Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: There is indirect evidence of unfavorable effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on glucose metabolism. Teriparatide (recombinant human PTH 1-34 - TPTD) has been recently available for the treatment of osteoporosis.Aim: To evaluate the acute and chronic effect of TPTD on blood glucose and insulin levels in women with established osteoporosis.Patients and methods: Twenty-three postmenopausal women with established osteop...

Introduction: The role of thyroxine (T4) during embryo development is recognised as crucial. The research question of this study was if embryo quality and reproductive outcomes after IVF are affected by maternal thyroid function and/or thyroid auto-immunity (TAI).Methods/design: We conducted a prospective study (ThyrART), assessing embryo quality and reproductive outcome of women undergoing ovarian stimulation with a flexible GnRH-antagonist p...

It is well established that overt maternal hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism may be associated with an adverse outcomes for both the mother and offspring. Therefore, maternal hypothyroidism should be early diagnosed and treated.Aim: The present study was designed in order to investigate thyroid function in the three trimesters of pregnancy, according to the recently updated guidelines.Materials and methods: One hundred ...

Introduction: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is associated with increased risk for atherosclerosis, mainly attributable to dyslipidemia, diastolic hypertension, altered coagulability and increased levels of inflammation markers. However, conflicting data exist regarding the effect of L-thyroxine substitution on these parameters.The purpose of the present study was to quantify the effect of L-thyroxine therapy on lipid profi...

Background-aim: Normal thyroid function during pregnancy is critical for fetal development. Deficient maternal thyroid hormone levels are associated with impaired neuropsychological development in childhood, premature birth, preeclampsia and fetal mortality. Conversely, excessive maternal thyroid levels have been linked to fetal loss, disturbed fetal growth, preeclampsia and preterm delivery. Recent consensus guidelines do not advocate universal thyroid function screening duri...

Introduction: Haemophilia A and B has been associated with increased prevalence of low bone mineral density (BMD). However, no study has so far evaluated the effects of anti-osteoporotic therapy on BMD.Methods/design: The primary endpoint of this prospective study was to estimate the effect of 12-month therapy of oral ibandronate 150 mg/month on BMD in patients with haemophilia A and B. Secondary endpoint was its effect on bone turnover markers (BTM), in...

Introduction: Low levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] have been recognized as a new cardiovascular disease risk factor. Conflicting data exist regarding the effect of statins on 25(OH)D levels and glucose metabolism.Methods/design: This was an open-label randomized prospective comparative study evaluating the effects of atorvastatin and rosuvastatin at equivalent doses on 25(OH)D levels, glucose homeostasis and systemic inflammation in non-diabetic ...

Introduction: High serum homocysteine (Hcy) has been associated with insulin resistance (IR) syndrome and cardiovascular risk, although controversy exists. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is regarded as the hepatic component of IR syndrome, but data on Hcy are limited. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate serum Hcy levels in patients with NAFLD.Methods: Thirty-one consecutive patients (54±11years, 8 males) with biopsy-prove...

Background: Fine-needle aspiration biopsy is the ‘gold standard’ in the preoperative management of thyroid nodules.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether serum TSH is a predictor of thyroid malignancy in patients presenting with thyroid nodules.Subjects and methods: About 565 patients without overt thyroid dysfunction, who presented with palpable thyroid nodule(s) between 1988 and 2004 and underwent at leas...