Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Acromegaly secondary to an extrapituitary source of GH or GHRH is rare, usually associated with bronchial/thymic carcinoids, neuroendocrine enteropancreatic tumors or extrasellar somatotropinomas. Few series of acromegalic patients with negative pituitary imaging and lack of an ectopic source are reported in the literature.Methods: We report the clinical history and the laboratory and imaging results of an acromegalic woman with no clear ev...

Introduction and objectives: Anxiety has a relevant impact on everyday life, including sexual life, and therefore is considered the final common pathway by which social, psychological and biological stressors negatively affect sexual functioning. The aim of this study is to define the psycho-biological correlates of free-floating anxiety in a large sample of patients complaining erectile dysfunction (ED) based sexual problems.Methods: We studied a consec...

Introduction: Since Addison disease is relatively rare and difficult to recognize in childhood delayed diagnosis is common. Patients with adrenal insufficiency generally show hypotension, hypoglycaemia, hyponatriemia, but can also manifest mild symptoms like chronic fatigue, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, recurring abdominal pain and psychiatric symptoms. In this regard mild disturbances in mood, motivation and behavior represent the main clinical features showing a prevalence...

Introduction: Although overall accuracy of fine needle aspiration (FNA) in identifying thyroid cancer is considered excellent, 20–30% of aspirates do not allow definitive diagnosis of malignancy. Proto-oncogene somatic mutations such as BRAFV600E in FNA strongly suggest the presence of malignancy. However, only few studies reported the use of circulating BRAFV600E-mutated alleles in plasma as an useful marker for non invasive diagnosis and follow up of this disease.<p...

Introduction and objectives: Aim of this study is to evaluate the psycho-biological correlates of DM associated hypogonadism (DMAH).Methods: The Structured Interview SIEDY was employed along with several biochemical, psychological and instrumental investigations. We defined hypogonadal subjects (HY) those with a circulating total testosterone (T) below 10.4 nM.Results: We studied 1246 patients. More than 15% resulted affected by ty...

Introduction and objectives: Achieving and maintaining a penile erection are two essential components of the male sexual response. It has recently been suggested that distinct molecular mechanism could underlie the two disturbances. The aim of the present study is to verify possible clinical differences on pathogenetic factors underlying difficulties of achieving and maintaining an erection.Methods: We studied a consecutive series of 560 pa...

Introduction and objectives: Pathogenesis of delayed ejaculation (DE) is rather unknown, although the contribution of various psychological, marital, hormonal and neurological factors has been advocated.Methods: In this study we systematically investigated the relative relevance of the aforementioned factors in a large sample (1632) of men, seeking medical help for sexual dysfunction. Delayed ejaculation was defined according to Kaplan criteria. In parti...

Introduction: Ectopic ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome (ACS) may present with different clinical pictures and it may represent a diagnostic challenge.Methods: We describe the clinical presentation and the laboratory, imaging and pathologic findings of three patients with ectopic ACS.Results: Case 1. A 31-year-old man with a 1-year history of spontaneous rib and vertebral fractures was admitted to our hospital for ACS evaluati...

Introduction and objectives: Warning labels in cigarette packages often links smoking to a severe impairment in sexual health. To evaluate if this is the case, we studied the psychobiological correlates of smoking behavior in 1150 male patients, seeking medical care for erectile problems.Methods: All the patients have been interview using SIEDY, which explores organic, relational and intra-psychic components of erectile dysfunction (ED), and completed a ...

Introduction: LADA is a heterogeneous population of diabetes subjects wherein subgroups can be identified based on their autoimmune status: the titre of autoantibodies to GAD.The aim of the study was to correlate, in LADA subjects, GADA titre, with the presence of other organ and non organ specific autoantibodies.Methods: LADA subjects (n=191) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) subjects (n=382) were selected from the Non Insu...