Endocrine Abstracts

The adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulphate ester, DHEAS have been shown to oppose the effects of glucocorticoids, thereby producing beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity in rodent models of diabetes and obesity and in hypoadrenal patients. Glucocorticoids, key regulators of adipose differentiation and insulin sensitivity, are reactivated locally by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type (11β-HSD1) oxoreductase activity, which increases with...

Type 2 diabetes manifests when pancreatic β-cells secrete inadequate insulin in response to elevated glucose. A known culprit in metabolic diseases is excessive exposure to glucocorticoids (GCs). GCs increase hepatic gluconeogenesis, decrease insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue and suppress the development of β-cells. In rodents, inactive GC 11-dehydrocorticosterone (A) is converted to active corticosterone (B) by the enzyme 11β-hydroxyster...

Introduction: Chronic hepatitis C has a high incidence in our country being a major public health issue.Aims and methods: To establish prognostic factors for developing thyroid dysfunction in patients with chronic hepatitis C receiving pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy. A prospective study of patients with chronic hepatitis C on antiviral therapy was undertaken. 68 patients started on antiviral therapy in the period 1st January 2003 – 1st J...

Introduction: Chronic Hepatitis C is highly prevalent in our country.Management involves combination treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Thyroid disease in affected patients can be caused by the hepatitis C virus or by the interferon therapy.Aims and method: The study aims to investigate thyroid dysfunction and optimal management strategies for patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with pegylated interferon and r...

Background: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) associates many psychiatric symptoms and is therefore important to find out if surgery can alleviates the psychiatric symptoms and improve the quality of patient’s life.Objectives: To study the nature and severity of neuropsychiatric manifestations in patients diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism before and after surgery, as well as to evaluate the correlation of such symptoms with levels of serum calcium...

Objective: To determine the impact of combined antidepressant drugs and LT4 enhancers in treatment of patients with Major Depressive Disorder.Method: We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to determine whether LT4 supplementation had any augmentation effect on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The study involved 70 patients with major depressive disorder; patients with hypothyroidism were excluded. Of the participants, 38 were...

ACRD presents with clinical features of hyperandrogenism in females similar to those of PCOS (acne, hirsutism, oligomenorrhea, infertility), and precocious puberty in males. Obesity also occurs in some cases. Increased cortisol clearance leads to an increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis drive resulting in elevated serum androgen levels and a decreased urinary cortisol metabolite: cortisone metabolite ratio below 0.5 (normal adult range 0.7–1.3). These observations...

The metabolic syndrome, which encompasses features of obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and hypertension, has been associated with excessive glucocorticoid (GC) exposure. The pancreas is a target of the adverse affects of GC action, resulting in β-cell damage and reduced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) catalyses the in vivo conversion of inactive to active glucocorticoids (cortisone E/11-de...

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulphate ester DHEAS, have been shown to oppose the effects of glucocorticoids in vivo, thus producing beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity in rodent models of diabetes and obesity as well as in hypoadrenal patients. Glucocorticoids play a key role in regulating fat metabolism and distribution and are reactivated locally by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) oxoreductase activity, which increases with ...

Glucocorticoids (GC) have potent actions upon human adipose tissue, promoting adipocyte differentiation, inhibiting preadipocyte proliferation and inducing lipolysis to generate free fatty acids (FFA) and glycerol through a putative action upon hormone sensitive lipase (HSL). FFA have been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, yet the molecular mechanisms that cause GC induced lipolysis are not clear. Recently, several novel lipases have been identifie...