Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Male infertility is associated with a higher long-term morbidity and mortality risk. However, it is not clear which diseases are contributing to this risk. Osteoporosis is a possible factor, as it is a frequent disease and sex steroids regulate both fertility and bone health. Furthermore, there are data indicating that high FSH levels in women are related to low bone mineral density (BMD), independent of estradiol levels. As infertile men often have increased FSH, ...

Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) is a condition characterized by low grade chronic inflammation; increased levels of free light chains of immunoglobulins have been described; moreover, it shares some features with metabolic syndrome (MetS), including insulin resistance and oxidative stress, but with a different pattern of antioxidant response. Finally, it is known that GH, directly or via IGF-1 activity, influences many aspects of immune response; both humoral and cellula...

Background: Environmental rhythmicity seems able to affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in animals to achieve reproductive advantages. However, conflicting results were obtained when assessing the environmental-dependent rhythmicity on reproductive hormone secretion in humans.Aim of the study: This study was designed to evaluate seasonal fluctuations of the main hormones involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in men, using a big d...

Men with spinal cord injury (SCI) exhibit a prostate volume significantly smaller compared to age-matched able-bodied men1–3. As men with chronic SCI (lasting more than 1 year) also display a very high prevalence of androgen deficiency4,5, a protective role of low testosterone against prostate enlargement could be hypothesized in this population. This study aimed to identify independent determinants of prostate volume in men with chronic SCI. As ass...

Background: Men suffering from spinal cord injury (SCI) were at increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). SCI subjects showed an higher value of carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) at ultrasound, a surrogate markers of sub-clinical atherosclerosis. Furthermore, SCI men exhibited an higher prevalence of androgen deficiency compared to general population.Objectives: To investigate the relationship between total testosterone (TT) levels and cIMT i...

Background and aims: Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition where the key feature is the alveolar bone loss. Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor in the occurrence of PD and vitamin D has been found to play a role in the development of diseases such as PD for its immunomoduratory and anti-inflammatory effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between PD and vitamin D levels in type 1 diabetic patients.S...

Prokineticins (Prok1 and Prok2) are chemokine-like peptides, which regulate through two G-protein-coupled receptors, ProkR1 and ProkR2, different physiological and pathological functions. Prok1 plays a significant role in tumour development and progression in several tissues. There are few data on the involvement of Prok1 and ProkR1 in testicular cancer. Aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of Prok1 and ProkR1 in a series of testicular germ cell tumours (GCT).<...

Introduction: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) algorithm is one of the most efficient instruments for the prediction of incident type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Recently it has been shown to predict another relevant cardiovascular (CV) risk factor, such as chronic kidney disease.The aim of the present study is to verify whether, in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED), the use of ARIC diabetes risk score might improve the efficacy in predicting ...

Introduction: Medical therapy of acromegaly is indicated in patients who failed to achieve remission after surgery, with contraindication or refusal for surgical therapy or following radiotherapy in order to bridge the interval until complete remission.Objective: Evaluate the medical therapy – somatostatin analogs (SSA), dopamine agonist (DAs) and GH receptor-antagonist (Pegvisomant) – in acromegalic patients followed from 1988–2011.<p...

Introduction: Retrospective study, 2003–07, of 619 GDM women.Patients and methods: Two groups according to pre-pregnancy BMI: Go ≥30, Gno <30 kg/m2. Influence of BMI in: family history of DM, previous GDM or macrossomia, gestational age at time of GDM diagnosis, weight gain, blood pressure, A1c, need and doses of Insulin, time and type of delivery, new- born weight, complications and re-evaluation post partum.<p class="abste...