Endocrine Abstracts

Hirsutism in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance. The insulin sensitising agent metformin can reduce hyperandrogenism in women with PCOS. Conventional treatment for hirsutism in such women is combined anti-androgen and estrogen (Dianette; Schering Ltd). The aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of Dianette with metformin (Glucophage; Merck, 500mgs tds) in the treatment of hirsutism in women wit...

Introduction: Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is a rare but well-known cause of acute pancreatitis, which can be fatal with an overall mortality rate of 36-50% in the most severe forms.Case presentation: A 29-year-old patient was admitted to the emergency department with abdominal pain, bilious vomiting and alteration of general condition. Physical examination showed hemodynamic shock with diffuse abdominal tenderness. The Laboratory results showed a serum li...

A 28 years old lady presented at 21 weeks gestation with bipedal oedema and 4 week history of easy bruising and weakness and aching of the thighs. She had no significant past medical history and had prior uneventful pregnancy 17 months previously. On examination she was hypertensive (180/100 mmHg), had puffy face, prominent abdominal striae and bilateral leg oedema. Serum potassium was 2.6 mmol/l and random plasma glucose was 8.6 mmol/l. OGTT confirmed gestational diabetes and...

The pathogenesis of gonadotrophin secreting pituitary tumours (gonadotrophinomas) remains poorly understood. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are important for the control of cell proliferation and differentiation and BMP2 is essential for commitment of undifferentiated pituitary cells to the gonadotroph cell lineage. In addition, BMPs have been implicated in tumourigenesis in a variety of tissues, associated with up-regulated expression of Id (Inhibitors of differentiation)...

Introduction: Insulinomas are the most common form of functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET) with an estimated incidence of 1–3/million per year. Less than 10% are malignant and rarely with distant metastases, carrying a poor prognosis.Case report: We report a case of a 73-years-old woman attended at our ER for recurrent syncope, with irrelevant medical history. Several radiology exams were preformed, revealing numerous liver metastases ...

Epidemiological studies have suggested that in man low birth weight followed by rapid catch-up growth dramatically increase the risk of adulthood diabetes and metabolic syndrome. This experiment investigated the effect of a high fat, high cholesterol post-weaning diet on blood glucose levels of low (L) and normal (N) birth weight pigs.Low (L: <10thpercentile; n=6) and normal (N: 40th - 60th percentile; n=12) birth weig...

Background: Use of metformin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is becoming increasingly accepted and widespread but clinical practice is ahead of the evidence.Methods: We extracted results from the seven published studies of metformin use in PCOS that include control elements quantifiably similar to the experimental arm. We also restricted our analysis to the studies with a systematic longitudinal examination of ovulatory function and metabolic parameters....

Objectives: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is characterized by normal serum free T4 (FT4), free T3 (FT3) levels and increased serum TSH levels. Endothelial dysfunction that is accepted an early step of the atherosclerosis, has been reported in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. The aim of this study was to eveluate endothelial functions and the effect of L-thyroxine (L-T4) therapy on e...

Background: The study aimed to evaluate quality-of-life (QoL) aspects and impact of vitamin D deficiency in primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT).Method: 150 consecutive patients (119 women) with pHPT (mean age 60±11 years; BMI 27±5 kg/m2; ionized calcium 1.44±0.08 mmol/l; PTH 130±69 ng/l) were included. Six weeks postoperatively, the pHPT patients were reexamined and randomized (double-blind) to daily substitution with calciu...

Low birth weight infants have higher mortality rates and are at a greater risk of impaired immunity in later life than are their normal-birth-weight counterparts. The aim was to investigate the effect of maternal dietary fat supplementation during the first or second half of gestation on the plasma immunoglobulin A concentration in her offspring.Six pregnant sows were randomly allocated to receive 10% extra energy derived from dietary fat during either t...