Endocrine Abstracts

Ezio Ghigo, Italy AbstractThis prestigious prize is intended for established workers in the field of basic and clinical neuroendocrinology and is generally supported by Ipsen. This year's recipient is Professor Ezio Ghigo. The prize will be presented as part of the ECE 2011 opening ceremony where Professor Ghigo will deliver his lecture. Professor Ghigo will also deliver two other lectures at future ESE...

Introduction: According to the DSM-5, gender dysphoria (GD) is defined as a distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. This condition may require gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), in order to reduce distress. GAHT, however, is not free from side effects and it could increase the risk of onset of new pathological conditions.Aim of the study: To evaluate cardiovascular comorbid...

Human malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare but aggressive neoplasm, arising from pleural mesothelial cells, generally due to asbestos exposure. Different growth factors are involved in the pathogenesis of MPM and in resistance to therapy; moreover, chemotherapy with cisplatin and antifolates, like pemetrexed (PEM), is the first-line treatment for inoperable MPM. Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), apart from stimulating GH secretion in the pituitary, exerts many...

Introduction: Thyroid nodules are discovered by ultrasound (US) in a large percentage of population. In most cases they are benign and asymptomatic. When to perform or not a fine-needle-aspiration (FNA) is still matter of debate. Aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of a easy-to-use US classification, based on three US classes.Methods: We prospectively evaluated US features of 1118 thyroid nodules, allocating each nodule in one of three class...

White adipose tissue (WAT) stores excess energy as triglycerides, while brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy through heat, acting as a defense against cold and obesity and as a positive regulator of metabolic functions. The thermogenic function of BAT is mainly regulated by the mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in brown adipocytes. Moreover, it has been shown that chronic exposure to glucocorticoids (GC) or synthetic GC receptor (GR) agonists inhibits the activ...

Neurogenesis, a process by which new neurons are generated from precursors, still persists in discrete regions of the adult hippocampus. Impairment in neurogenesis is an important feature in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, such asAlzheimer’s disease (AD). The hippocampus is critical for learning and memory and is a main target of AD, which causes massive neuronal death, reduction in neurogenesis and impairment in cognitive functions. Therefore, preventing...

Glucocorticoids (GC) act at different target tissues by binding two different intracellular receptors, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the mineralcorticoid receptor (MR), but the their effects vary considerably between subjects, due to a different sensitivity, which is at least partially, genetically determined. GCs are so named based on their actions on carbohydrate metabolism, namely on insulin-dependent processes. In particular, the effect of GC includes increased hepa...

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...

GH deficiency (GHD) in adults leads to impairment in body composition and function, as well as to deranged lipoprotein and carbohydrate metabolism implying increased cardiovascular morbidity. The morphologic and metabolic alterations in GHD syndrome are more marked in patients with the most severe GHD, even when evaluated by maximal provocative test such as GHRH + arginine. IGF1 synthesis and secretion are function of the GH status but also of major metabolic factors such as i...

Context: Glucocorticoids are known to decrease protein synthesis and impair membrane excitability of muscle fibres. However, their short-term effects on muscle structure and function of healthy subjects remain poorly understood.Objective: To investigate whether steroid administration could decrease the circulating levels of muscle proteins and modify myoelectric indexes of sarcolemmal excitability and fatigability.Design: Single-bl...