Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hyperthyroidism-associated myocardial infarction with normal epicardial coronary arteries on angiogram is seldom reported.Case report: A 61-year-old Caucasian man, resident in an iodine sufficient area, presented with chest pain in the emergency unit. ECG revealed inferolateral myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation. Soon after admission, the patients developed collapse due to primary ventricular fibrillation, requiring defibrillat...

It is a widely accepted concept that G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are able to form homo- and heterodimers. The physiological relevance of these interactions is of utmost importance.Recently, we demonstrated that due to co-expression of two key players of hypothalamic body weight regulation, the melanocortin 3 receptor (MC3R) and ghrelin receptor (GHSR), signalling of the MC3R is enhanced (hyperstimulation) as compared to activation of MC3R alone. ...

Ovariectomized (OVX) rats are commonly used for the investigation of estrogenic compounds in vivo. We previously showed that estrogen treated OVX animals apparently respond differently to Genistein (GEN) treatment than hormonally intact animals. An observation, that indicated that progestins might interfere in the estradiol (E2)–GEN interaction.As the molecular effects of GEN seem to be modified by progesterone (P4), its...

Somatic mutations of the αs subunit of G proteins were initially reported by Landis and collaborators in 1989 in somatotroph tumors characterized by markedly high cAMP levels. These mutations are localized at two critical sites concerning the intrinsic guanosine triphosphatase activity of the protein leading to a constitutive activation of the adenylyl cyclase. The mutated protein has been named the gsp oncogene. On the other hand, Gsα mRNA level varied among ...

Introduction: There is indirect evidence of unfavorable effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on glucose metabolism. Teriparatide (recombinant human PTH 1-34 - TPTD) has been recently available for the treatment of osteoporosis.Aim: To evaluate the acute and chronic effect of TPTD on blood glucose and insulin levels in women with established osteoporosis.Patients and methods: Twenty-three postmenopausal women with established osteop...

Free radicals are continuously produced during normal metabolism. They play important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, carcinogenesis, degenerative processes of the brain and skin, and some diseases connected with aging. Among several natural antioxidants, estrogens are important free-radical scavengers due to the hydroxyphenolic structure of their molecules Some authors have suggested that estrogens may also influence the activity of the cellular antioxidative enz...

Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) deficiency in mice and humans results in a syndrome of severe obesity, hyperphagia and adrenal insufficiency. We have used mice heterozygous for a null mutation in the Pomc allele (Pomc+/-) to determine if POMC haploinsufficiency results in disordered energy homeostasis or adrenal hypofunction.When fed standard lab diet (SLD, 4.5% fat) Pomc+/-were similar in weight to wild type (WT) mice thr...

Mutations of parafibromin, which is a 531 amino acid protein, are associated with the hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumour (HPT-JT) syndrome. HPT-JT is an autosomal dominant disease that is characterised by the occurrence of parathyroid tumours, which are commonly malignant, and ossifying fibromas of the jaw bones. To date 13 different inactivating germline mutations (3 nonsense, 9 frameshift and one missense altering the initiation codon) of PARAFIBROMIN have been identified in HPT...

Context: Most of the clinical data on safety profile of desmopressin (DDAVP), i.e. an effective treatment of both polyuric conditions and bleeding disorders, originates from studies on tailoring of drug treatment, whereas few reports describe severe side effects secondary to drug–drug interaction.Objective: To describe a case of severe hyponatremia complicated with seizure and coma due to the intake of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) ...

Objective: Remission of Cushing’s disease (CD) in the postoperative vary between 55–85%, recurrence of up to 25%. Remission and recurrence rates vary dependent on tumor size and neurosurgical expertise. The objective of this study is to describe whether there are clinical data that help us to predece recurrence of CD after transsphenoidal surgery (TSS).Patients and Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients who underwent as TSS for CD. Varia...