Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Half of subjects following a low-calorie dietary program cannot tolerate its nutritional restrictions and abandon it. A realistic approach to overcome this obstacle is the addition of low glycaemic index (GI), low glycaemic load (GL) snacks in their nutrition. Stevia, a potent, low calorie natural sweetener exerts anti-hyperglycaemic and insulinotropic activities. Furthermore, Vitamin D deficiency may affect diabetes development in the long run.<p class="abst...

Objectives: Patients with thyroid dysfunction due to AITD have been found to have increased oxidative stress. Possible associations of oxidative stress with thyroid hormone (TH) and thyroid autoantibodies (ThAb) levels in euthyroid patients with autoimmune thyroiditis have not been adequately studied. We examined possible associations of oxidative stress markers with TH levels and with the presence of ThAb in euthyroid women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (with or without T...

Objectives: Glucocorticoids may affect cardiovascular risk. Polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor (GlucR) gene have been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. We investigated whether the common Bcl1 polymorphism of the GlucR gene (associated with increased sensitivity to glucocorticoids) may be associated with early markers of atherosclerosis.Methods: Two hundred and fourteen middle aged apparently healthy subjects (age &#8230...

A common polymorphism of the ERβ gene (AluI) located in 3′-UTR of exon 8 has been shown to be associated with clinical features of altered estrogen action in tissues where this gene is expressed. It has recently been shown that GnRH neurons express ERβ, indicating that this receptor may participate in the feedback regulation of gonadotrophin secretion. We therefore studied the association of gonadotrophin levels and the AluI polymorp...

Background: TSH levels within the normal range have been associated with increased blood pressure (BP). TSH itself might be involved, especially as extrathyroidal actions of TSH exist.We investigated whether elevated TSH levels after acute rhTSH administration may result in alterations in BP in euthyroid individuals.Methods: Twenty-six euthyroid female subjects thyroidectomised and on T4 suppressive dose, were evaluated ...

Introduction-aim: It has been suggested that estrogen may play an important role in the regulation of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in both sexes. Especially in men, estradiol administration has been shown to improve endothelial function; however such reports are conflicting. The aim of our study was to examine the relation of endogenous sex hormone levels with markers of early atherosclerosis in a cohort of apparently healthy individuals.Methods:...

Objective: Thyroid function tests (TFTs) have been associated with obesity; however associations with the type of adiposity have not been examined. Ultrasound (U/S) was used to assess regional adiposity in euthyroid individuals. Associations of thyroid function with obesity parameters and presence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) were investigated.Methods: Of 302 apparently healthy slightly overweight individuals (age 42.9±8.8, BMI 19.0–43.3, med...

Objective: Androgen may be detrimental for vascular health in women. Sensitivity to androgen is influenced by the CAG repeat length of the androgen receptor (AR) gene. We investigated possible associations between the CAG repeat polymorphism with the severity of CAD in women undergoing coronary angiography.Methods: We examined 131 postmenopausal women (45–88 years). CAD severity was assessed by the number of coronary vessels with >50% stenosis. ...

Introduction: Aim: it is known that environmental factors are involved in the development of goiter. A high number of goitrous patients was identified among patients attending the general medicine outpatients’ in a mountainous region in Albania. We examined possible associations of thyroid enlargement with nutritional factors.Methods: One hundred and twelve consecutive patients (mean age 52.8±12.1, 104 female) attending the outpatients of the G...

Objective: Androgen may be detrimental in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) in women. We investigated possible associations between the (TAAAA)n polymorphism of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) gene promoter, which influences transcriptional efficiency of the SHBG gene and the severity of CAD in women.Methods: One hundred and twenty women (37–82 yrs), undergoing coronary angiography. CAD severity, history of angina, myocardial infa...