Endocrine Abstracts

Low bone mass and a high fracture risk in young individuals has only recently become a focus of interest in bone research and health care as compared to elderly patients. In fact, according to WHO criteria, ‘osteoporotic’ T-scores in bone mineral density (BMD) below −2.5 can be found in less than 1% of women before menopause, and ‘osteopenia’ as defined by T-scores between −2.5 and −1 in only about 10-15% of a healthy population. However, ...

Osteoporosis is a common, age-related disease with a strong genetic component. Mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5) gene are known to cause rare bone-related syndromes including loss-of-function mutations with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and gain-of-function mutations with high bone mass. The initial discovery of lipoprotein involvement in bone metabolism was surprising, but revealed a strong regulatory pathway by the Wnt-signalli...

Background: Women affected by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) frequently suffer from obesity, insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. There is evidence showing an association of hypovitaminosis D with metabolic disturbances in PCOS women. We aimed to investigate the influence of vitamin D supplementation on metabolic and endocrine parameters in PCOS women.Design: Forty-eight women with PCOS were included in the study. Cholecalciferol was admi...

Background: C-peptide consists of 31 amino acids, synthesized in the beta cells of the pancreas and co-secreted along with insulin. Hence, serum C-peptide may be the preferred diagnostic biomarker for evaluating beta cell function compared to insulin. The urinary C-peptide to creatinine ratio (UCPCR) recently gained attention as a non-invasive biomarker for evaluating and monitoring metabolic risk. In this study, we aimed to characterize guiding values of UCPCR in healthy indi...

BackgroundMetformin is a widely used and effective agent in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Yet, the mechanisms of action and the occurrence of side effects (e.g. abdominal bloating and pain), are still poorly understood. Since organic cation transporters (OCTs) are responsible for the hepatic and renal transport of metformin, we investigated a series of short nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the OCT genes in PCOS ...

Background: Bioresorbable screws for surgical fracture treatment are of great interest for the orthopaedic community. Such implants are designed to provide stability and compression of the fracture and should dissolve after healing, thereby making removal of surgical material obsolete. Magnesium implants are a new material option. So far, long-term follow-up of fracture healing and material decay has not been studied in human. Here, we present the results of the 2.5 year follo...

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease characterized by increased glucose levels, mostly either due to insulin deficiency (type 1 DM) or a decreasing ability of insulin receptor binding (type 2 DM) or both. Biomarker measurements such as fasting glucose and haemoglobin A1c are vital to detect and monitor DM. In addition to these parameters and antibody testing, insulin determination has been used for classifying different types of DM. However, the disadvantage of in...

Background: Bioresorbable implants should provide stability for fracture healing and resorb thereafter to make implant removal obsolete. Here, we report follow-up data of 6 patients treated with bioresorbable magnesium screws following medial malleolus fractures.Purpose: Assessment of the implantation site and implant resorption of 11 implants in 6 patients with HR-pQCT (high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography)....

Objective: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by biochemical and clinical androgen excess and disturbed ovarian function and is associated with disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism. Isoflavones are phytoestrogens exerting endocrine effects on human hormone and metabolic signaling and may influence symptom penetrance in PCOS. We investigated whether women with PCOS and healthy controls have alterations in their capacity to metabolize hormonally active dietar...

Aim: Increased cardiovascular incidents and a high risk for microvascular complications are associated with type 2 diabetes. Worldwide, metformin is the most commonly prescribed antidiabetic drug. Polymorphisms in the Oct1 gene can alter the function or activity of organic cation transporter 1 (Oct1), thus changing metformin efficacy (Oct1 acting as its main transporter) as well as influencing the actions of Oct1 physiological substrates. In the past, polymorphisms in...