Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: US-FNAB is the most cost/effective and accurate diagnostic procedure for the evaluation of thyroid nodules. In the clinic, the nursing assistance is not always available for the US-FNAB procedure in all endocrinological centers and its value remains to be established.Aim of the Study: To demonstrate the role of nursing assistance in US-FNAB procedures in improving the efficiency of this procedure.Methods: All clinical...

FSH acts via binding to its specific receptors, the FSHR, possessing a large number of SNPs. The FSHR SNPs at nucleotide position 919 and 2039 in exon 10 are very common (heterozygosity: 0.469) and result in the aminoacid transition Thr/Ala at codon 307 and Asn/Ser at codon 680 respectively. In addition a G/A SNP is found in the promoter region at position −29, with the G allele covering 75% and the A allele 25% of the alleles in Caucasians. In turn, the FSHB gene, encod...

Background: It is widely demonstrated that obesity and hypogonadism are bi-directionally correlated, since the hypogonadism prevalence is higher in obese population, while weight loss increases testosterone serum levels. Several approaches are available to contrast weight excess, from simple dietary regimens to more complex surgical procedures. Ketogenic diets (KD) fit in this context and their application is growing year after year, aiming to improve the metabolic and weight ...

Introduction: The endothelium produces molecules regulating vascular function, such as nitric oxide (NO). NO protects blood vessels from endogenous injury and causes vasodilation through activation of second messengers. In diabetes mellitus (DM), hyperglycemia provokes oxidative stress, reduction of NO and increased synthesis of vasoconstrictors (e.g. endothelin). Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are enzymes, controlling the rate of degradation of second messengers....

Introduction: Y-chromosomal azoospermia factor (AZF) microdeletions are one of the few well-established genetic causes of male infertility, specifically azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. Since the introduction of a PCR-based method to easily detect the distinct deletion patterns, the screening of infertile men for Y microdeletions has become a very common genetic test performed frequently by a large number of laboratories. An external quality control scheme was establishe...

Immature testicular tissue was successfully xenografted in several species but did not lead to spermatogenesis with tissue obtained from the non-human primate Callithrix jacchus. Previous data indicate that the microenvironment provided by the mouse host might cause this failure. We conducted an in vivo study performing autologous ectopic transplantation of testicular fragments in newborn anaesthetised marmoset monkeys and compared transplanted animals to sham op...

Background: Exogenous follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) administration in male idiopathic infertility showed the most convincing rationale in the face of a clinical efficacy below expectations. It was calculated that 10 to 18 men have to be treated to achieve one pregnancy.Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of FSH administration in male idiopathic infertility in a clinical setting.Methods: A retrospective real-world study was...

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...

Introduction: Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) is a heterogenous disease caused by mutations in several genes. Based on the presence of hyposmia/anosmia it is distinguished into Kallmann syndrome and isolated HH. The prevalence of other developmental anomalies is not well established.Methods: We studied patients with HH (29 males, 3 females, mean age 41.5), 9 with familial and 23 sporadic HH (29 congenital, 3 adult-onset), by physical examination, smel...

Introduction: Aromatase cytochrome P450 is uniquely responsible for estrogen synthesis in vertebrates. The protein is expressed in the gonads and other extraglandular tissues. Deregulated expression of aromatase has pathological relevance and targeting the CYP19A1 product could be an effective strategy for treatment of affected tissues. Nevertheless, very little is known concerning the role of protein oligomerisation, glycosylation and degradation. Here we studied the aromatas...