Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Obesity contributes to the occurrence of many metabolic and cardiovascular complications including Type 2 diabetes, hypertension etc. Body adiposity is not just an energy store, but also an endocrine organ with elaboration of hormones and cytokines. Some of these cytokines have been implicated in the initiation and propagation of inflammation, and hence atherosclerosis.Aim: This study examined the relationship between high-sensitivity C-react...

Aims and objective: Pegylated interferon is widely used in the treatment of hepatitis C. Thyroid dysfunction (TD) is a well recognised side effect of interferon treatment. As the use of interferon therapy in hepatitis C is on the rise, we conducted an audit to determine its prevalence and to formulate local guidelines for the monitoring and management of thyroid dysfunction in these patients.Methods: A case note based retrospective audit of all patients ...

Aims: We aimed to investigate IGF1 and IGFBP3 gene polymorphisms in patients with acromegaly.Methods: We included 34 patients with acromegaly and 37 healthy subjects to study. At baseline examinations, antropometric measurements were done. Genomic DNA from the patients and controls were prepared. Serum, glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, GH, IGF1 and IGFBP3 levels of subjects were analyzed.<p class="a...

Introduction: Several haemostatic disturbances have been described in obese patients. Nevertheless, the state of coagulation inhibitors has been scarcely studied in these patients. Activated protein C (APC) is the anticoagulant enzyme formed upon activation of the protein C (PC) by the thrombin-thrombomodulin complex on the surface of endothelial cells. Morbid obesity is associated to endothelial dysfunction, which could cause a reduction in APC generation.<p class="abstex...

Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), a 39 amino acid peptide is the principal regulator of adrenal steroidogenesis and is thus essential for life. ACTH mediates its effects through a cell surface G-protein coupled receptor which elevates the intracellular production of cAMP through adenylate cyclase. There have been significant difficulties in developing a suitable heterologous expression system to study the ACTH receptor (or melanocortin 2 receptor - MC2R), and we have postul...

IntroductionDirect antiviral agents (DAAs) are a real revolution in the treatment of chronic hepatitis c (CHC). It is a short-term treatment with few side effects. Insulin resistance in patients with metabolic syndrome, causes the onset of steatosis, contributes to the progression to cirrhosis and decreases the chances of a response to treatment. The aim of our study was to evaluate the response to DAAs in patients with metablic syndrome.<p class="ab...

C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) represents a key paracrine member of the natriuretic peptide family that play an important role in the regulation of vascular tone and local blood flow. CNP is found abundantly in vascular endothelial cells and it is now clear that CNP can be released from the endothelium to act on adjacent cells, both in the vessel wall and the circulation. Thus, it has been shown that CNP hyperpolarises and dilates vascular smooth muscle in the mammalian resi...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (PNETs) may occur as part of the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) syndrome, or as a non-familial isolated endocrinopathy. Current medical treatments for PNETs are largely ineffective in preventing tumour progression, so there is a need for better therapies, which will develop from an improved understanding of the mechanisms driving PNET tumorigenesis. Cytokine-driven inflammation has been implicated in the development and progression...

Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) is a phosphatonin produced by osteocytes in response to serum phosphate concentration. Immunoassays are widely employed to detect C-terminal fragments of FGF-23 (cFGF-23). Quantitative assays for intact FGF-23 (iFGF-23) measurement are also available. Causes of increased FGF-23 include Tumour Induced Osteomalacia (TIO), X-linked hypophosphataemic rickets (XLH) and end stage renal disease (ESRD). We observed that some individuals, with no id...

Background: Lamin A/C mutations show heterogeneous phenotypes expanding from cardiopathies to lipodystrophies. R482-LMNA gene mutation is the hot-spot for familial partial lipodystrophic syndromes (FPLD2) and is characterized by an increase of intra-abdominal (visceral) fat. In contrast, the visceral fat phenotype of non-R482-LMNA mutated patients has not been well studied.Objectives: To compare the fat amount and visceral repartition o...