Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Although in females of infertile couples abnormal PRL has a definitive role in the medical flow-chart, its role in males is less clear. Animal models suggest that PRL does not play a major role in male reproduction, although its trophic action on male accessory glands was often observed. Studies in humans are scanty. We systematically evaluated possible clinical and ultrasound correlates of PRL in males of infertile couples.Methods: Out of ...

Introduction: The role of testosterone supplementation (TS) as a possible treatment for male sexual dysfunction remains questionable. The aim of the present study is to meta-analyse data evaluating the effects of TS on male sexual function and its therapeutic synergism with the use of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5i).Methods: An extensive Medline Embase and Cochrane search was performed including the following words: ‘testosterone’, ‘erect...

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is often associated with male hypogonadism. The role of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in MetS has not been completely clarified.To systematically analyse the relationship between androgen levels and MetS we performed a review and meta-analyses of available prospective and cross-sectional studies. A specific meta-analysis on the metabolic effects of TRT in available randomised clinical trials (RCTs) was als...

Background: Obesity is related to an increased cardiovascular risk, namely coronary heart disease risk (CHDr). Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is frequently associated with obesity and, by itself, is an important CHDr factor. Interventions that induce weight loss would be expected to attenuate CHDr in obese patients.Aims: To evaluate variation in cardiovascular risk profile one year after adjustable gastric banding (AGB), in obese patients (with and without T2D); ...

Despite recent advances in diabetes care and modest improvements in glycemic control, Type 1 diabetes (T1D) remains a major risk factor for early onset vascular disease, and is associated with a tenfold increase in cardiovascular related and all-cause mortality compared to the general population. Evidence of vascular endothelial dysfunction and early subclinical atherosclerotic disease can be detected during childhood, and is significantly more prevalent in children and adoles...

Background: Up to 2016, NIFT-P was considered a non-invasive encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (FV-PTC) and was reclassified and downgraded to a pre-malignant lesion. However, if these nodules have peculiar ultrasonographic features able to pre-operatively suggest their histology is still a matter of discussion. We evaluated a large series of NIFT-P, FV-PTC, FTC, and FA to characterize their ultrasonographic features.Methods:...

Introduction: The relationship between SNPs of the FSHR gene and serum FSH has not been completely clarified. Genetic variants of the FSHB gene have been associated to variation in gene transcription and to serum FSH levels in men. An interesting joint effect of both FSHB −211G>T and FSHR 2039 A>G on male reproductive parameters has been recently observed. No data have been published on the effect of the FSHB −211G>T in combination with the FSHR 2039 A&...

The coexistence of pheochromocytoma and hyperreninemia secondary to renal artery stenosis, which both represent important causes of juvenile hypertension, has been reported in Literature, while association between pheochromocytoma and reninoma has never been described.We evaluated a 24-year-old boy, which came to our attention for severe hypertension, unresponsive to anti-hypertensive polytherapy. In 1996, because of elevated calcitonin levels (180 pg/ml...

Hirsutism affects 5–10% of women of reproductive age and may be the initial sign of an androgen disorder. We describe two cases of occult Sertoli-Leydig ovarian cell tumor suspected only on the basis of clinical and laboratory features.The first patient, a 42 year-old woman came to our attention for hirsutism. Several blood samples showed a very high testosterone concentration (~4 ng/ml), while non-ovarian causes of hyperandrogenism were excluded. A...

Hyperthyroidism associated to hyperthyrotropinemia is a rare condition which can be due to two different causes: resistance to thyroid hormones and TSH secreting adenoma. The differential diagnosis is not easy.We have observed 8 patients with hyperthyroidism associated to inappropriately elevated TSH. All patients had similar basal levels of thyroid hormones and 7 out of 8 had a multinodular goiter.Four out of 8 patients showed lac...