Endocrine Abstracts

CGRP, a potent vasodilator, is elevated in the intense periods during menopausal hot flushes and presently represents a candidate mediator of vasomotor symptoms. However due to the short half-life of CGRP, the local paracrine effects may be more important than systemic effects. These local paracrine effects may be mediated in conjunction with adipose tissue, due to close physical proximity with the vasculature; as well as altered oestrogen metabolism following menopause. There...

Patients with obesity are relatively Growth Hormone (GH) deficient. GH has potent effects on adipocyte biology, stimulating lipolysis but also promoting pre-adipocyte proliferation. Conversely, we have shown that cortisol inhibits pre-adipocyte proliferation and enhances differentiation. Furthermore, GH, acting through IGF-1, inhibits 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1) which converts the inactive glucocorticoid, cortisone (E) to active cortisol (F) in ad...

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of goiter and nodular disease in patients with class III obesity, and also correlate the findings with serum insulin, leptin and HOMA-IR.Methods: A cross-sectional study with thyroid ultrasound and serum glucose, insulin, leptin and TSH was performed with obese patients and a control group without known thyroid diseases, matched for age and sex, but with BMI of <25 kg/m2.Results: Twent...

An association of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter gene that codify for 17b-HSD5 enzyme (71A>G) with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been suggested in previous studies. Given the role of 17b-HSD5 in androgenic metabolism producing testosterone from precursors, the aim of this study was to assess whether non-obese PCOS women with the variant allele G have different response on hirsutism and on hormonal and metabolic variables to oral contracepti...

The insulin tolerance test (ITT) is used to determine the integrity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic-somatotroph (GH) axes in patients suspected of ACTH and GH deficiency. In adults a cortisol response <500nmol/L is considered pathological and a GH peak <9mU/L is consistent with severe GH deficiency. Exercise is an alternative stimulus to GH release which may be used to diagnose GH deficiency during childhood but is rarely used during adult li...

Introduction: The recent ADA and EASD algorithm for the treatment of type 2 DM suggests addition of basal insulin or GLP-1 agonist to pre-existing treatment when glycemic control is not achieved.Aim: Compare efficacy and safety of exenatide (E) versus insulin Glargine (G) added after metformin monotherapy.Patients and methodOur study was open labeled, non- randomized, retrospective and included 48 patients, 1...

Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type 1 and multiple sclerosis. Reduced vitamin D intake has been linked to increased susceptibility to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and vitamin D deficiency has been found to be associated with disease activity in RA patients. The aim was to evaluate vitamin D status in RA patients and to assess the relationship between vitamin D levels and disease act...

In boys with constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP), puberty may be induced with a short course of testosterone, either as esters or enantate injections. While both types of testosterone are known to be effective in inducing puberty, there are no studies comparing their efficacies. We have compared height gain, a quantitative marker of puberty, between boys treated with a short course of testosterone esters and enantate injections in a retrospective, observational s...

Introduction: Adiposity has been well known to influence blood pressure. Adipokines are peptides secreted from the adipose tissue. TNF-alpha and IL-6 are pro-inflammatory adipokines while adiponectin and leptin have been known to be influencing vascular function. The influence of adipokines on blood pressure is not yet known. Our hypothesis was that all adipokines positively influenced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.Patients and methods: One ...

We have previously reported comparisons of ACROQOL, a disease-specific questionnaire for QOL in patients with acromegaly, with the non-disease-specific generic tools Psychological General Well-Being Schedule (PGWBS) and EUROQOL and disease-specific signs and symptoms score (SSS). ACROQOL comprises 22 questions (subdivided into physical and psychological classes, total score out of 110 quoted as percentage, higher scores = better QOL). SSS rates 5 features of acromegaly each ra...