the skin or the gut lumen, are protected from the outer world by a layer of epithelial cells. Almost all epithelial sensory cells communicate stimuli from the outer world to neurons via direct neurotransmission, but in the gut, the epithelial sensory cells, the enteroendocrine cell, is thought to communicate indirectly via the release of hormones.However, enteroendocrine cells have striking features of epithelial cell transducers: the...

The discovery of the new properties of somatostatin (SSTRs) and dopamine (DRs) receptors has led to a renewed interest in agents targeting these receptors, and has opened new perspectives for medical treatment of patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Indeed, patients unresponsive or resistant to the ‘classical’, currently available somatostatin analogs may benefit from these insights. Moreover, SSRs and DRs crosstalk at membrane level may trigger alternative in...

A 58 year-old Polish lady was admitted to hospital after having had two tonic-clonic seizures. She reported a previous history of seizures but had been seizure-free for 10 years. In addition, she reported a 20 year history of hand spasms and perioral paraesthesia. As part of the investigation for seizures while she was living in Poland 10 years ago, CT head had shown bilateral basal ganglia calcification and on this basis she had been diagnosed with Fahr...

A 58 year-old Polish lady was admitted to hospital after having had two tonic-clonic seizures. She reported a previous history of seizures but had been seizure-free for 10 years. In addition, she reported a 20 year history of hand spasms and perioral paraesthesia. As part of the investigation for seizures while she was living in Poland 10 years ago, CT head had shown bilateral basal ganglia calcification and on this basis she had been diagnosed with Fahr...

Adult growth hormone deficiency (aGHD) is characterized by an altered metabolic profile and increased cardiovascular risk. Neudesin is a newly discovered protein mainly secreted from adipose tissue and brain, under evaluation for its possible activity as negative regulator of energy expenditure. Liver expressed antimicrobial peptide (LEAP)-2 is a competitive antagonist of ghrelin on its receptor. Spexin is a polypeptide related to the galanin-kisspeptin family, secreted along ...

Lipodystrophic syndromes are a heterogeneous group of usually rare disorders, which have in common the selective and irreversible deficiency of adipose tissue in the absence of nutritional deprivation or catabolic state. Clinically, they are characterized by insulin resistance, related to a state of hypoleptinemia, with manifestations such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, severe hypertriglyceridemia, and steatohepatitis among their most frequent metabo...

Our objective was to estimate the distribution of Spanish diabetic patients attending to individualized glycaemic targets recommended by the ADA/EASD consensus with and without considering hypoglycaemia risk. We conducted a cross-sectional study in a Spanish primary care setting between 2011 and 2012. A total of 5382 type 2 diabetic subjects under antihyperglycaemic treatment for at least 3 months prior to inclusion completed a study visit in which clinical data including age,...

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) play an important role in the pathogenesis of several neoplasias and the IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) may have a role as autocrine/paracrine factors in regulating the local actions of the IGFs. In the present study we investigated IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-1, IGFBP-2, and IGFBP-3 production in cultured media from three human lung cancer cell lines (Calu-3, Calu-6, A549) and in human neoplastic and normal lung tissue samples obtained at surgery fr...

BackgroundIn Liguria, a region of north-western Italy, the Albanian population is currently estimated to be around 20 000, constituting 15% of foreign citizens living in this area; approximately 50% of these Albanians reside in the Genoa district.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all the outpatients of the Endocrine Unit of San Martino Polyclinic Hospital from 2002 to 2019. Data on sub...

Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is a glycoprotein synthetized by various cell types, including neutrophils, that acts as siderophores scavenger and play an important role in different chronic inflammatory processes. Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (AGHD), both partial and total, are characterized by inflammatory features. The objectives of our cross-sectional study were: 1) to compare LCN2 levels in these clinical pictures; 2) to evaluate the relations between...