Endocrine Abstracts

It is well established that neonatal mortality is greater in the leaner commercial (C) porcine genotypes compared to the ancient Meishan (M) breed, which has a higher percentage of body fat. Piglets do not express UCP1, responsible for heat production in neonatal mammals, although they do express UCP2. The aim of this study was to investigate the endocrine and metabolic control of UCP2 expression between the C and M genotypes.Piglets from 15 C and 15 M l...

Introduction: There is a large body of evidence to suggest that the GH axis plays an important role in brain myelination. However, results from studies in humans with an abnormal GH axis have varied and therefore there remains no consensus as to whether the GH/IGF1 axis plays a significant role in neural development. No previous studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) a sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique for studying brain white matter tracts, to add...

Overt hypercortisolism causes reduction in bone mass and density. The effects of subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) on bone markers and structure are still debated. We therefore studied 56 patients with adrenal incidentaloma: group A=35 (20 F 15 M, age 43–79, mean 64.6±1.5; BMI 29.9±0.9 kg/m2) without evidence of hypercortisolism, and group B=21 (10 F 11 M, age 51–76, mean 63.4±1.9, BMI 28.0±1.2 kg/m2) with SCS (i.e. w...

Introduction: The true prevalence of clinically relevant pituitary adenomas has been reevaluated at 1/1064 of the population (1). Among them, prolactinomas represent the majority with a prevalence of 1/2000. They occur usually in females, aged 20–50 Y.O., and 80% are microadenomas. Nearly 5% of prolactinomas appear in a familial or genetic setting (MEN-1 or FIPA) (2). Cabergoline is proposed as the first line therapy and is usually efficient to normalize prolactin (PRL) l...

Introduction: Autoimmune disease is a rare event occurring after remission of Cushing’s syndrome. We report on the appearance of new onset vitiligo in a patient treated for Cushing disease due to a an invasive pituitary adenoma, after bilateral adrenalectomy.Case report: A 64-year-old man presented to our endocrinology clinic with progressive lumbar pain that had developed two months earlier. He had undergone bilateral adrenalectomy for Cushing&#146...

Background of Study: Some medications for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus fail to achieve a continuous favorable glucose control in the long run during clinical use. Therefore we examined the durability of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, sitagliptin which is relatively new to Japanese type 2 diabetic patients in clinical settings.Objectives and Methods: 117 subjects (M/F=65/52, Age: 66±10 y.o., duration of diabetes 12±8 y. b...

Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH-ant) may exert their antiproliferative effects directly on cancer cells, which are mediated by the tumoral GHRH receptors identified by us. Furthermore we showed that GHRH-ant are able to induce apoptosis in LNCaP human prostate cancer cells through a Ca2+-dependent pathway. However, the molecular features involved in the antiproliferative effect of GHRH-ant have not yet been elucidated. To study this, gene expression profi...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) results from loss of paternally imprinted gene(s) from the 15q 11-13 region and is characterised by weight faltering during early childhood due to hypotonia, followed by obesity due to onset of the hyperphagic phase.Aim of study: To determine the presence of an age zone during which excessive weight gain is particularly likely, in order to target counselling and dietary input.Method: Body mas...

Objective: The structure of psychological and somatic complaints of aging male patients in relation to sex hormone patterns and metabolism has not been fully elucidated, especially in regard to late-onset hypogonadism.Methods: We investigated the nature of complaints in 434 consecutive patients aged 50–86 years attending our andrology unit and their association with physical characteristics, life style habits and sex hormone levels.<p class="abs...

Objective: The present study designed to assess the effect of Mg+Zn, vitamin C+E, and combination of these micronutrients on blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients.Materials and methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial, 69 type 2 diabetic patients were randomly divided into four groups, each group receiving one of the following daily supplement for 3 months; group M: 200 mg and 30 mg Zn (n=16), group V: 200 mg...