Endocrine Abstracts

Infertility is a global health problem that affects about 15% of couples and approximately half of infertility cases are associated with male factors. Oxidative Stress (OS) is reported as one of the major causes of male infertility, mainly due to spermatozoa’s vulnerability to the attack of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Infertile couples often recur to assisted reproductive technology (ART) to achieve a successful pregnancy. However, ART protocols also increase the expos...

Aims: To examine whether Graves’ disease (GD) and Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) are associated with insulin resistance (IR) and other cardiovascular risk factors. Patients and methods: We analyzed 479 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease, 354 (74%) with HT and 126 (26%) with GD, 94% woman, with a mean age of 46±16 years. The patients in both groups were properly treated in order to normalize TSH, FT3 and FT4 levels. We recorded thyroid function...

Clinical caseIntroduction: Insulinoma is a rare disorder with an estimated incidence of 1 case per 250 000 people per year.Case report: 37 years old female, with a history of irritable bowel syndrome, dyslipidemia and kidney stones. In December 2010, she developed a headache, dizziness and visual disturbances, predominantly in the evening and amnesia for some of the episodes. Initially interpreted as peripheral vertiginous syndrome, because of recurrence...

Case report: A 50-year-old man was referred by his family doctor to the emergency room in September 2020 for intermittent abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant for several months. He also mentioned weight loss and several episodes of fever with chills. The patient was an active smoker, consumed large amounts of alcohol, and had no known medical history, nor taking any medication. At physical examination, the patient appeared pale and cachectic, with tende...

Background: Serum cystatin C is a novel marker for kidney function that has been claimed to be superior to serum creatinine. Cystatin C concentrations increased in the hyperthyroid patients and decreased in the hypothyroid patients. The cystatin C test detects kidney disease at earlier stages, before symptoms appear and creatinine levels rise. Another advantage is that, unlike creatinine, blood levels of cystatin C are less influenced by age, gender, race, or lean muscle mass,...

The leptin receptor (ObR) exists in multiple isoforms. In humans, there is no mRNA encoding soluble receptor (LBP). We investigated the hypothesis that human LBP can be generated by proteolytic cleavage of membrane anchored leptin receptors (ObRb and ObRa). LBP, of similar size to that previously detected in human serum, was detected in medium of cells transfected with ObRa by HPLC, Immunofluorometric assay, and Ligand mediated immunofluorometric assay, but not by ELISA. The L...

Background: C-peptide is an amino-acid chain which is an equimolar marker of endogenous insulin. It is used to investigate the cause of non-diabetic hypoglycaemia and classification of diabetes. C-peptide can only be interpreted with a paired venous glucose <3 mmol/l for non-diabetic hypoglycaemia, and >4 mmol/l for diabetes classification.Aims and Objectives: To determine if: 1. C-peptide tests were requested for appropriate indication 2. Tests ...

Glucocorticoids (GC) are catabolic in skeletal muscle to provide nutrients during fasting or other stressors, including inhibiting insulin-mediated glucose uptake, protein synthesis, and mitochondrial function, while stimulating proteosomal breakdown of proteins. Published work in cultured myotubes required μM GC dosing to see these effects. We found GCs to show low nM activity in myotubes by using a more physiologically relevant setting, including nutrient deprivation an...

Background: Multiple studies have shown that approximately 50-70% of patients with MEN1 die of causes directly related to MEN1 particularly gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). While non-functional GEP-NETs are the most common in the general population, gastrinomas (40%) are the most common functional GEP-NETs in patients with MEN1. c-Met is a proto-oncogene that encodes for c-MET, a tyrosine kinase receptor which promotes tumor cell motility, proliferati...

The Androgen Receptor (AR) is a ligand dependent transcription factor that regulates the development and maintenance of the male reproductive system. Previous studies in AIS have demonstrated ligand binding domain mutations resulting in decreased trans-activation activity through reduced N-terminal/C-terminal interaction of the AR, despite unaltered ligand binding ability.We have introduced mutations in the hinge region of the Androgen Receptor (AR) and assessed the effect...