Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Our goal was to investigate the effects of glucose levels from 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) on large for gestational age (LGA) newborns in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Material and methods: A prospective study was undertaken in Outpatient Department of Clinics for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders. One hundred and eighteen pregnant women were prospectively screened for GDM between 24 and 28 weeks of p...

In mammals, spontaneous apoptosis is observed particularly in differentiating spermatogonia and spermatocytes. We have previously demonstrated that 17β-estradiol (E2) in primary rat pachytene spermatocytes (PS) binds ESR1 and GPER1 to activate EGFR/ERK/c-Jun pathway leading to up regulation of bax, a pro-apoptotic factor. Aim of this study was to clarify the effector pathway(s) controlling spermatocytes apoptosis using as model GC-2 cells, an immortalized mouse...

Introduction: The short synacthen test (SST) is commonly used to assess the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in clinical practice. We evaluated the underlying clinical conditions pre-empting the request for a SST in a general medical ward and the adequacy of clinical follow up of patients with suboptimal responses to the test.Methods: All patients with suboptimal SST results (30 min cortisol level 450–540 nmol/l) performed in the Acute Asse...

Metallothioneins (MT) are cystein-rich intracellular proteins which exert anti-apoptotic effects by protecting cells against oxidative stress and DNA damage. Previously, expression of MT in normal and neoplastic thyroid tissue has been demonstrated. However, the thyroidal regulation of MT expression is widely unsettled. Thus, we investigated the expression of MT isoform 1 in human thyroid carcinoma cells (FTC-133-TSHR) upon stimulation with thyrotropin (TSH). Using quantitativ...

Autoimmune hypothyroidism due to thyroid stimulation blocking antibodies (TSB-Ab) is uncommon. When occurring in pregnancy, this condition may be responsible for feto-neonatal complications as a result of both maternal hypothyroidism and trans-placental TSB-Ab transfer to the fetus.Clinical case: September 2010: a 27 year-old woman was diagnosed with autoimmune severe hypothyroidism (TSH 325 mIU/l (n.v 0.4–4.0), FT4 1.54 pmol/l (n.v. 11.5...

Introduction: Adrenal carcinomas are rare tumor. It has an estimated incidence of ~0.5–2 new cases per million people per year. Just 25% of adults with hormone-secreting adrenal carcinomas present overproduction of both glucocorticoids and androgens. Women develop adrenal carcinomas more often than men.Objectives: We report a case of 47-year-old female presented with weight gain, generalized weakness and hypertension for the last 6 months. Phy...

Adiponectin, a recently discovered protein which is secreted by the adipose tissue, exerts anti-inflammatory and anti atherogenic properties, but also promotes glucose uptake by skeletal muscle and fatty acids oxidation. Patients with hypertension and obesity have reduced plasma levels of adiponectin so that they lack its beneficial metabolic effects. However no data are available in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). In order to investigate the role of the adiponectin ...

Introduction: The etiology of the increased mortality seen in Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is not completely known. In this context, it has been suggested that central adrenal insufficiency (CAI) due to hypothalamic dysfunction may be responsible for unexplained deaths. However, data on hypothalamic-pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in PWS are still conflicting. Because adrenal insufficiency is a life-threatening disease, its diagnosis should be precise, urgent and reliabl...

To test the feasibility of reconstructing ex situ an entire bioartificial thyroid gland suitable for transplantation we have bioengineered a rat thyroid lobe using its decellularized stromal / vascular matrix, eventually 3D recellularized with thyroid stem / precursor cells. Sprague-Dawley male rats (220–240 g) were used as thyroid donors, and lobe matrixes obtained by freezing / detergent / enzyme processing. Test matrixes were made electrondense and analyzed by m...

Context: Estrogens may have protective properties in the cardiovascular system, linked to the activation of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), present in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs). ERα-mediated signaling regulates vasodilatation and atherogenesis, and since hypertension and atherosclerosis are major mechanisms in stroke development, we hypothesized that genetic variations in the ERα gene (ESR1) were associated with strok...