Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) in children is associated with future risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease in adults. In the pediatric population lifestyle interventions alone are often insufficient.Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of orlistat in obese adolescents with MS.Design: A 6 month open, comparative, randomized study of 60 obese adolescents (aged 12–17 years; mean bod...

Aim: In this study, our aim is to evaluate the ultrasonographic features and histopathologic results of the thyroid nodules which are defined as AUS and contribute to the therapeutic approach of these nodules.Methods: We evaluated 95 nodules of 92 patients, who have nodular or multinodular goiter and had diagnosed AUS at least in one nodule with fine-needle aspiration (FNA). Patients’ thyroid function tests, ultrasonographic features of the nodules ...

Objectives: To characterize the possible role of the osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) system in thalassemia-related bone loss.Background: Osteoporosis represents an important cause of morbidity in patients with β-thalassemia major and its aetiology is multifactorial.Methods: Serum concentrations of OPG, RANKL, markers of bone turnover and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) were mea...

Insulinoma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor (4 cases/1000000/year), less than 10% are malignant. We report a case of rapidly fatal malignant insulinoma, death occurring less than 3 months after the apparition of hypoglycaemic symptoms.A 79 years old female type 2 diabetic patient, treated with glicazide120 mg b.i.d and metformine et 850 t.i.d, was hospitalized for recurrent hypoglycaemia Insulinoma was diagnosed as severe hypoglycaemic episodes occurred mo...

PCOS is the most common endocrine disorder of premenopausal women. The in utero testosterone-treated ewe shares several key features with PCOS women (sub/infertility, multi-follicular ovaries, hypersecretion of gondotrophins and androgens) and, therefore, may be a useful animal model for this condition. In addition to reproductive abnormalities, PCOS women are at increased risk of hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to determine if similar metab...

Backround: Recent research has heightened the controversy surrounding the effects of conventional hormone replacement therapy on cardiovascular risk, suggesting that use of HRT is associated with an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Testosterone has also been associated with unfavourable cardiovascular parameters and the addition of testosterone to HRT may augment the risk of cardiovascular events in postmenopausal women.Aim: To elucida...

INTRODUCTION: Although IGF-I is considered to reflect the daily GH secretion, its value in establishing the diagnosis of adult growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and in predicting the presence of further anterior pituitary deficits has not been elucidated in a large series.AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of a subnormal IGF-I in patients with GHD and to investigate whether a low IGF-I is associated with the presence of further anterior pituitary defi...

Large databases facilitate the examination of those factors, which may determine response to treatment, potentially to develop prediction models. We have used KIMS (Pfizer's international metabolic database of GH-treated adults), to examine parameters that might predict clinical response to GH therapy in hypopituitary adults.Patients/methods: Patients with non-functioning pituitary adenoma on GH titrated to maintain serum IGF-I between minus 2 and 2 SDS,...

The prognosis of differentiated thyroid cancers is influenced by their ability to accumulate iodine and hence their sensitivity to ablative 131I therapy. Radioiodine concentration is mediated by the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS). We have previously identified PTTG and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) as potential prognostic indicators for differentiated thyroid cancers. Furthermore, we demonstrated that FGF-2 reduces iodide uptake in FRTL5 cells and primary human ...

The physiological effects of glucocorticoids (GCs) are, at least in part, mediated by an inhibition of cell proliferation. More contentious is their anti-proliferative action and possible tumour modifying effects in neoplastic tissues. Central to the action of GCs in target tissues is the expression and function of two isozymes of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11beta-HSD) that serve to interconvert active cortisol (F) and inactive cortisone (E). 11beta-HSD type 1 (11bet...