Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: Pro-inflammatory cytokine levels are elevated in heart failure and have been implicated in disease progression. Testosterone has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and plasma levels may be reduced in men with heart failure. We studied the relation of endogenous testosterone with plasma cytokines in men with chronic heart failure and the effects of testosterone administration.Methods: Baseline plasma levels of total and bio-avail...

Introduction: Follicle stimulating hormone receptors (FSHR) are physiologically expressed in gonads. FSHR are also expressed in gonadal cancers, but nothing is known on FSHR appearance in non-gonadal endocrine tumors. The present paper reports on the immunohistochemical detection of FSHR in pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and neuroendocrine tumors (NET).Materials and methods: The study included samples of 80 endocrine tumors (28 pituitary adenomas, 7 thyroid...

Background and aims: Clinical studies demonstrated that hypothyroidism can be a cause of hypercreatininemia. The aims of the present study were to investigate the prevalence of hypercreatininemia in patients with primary hypothyroidism.Materials and methods: We retrospectively studied serum creatinine levels in 54 patients with primary iatrogenic hypothyroidism (iatrogenic hypothyroidism result seccondary to radioactive iodine therapy and surgery). Resul...

Objective: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a nontraditional risk factor that predicts cardiovascular disease but its relationship between diabetes and insulin resistance is not well documented. We evaluated the association of CRP levels and insulin resistance in a group of patients at high risk for diabetes.Materials and methods: In this study we evaluated 22 first degree relatives of type 2 diabetic patients with impaired glucose tolerance test (Group 1) an...

BackgroundPreliminary in vivo studies have shown that fatty acid composition of membranes, where insulin receptors are embedded, can provide significant correlations for insulin resistance. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a member of the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid family present in the membrane that may modulate insulin action. The aim of the study was to investigate if variation in insulin sensitivity is related to variation in DHA in red blood...

Background: Use of metformin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is becoming increasingly accepted and widespread but clinical practice is ahead of the evidence.Methods: We extracted results from the seven published studies of metformin use in PCOS that include control elements quantifiably similar to the experimental arm. We also restricted our analysis to the studies with a systematic longitudinal examination of ovulatory function and metabolic parameters....

Published data has demonstrated that low 0900 h plasma total cortisol (PTC) immediately following traumatic brain injury (TBI) predicts mortality. However, potential discrepancies exist between PTC and plasma free cortisol (PFC). We hypothesised that low PTC would correlate closely with PFC and predict mortality and long-term hypopituitarism.One hundred patients (84 men, median age 33, range 18–75) with TBI (mean GCS±S.D.=8.59&#1...

Background: Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may suffer from growth and pubertal delay.Objective: To assess pubertal status and growth in a group of boys with IBD before (T+0) and 6 months after (T+6) initiation of testosterone therapy.Methods: Retrospective study of boys with IBD undergoing pubertal induction. Height (Ht) and pubertal status were obtained at T+0 and T+6. Markers of disease activity and data on concom...

Delayed puberty (DP) is defined as pubertal onset 2-2.5 SDs later than the general population. The most common aetiology is self-limited DP (SLDP). However, during adolescence, it is a clinical challenge to differentiate SLDP from the more severe disease congenital hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (HH). This study sought to elucidate phenotypic and genotypic discrepancies between the two diagnoses to improve diagnosis and management. This was a retrospective study of a UK DP coh...

A 58-year-old man was diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism on routine biochemistry in primary care. His initial thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was 10.7 mu/l, Free T4 (fT4) 24 pmol/l and thyroid peroxidase antibody negative. He was treated with levothyroxine and doses escalated due to elevated TSH (9.6–20.58 mu/l) and low fT4 (12.0–24.9 pmol/l). Despite good adherence to treatment his TSH was persistently raised and hence he wa...