Endocrine Abstracts

Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) is proved to be useful for dose adjustment in patients treated with multiple insulin injection regimens or with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion. CGM give precise information about glucose variability in type 1 diabetes but are rarely used in type 2 patients. We assessed continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMs) as control assessment tool in patients with type 2 diabetes receiving different treatment regimens. We studied 85 patien...

11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD-1) controls the intracellular cortisol pool that has access to cytosolic glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors. HSD-1 activity is elevated in patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS).1 Patients with CS and constitutionally low HSD-1 activity showed no hypercortisolism-related symptoms despite very high 24-hour urine free cortisol.2, 3 A recent pilot trial of a HSD-1 inhibitor in patients with classical or mild CS sho...

IntroductionPrader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a multisystemic genetic disorder caused by lack of expression of genes on the paternally inherited chromosome 15q11.2-q13 region. Despite PWS present manifestations from birth, affected individuals can remain undiagnosed until adulthood.Clinical caseWoman, 40 years old, with cognitive impairment, referred to endocrinology due to morbid obesity (BMI 44.5 Kg/m2</s...

Inguinal subcutaneous fat, the site of murine mammary glands 4 and 5, is a suitable model of mammary white fat adipose tissue (WAT). WAT requires extracellular Ca2+ influx for differentiation and expansion; this primarily occurs via plasma membrane Ca2+ voltage-dependent channels (CaVs). Whereas the neuropeptide oxytocin can mobilise intracellular Ca2+ in WAT which has key roles in lactation. Our aim was to use a combination of molecular biolog...

Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection is characterized by aspecific symptoms (e.g., fever, cough) and can be complicated by viral pneumonia and many other manifestations can occur. Endocrinological complications have also been described. Pheochromocytomas are rare tumors located in the adrenal medulla, causing symptoms due to catecholamines overproduction and abrupt release. Catecholamines release can be continuous or intermittent and there can be several triggers including stress,...

Introduction: Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a paraneoplastic syndrome due to an overproduction of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) by small and benign mesenchimal tumors. FGF23 increase causes hypophosphatemia, osteomalacia and muscle weakness. TIO is usually cured by tumour resection, but neoplasms may be unidentifiable/unresectable or the patient may refuse surgery. In these cases, medical treatment with high doses of oral phosphate and calcitriol is mandatory, even...

Background: Glucose metabolism derangements (GMD) and thyroid nodules (TN) are the most frequent endocrine disorders. A relationship between these conditions has been suggested, but data are still controversial and no evidence was reported regarding sex differences.Aim: To evaluate the distribution of impaired fasting glucose (IFG), normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and TN according to sex.<p cla...

Background: Women with diabetes mellitus type 1 (DMt1) are known to have a higher prevalence of reproductive disorders, including delayed menarche, menstrual cycle abnormalities and &rcy;olycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)-like phenotype.Objective: To evaluate the menstrual cycle characteristics of women with type 1 diabetes mellitus as well as to compare them with healthy women of reproductive age.Methods and patients: The study inclu...

Introduction: Clinically non-functioning pituitary tumors (NFPTs) lack clinical or biochemical evidence of pituitary hormone excess. Their clinical presentation is heterogeneous, including mass effect-related symptoms and/or hypopituitarism, or even no symptoms in incidentally-detected NFPTs. We aimed to evaluate the clinical presentation spectrum of NFPTs in a cohort of patients managed at our hospital.Methods: Clinical, demographic, biochemical and ima...

Introduction: Magmas encodes for an integral constituent of the TIM23 translocase complex located in the mitochondrial inner membrane that drives proteins from the intermembrane space into the mitochondrial matrix by functionally interacting with Tim14. We previously demonstrated that Magmas silencing is able to sensitize ACTH-secreting mouse pituitary adenoma cells to pro-apoptotic stimuli, reduce DNA synthesis, accumulate cells in G0/G1 phase with concomitant decrease in S p...