Endocrine Abstracts

IntroductionMenopausal transition is associated with an increase in the cardiovascular risk, possibly related with the sharp decrease of estrogen levels. Menopausal symptoms and more specifically hot flushes have been previously linked with an increase in cardiovascular risk. On the other hand, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is considered as another presentation of the metabolic syndrome, conferring additional cardiovascular risk to the affected indiv...

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) poses multiple risks to both the mother and foetus. This includes foetal macrosomia and the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) due to their metabolic profile are at greater risk of developing GDM and its long-term sequelae. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associations of GDM at St George’s Hospital, with emphasis on women diagnosed with PCOS. The K2 maternal med...

Introduction: Insulin resistance is a main characteristic of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and contributes to the increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is thought that in PCOS there is an alteration in the insulin signaling pathway. An important kinase in this pathway is the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K), the activity of which has been found to be decreased in PCOS. Based on this observation we investigated whether a single nucleotide polym...

Introduction: Increased oxidative stress is considered to be implicated in the pathophysiology of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). While the regulation of oxidative stress is multifactorial, many studies have been focused on the antioxidant role of paraoxonase (PON). The aim of this study was to investigate the possible association of the Q192R and the L55M polymorphisms of PON1 and the Ser311Cys polymorphism of PON2 with PCOS.Subjects and...

Background: Growing evidence suggests that hypothalamic lipid sensing plays a key role in controlling food intake, fat deposition and energy balance and that its dysregulation could lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recent investigations reported that sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is involved in the hypothalamic control of energy homeostasis. Intra-cerebroventricular administration of S1P decreased food intake and increased energy expenditure in rodents.<p class="...

A 31-year-old man without previous medical history presented to his local hospital with one week history of generalised severe headache. Brain CT was reported as negative for acute intracranial pathology. Five weeks later, he re-presented with worsening headache and blurring of vision. Brain CT revealed a large area of hypodensity centred on the left thalamus/basal ganglia and subsequent MRI with contrast showed a medium size pituitary cyst with suprasellar extension and two c...

Background: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting both sexes. Awareness and prevention practices aiming to control cardiovascular risk in women remain inadequate. On the other hand, circulating amyloid β 1-40 (Aβ1-40) is a proatherogenic peptide, closely linked with the process of aging. We aimed to evaluate the possible association between the progression of atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women and the role of Aβ1-40 ...

Vitamin D (vit-D) deficiency is common in patients with gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NET) and has been linked to reduced survival in these patients. Vit-D status was assessed in 183 patients with GEP-NET, at the time of their first presentation in the ARDEN-NET-Centre; and following simple advice at routine 6-monthly follow-up appointments to increase vit-D intake using over-the-counter vit-D preparations (Colecalciferol (Vit-D3), 1000–2000 units/d...

Introduction: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disorders. Endocan is a novel molecule of endothelial dysfuction which is expressed in liver. SGLT2i have been reported to improve NAFLD through amelioration of inflammation. While there are contradictory results regarding the serum endocan levels in NAFLD patients, data regarding endocan expression in liver tissue are limited. Aim: Herein, we aimed to investigat...

Background: A large body of evidence is supporting that the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events is increasing signfiicantly after the menopausal transition. Primary prevention practices continue to propose evolving algorithms, in an attempt to accurately estimate the actual female cardiovascular risk at midlife. Irrespectively of these attempts, considerable unrecognized cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk remains unexplained, beyond traditional risk factors (TRFs). On th...