Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In the general population, sleep disorders are associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment; moreover, people with dementia often have sleep disturbances. The prevalence of sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, in acromegalic patients is higher than in the general population, and they may have a higher risk of cognitive impairment due to acromegaly treatment (i.e. Radiotherapy) or cardiovascular comorbidities. In the literature, data about the relation...

Integrins are cell-extracellular matrix adhesion molecules considered functionally related to the development of cancer metastasis. Starting from the dataset of mRNA-seq of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) from the TCGA, we determined the expression of fibronectin 1 (FN1) and fibronectin-binding integrins in PTC. We then analyzed the association of the expression of these two genes with the driver genes, the stage of the disease and its outcome. 355 PTCs and 58 normal thyroid...

Background: Although surgery is considered the first-line treatment for patients with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS), medical therapy is often required to control severe hypercortisolism. Metyrapone and osilodrostat are inhibitors of 11β-hydroxylase that have not been directly compared yet.Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients with adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-dependent and ACTH-independent CS treated with metyrapone or osilodrostat (as...

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic disease (Covid-19) has caused millions of deaths worldwide, thus a massive SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign has been launched since the end of 2020. Viruses and vaccines can induce adverse thyroid effects; SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccines have been associated with several thyroid disorders, especially subacute thyroiditis (SAT) and Graves’ disease (GD). We aimed to study the occurrence o...

Background and Aim: Bilateral Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (BMAH) is a rare form of adrenal Cushing’s syndrome (CS). The treatment of choice in patients with BMAH and overt CS is bilateral adrenalectomy (B-Adx), which however implies lifelong glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement therapy. Unilateral adrenalectomy (U-Adx) has been proposed as an alternative to B-Adx, especially in case of clearly asymmetric adrenal size. Our aim was to determine predictive f...

Objectives: Somatotropinomas can be divided into three subgroups based on their distinct DNA methylation profiles1, one matching sparsely granulated (SG) and the other two matching densely granulated phenotypes (DG-A and DG-B). Sparsely granulated adenomas show fibrous body formation on cytokeratin immunohistochemistry, compared to diffuse staining in densely granulated adenomas. Methylation1 and gene expression data were analysed to identify (i) differen...

Introduction: Secondary hypogonadism (sHG) is the most common form of hypogonadism. sHG can arise from any dysregulation of hypothalamic-pituitary (HP) axis due to functional or organic disorders. HP organic disorders are often diagnosed using pituitary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, MRI is an expensive and not widespread exam and it cannot be routinely offered to all sHG patient. The Endocrine Society guidelines suggest MRI scan in sHG men with total testosterone ...

Introduction: Somatotroph adenomas are GH producing pituitary adenomas. There are two main types based on granulation pattern: sparsely and densely granulated. Each type also has their own fibrous body pattern. Sparsely granulated (SG) have a ‘dot-like’ fibrous body pattern and the densely granulated (DG) have a ‘perinuclear’ fibrous body pattern. The fibrous bodies are mainly composed of keratin 8. Previous microarray analysis revealed six differentially e...

Introduction: Congenital pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) is a rare condition, characterized by the triad (not always complete): absence/hypoplasia of the pituitary stalk, hypoplasia/aplasia of the anterior pituitary and absence or ectopy of the posterior pituitary high signal intensity, on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). PSIS implies a permanent GH deficiency, in 77% associated with other pituitary hormones deficiencies. The aetiology remains uncertain, but some...

Introduction: In the last few years the view that subclinical endocrine disorders represent milder forms of the clinically overt disease has emerged. Accordingly, it has been proposed that compensated hypogonadism represents a genuine clinical subgroup of individuals with late onset hypogonadism (LOH). The aim of the present study is to investigate the association of compensated hypogonadism with clinical and psychological characteristics of male subjects complaining for sexua...