Endocrine Abstracts

Despite the common clinical opinion that thyrotoxicosis is associated with quantitative and qualitative sleep alterations, at present, an objective evaluation of sleep quality and quantity in this clinical condition has never been performed so far. Based on this foregoing, in order to perform a qualitative and quantitative description of sleep in this clinical condition, we enrolled 6 normal-weighted patients suffering from naïve overt hyperthyroidism due to Basedow Disea...

Introduction: The onset and progression of liver damage in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is tightly associated with metabolic derangements. Steroids may affect lipid metabolism but their alterations in the setting of NAFLD remain to be fully explored.Patients and Methods: We analyzed data from 267 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD and 112 controls (CT). A panel of 26 steroids (including glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, androgens, and prog...

The acylated form of ghrelin (GRLN) was discovered as the natural ligand of the GHS-R1a. GRLN is acylated by a specific octanoyl-transferase (GOAT) and is predominantly produced by the stomach, although expressed by many other endocrine and non-endocrine, peripheral and central tissues. Also GHS-R1is widely expressed by several central and peripheral tissues. Acylated GRLN displays strong GH-releasing activity but is not specific for GH exhibiting other neuroendocrine actions ...

Ghrelin is a peptide predominantly produced by the stomach although expressed by many other tissues. Its secretion undergoes fluctuations, is stimulated by fasting and energy restriction, reduced by food intake, glucose, insulin and somatostatin. Ghrelin secretion is negatively associated to body mass. Ghrelin was discovered as natural ligand of the GHS1a receptor specific for synthetic GH Secretagogues (GHS); however, ghrelin is much more than a natural GHS. GHS-R1a expressio...

Ezio Ghigo, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Turin, Molinette Hospital, C.so Dogliotti 14, 10126 Torino, Italy AbstractEzio Ghigo graduated in Medicine from the University of Turin in 1979 and received his postgraduate qualification in Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1982. He became a Full Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1999 and has been Chairman of ...

Radiation-induced growth hormone neurosecretory dysfunction (GHNSD) is, primarily, the result of radiation-induced hypothalamic damage. Consequently, reduced hypothalamic growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) secretion results in secondary somatotroph atrophy and attenuated peak GH responses to a bolus of exogenous GHRH. For the first time we have studied the presence of GHNSD and/or somatotroph atrophy in cranially irradiated adult survivors of childhood cancer. We have uti...

Turner’s syndrome (TS) is one of the more common genetic disorder, occurring in about 50 per 100.000 live-born girls. TS is caused by complete or partial X chromosome monosomy in a phenotypic female, and it is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular diseases, impaired glucose tolerance and dyslipidemia. In order to examine the metabolic and cardiovascular profile, in 30 adult TS patients under hormonal replacement therapy (HRT), 17β-estra...

Endothelial dysfunction is thought to be a major cause of vascular complications in diabetes. Our research shows that obestatin, a 23-aminoacid amidated peptide recently identified as a product of the ghrelin gene, inhibited high glucose-induced apoptosis in cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC). Exposure to high glucose concentration (30 mM) for 72 h caused a significant increase in apoptosis, as evaluated by Hoechst staining, but co-treatment of rat obestatin (from...

Subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) is a status of altered hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis secretion in the absence of the classical signs or symptoms of overt cortisol excess. Among the various tests used for the diagnosis of SCS, the 1-mg dexamethasone test (DST) is the most used. Alprazolam (ALP), a benzodiazepine activating GABAergic receptors, possesses clear centrally-mediated inhibitory effects on ACTH and cortisol secretion in normal subjects, while it d...

Background: Data on the prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA) in subjects with resistant hypertension (inadequate pressure control with three full-dose drugs, including a diuretic) are scanty and it is not known if PA is associated with a more severe vascular damage.Aim: To determine the prevalence of PA in patients with resistant hypertension and define the possible association with early cardiovascular damage.Methods: Seventy ...