Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Diet and nutritional status during pregnancy are critical for the health of both mothers and the neonates. Women in twin pregnancies have higher metabolic needs compared to women in single pregnancies and it can be expected that they have higher risk of key vitamins and micronutrients deficiencies. However, very scarce data are currently available on this topic.Aim of the study and method: The main aim is to analyze the nutritional status of w...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a rare disease of the pituitary gland. Both GH and IGF-1 levels are of key importance for monitoring of treatment effects in patients with acromegaly. In some patients, divergent results of measurements of these hormones are observed. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to estimate frequency of GH and IGF-1 inconsistencies in the population of patients with acromegaly included in the Polish Register of Acromegaly Patients, a...

Objective: Vitamin D has a pleiotropic effect on the human body. Besides its classical function as a regulator of calcium and phosphorus metabolism, it influences the secretion of other hormones, modulates the immune response and regulates cell proliferation and differentiation. Because women in twin pregnancies have higher metabolic needs, it can be expected that they might have higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.Aim of the study and method: The aim is...

Introduction: Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor that develops from chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla. In about 90% of cases, it is a benign tumor. Along with catecholamines, neuroendocrine cells of the adrenal medulla have the ability to produce various proteins and neuropeptides and secrete them into the blood. Among the known biologically active substances are: neuropeptide Y and human cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART).Purpose: ...

Introduction: Pheochromocytoma is a rare, usually benign tumor composed of neuroendocrine (chromaffin) cells of the adrenal medulla. It is the cause of secondary arterial hypertension. The biochemical diagnosis of a pheochromocytoma is based on the determination of concentration/excretion of catecholamine metabolites in blood or urine. The most sensitive biomarkers in the biochemical diagnosis of pheochromocytoma are plasma free methanephrines (metanephrine, normetanephrine an...

Background: Vitamin D is a dietary micronutrient responsible for calcium and phosphorus metabolism and multiple extraskeletal actions. The assessment of vitamin D status is commonly based on measurement of 25(OH)D total concentration in serum. However, the usage of LC-MS/MS analytical technique allows to reliably assess a panel of vitamin D metabolites in serum or plasma, which may help to investigate the metabolic paths of vitamin D, especially in populations at risk of defic...

Introduction: Hormone macromolecules are complexes of hormones with other compounds, most often with IgG immunoglobulin. They show variable immunoreactivity in immunochemical tests (IRMA, ELISA, CLIA, ECLIA) and usually have a weak biological effect. They can interfere with immunological assays of various hormones. Some known hormone macrocomplexes are: BB-PRL (24% - 34%), macro-TSH (0.6% - 1.2%) and very rare macromolecules of various hormones: calcitonin, PTH, insulin (singl...

Introduction: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) accounts for 3.5-5% of thyroid cancers. The biochemical diagnosis of MTC is based on the determination of concentration of a sensitive and specific biomarker - calcitonin (CT) as well as CEA and procalcitonin (PCT). Neuroendocrine cells have the ability to produce various proteins and neuropeptides (e.g. granin proteins and INSM-1), which are secreted into the circulation with calcitonin and can be measured in the blood as so-cal...

Introduction: Saliva is an interesting alternative to blood in clinical evaluation of endocrine function. Certain advantages of saliva collection must be considered, when comparing with conventional blood sampling. Vital arguments are that procedure is easy, non-invasive and stress-free. The studies on correlation between salivary and serum thyroid hormones are scarce and contradictory. The goal of our research was to assess if salivary thyroid hormone levels reflect serum con...

Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common endocrine cause of secondary hypertension. It occurs in 5%-10% of hypertensive patients. PA is a group of disorders associated with semi-autonomous hypersecretion of aldosterone. Laboratory diagnosis in patients with suspected PA consists of screening tests aimed at determination of serum/plasma aldosterone concentration, direct renin concentration (DRC) and calculation of the aldosterone/direct renin ratio (ADRR). The ...