Endocrine Abstracts

A 34-year-old lady with previous renal stones, constipation and well controlled bipolar mood disorder, on lithium for 13 years, was referred with a high calcium of 2.75 mmol/l (normal range: 2.10–2.58 mmol/l) and raised parathyroid hormone of 9.1 pmol/l (normal range: 1.1–4.2 pmol/l). Urine calcium excretion and TFT were normal.The biochemistry was consistent with primary hyperparathyroidism. A workup for possible underlying MEN syndrome came b...

Background: Measurement of serum cortisol levels can be useful in the diagnosis of conditions of both adrenal insufficiency and excess. Several methods are available for the measurement of the cortisol levels and immunoassays are commonly used in routine laboratories. The aim of our study was therefore to compare four different automated immunoassays for measurement of cortisol in serum.Methods: Serum samples of seventy two healthy volunteers were used f...

Introduction: Catecholamine-secreting tumors (pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas) are rare intra and extra-adrenal neoplasms, probably occurring in less than 0.2% of patients with hypertension. Serious morbidity and mortality rates are associated with these tumors which are related to the effects of catecholamines on various organs, especially those of the cardiovascular system.Methods: We reviewed the cases of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas that...

Medial calcification is a major cause of premature cardiovascular mortality in chronic kidney disease. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) play a key role in this process and studies have suggested a protective role for vitamin D. The exact mechanism for this is unclear but local synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25D) may be important. Production of 1,25D from 25-hydroxvitamin D (25D) is catalyzed by 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1α-hydroxylase (1α-OHase). 1,25D is metab...

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion maintains extracellular calcium (Ca2+o) homeostasis under the control of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaR). Supra-physiological pHo changes (±1 pH unit) significantly alter CaR activity in a heterologous expression system. Interestingly, metabolic acidosis and hyperparathyroidism are concomitant in both ageing and chronic kidney disease. Therefore, here we examined whether smaller, pathophysiological pH...

Background: Atherosclerosis constitutes one of the most frequent diseases and one of the important predisposing factor for atherosclerosis is lipid profile change. Androgen change lipid profile mainly high densitylipoprotein (HDL), and 1 mg finasteride tablets are used for treating androgenic hair loss through inhibition of 5-α reductase, and preventing convertion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) the most active derivative of testosterone in the other hands an...

Background: Headache often occurs as incapacitating symptom among the patients with acromegaly. GH involvement in the pathophysiologic mechanism and an analgesic effect of somatostatin analogues has been described, but the exact mechanism is not clear. Whether the pan somatostatine (sst)-receptor agonists are superior as concern the antinociceptive effect than the more selective ones is not evidenced.Case report: A 21-year old woman, diagnosed with acrom...

Introduction: Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, characterized by noncaseating granulomas, predominantly in the lymph nodes, lungs, eyes and skin, although any organ may be involved.Sarcoidosis may also be associated with endocrine autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroiditis.Case report: We present a case of a 24-year-old young man who was diagnosed in August 2010 with t...

Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that whey protein intake can ameliorate postprandial glucose control and potentiate insulin release in both type-2 diabetic patients and healthy subjects.Most likely, the insulinotropic effect of whey occurs by multiple pathways, including the potentiation of incretin activity through inhibition of DPP-4 in the proximal bowel, with the outcome of increasing intact incretin levels.During last...

Background: In addition to its normal spectrum of metabolic effects, insulin has been identified as a growth factor capable of promoting mitogenic activities. Thus, hyperinsulinemia, a consequence of insulin resistance, is regarded as a potential risk factor for the development of cancer in patients with diabetes. However, the mechanism of action of insulin in prostate cancer has not yet been completely elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether insulin can d...