Endocrine Abstracts

Background: β-thalassemia is associated with increased iron overload in endocrine tissues, including parathyroid glands. The occurrence of unbalanced calcium (Ca)-phosphorous (P) metabolism, such as chronic HPT, is higher in these patients compared to the general population. However, data about prevalence and presentation of HPT in this setting are scanty.Aim: To explore the biochemical characteristics of Ca-P metabolism, particularly the prevalence...

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the most frequent sexual disorder. Although psychological ED (pED) is the most frequent form, vascular ED (vED) is associated with 1.25 times greater risk of developing major cardiovascular diseases. Alongside cardiovascular aspect, the evaluation of patients’ health, measured by the comorbidities number, in relation to the ED aetiology has never been investigated so far.Objectives: To explore the potential r...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common motor neurone disorder in human adults. Scanty data on endocrine abnormalities have been reported. Aim of the present study was to investigate the GH-IGF-I axis in ALS patients.22 ALS patients (12 men and 10 women), aged 46–77 years, performed GHRH+arginine test: blood samples for GH were collected at baseline, 30 and 60 minutes; IGF-I was determined at baseline. The control group consisted of 2...

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...