Endocrine Abstracts

South Asian people have a lower threshold for obesity related complications than Caucasians and as a result have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) for a given BMI. Premature biological ageing, assessed by reduction in telomere length (TL), may be mediated by factors resulting from altered metabolic profiles associated with obesity and insulin resistance. We therefore hypothesised that IR is associated with altered metabolic profiles and t...

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Recent research has investigated the role of mitochondria in skeletal muscle and suggesting mitochondrial dysregulation may be linked to T2DM. To date few studies have focused on the role of human adipose tissue (AT) in energy homoeostasis. Therefore we investigated a number of mitochondrial genes including PPARγ co-activator1 (PGC1α, mitochondrial biogen...

Central obesity is strongly associated with sub-clinical inflammation, insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the intracellular mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis remain unclear. Recent Murine studies have implicated C-jun N terminal kinase (JNK) as an important molecule linking insulin action and inflammation, therefore we investigated JNK in human abdominal adipose tissue (AT). JNK expression/activity was assessed in abdominal subcutaneous (Abd...

Visfatin, a novel adipocytokine preferentially expressed in omental (Om) adipose tissue (AT), has been shown to exert insulin-mimetic effects in mice and humans. Recent studies in Asian populations show elevated serum visfatin levels in subjects with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), suggesting a potential role for visfatin in the pathogenesis of this disease. Whilst central adiposity is closely related to IR and T2DM, the role of AT in the development of these conditions remai...

Introduction: This study aimed to examine whether altered Heart Rate Variability (HRV) could predict the risk of development of metabolic syndrome (MetSD) in Asians.Methods: We investigated health checkup records of 33 752 adults aged 20–65 years old who did health checkups and HRV measurement between April 2011 and June 2014 at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, without MetSD, anemia, thyroid disease, malignancy, and heart disease. A 3-minute HRV recording ...

Introduction: The availability of the body’s most abundant amino acid, glutamine is compromised in obesity-associated diabetes. This may impair glucose metabolism by increasing hepatic insulin resistance, oxidative stress and the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Objective: Evaluate the effects of free and dipeptide (DIP, L-alanyl-L-glutamine) forms of L-glutamine on glucose metaboli...

Background and objectivesTAS2R38 is a bitter taste gene that can influence food consumption depending on its single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) leading to aminoacid substitutions in the receptor protein P49A (proline/alanine), A262V (alanine/valine) e V296I (valine/isoleucine). Subjects with at least one PAV (proline-alanine-valine) copy are bitter tasters, while AVI homozygotes are non-tasters. Other variants have intermediate bitter tasting: AAV&#6...

Introduction Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) is a known driver of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, with elevated levels detected in the circulation in disease. We studied the tissue expression of VAP-1 in midgut NETs and carcinoid heart disease (CHD) alongside circulating soluble VAP-1 (sVAP-1) to determine the role of VAP-1 in NETs.Methods Expression of VAP-1 and inflammatory and stromal markers in midgut NETs tissue, CHD valves and control valves...

Introduction: Although lifestyle measures and medical therapy are the cornerstone of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) management, achieving optimal glycemic control in T2DM patients with obesity remains challenging. There is strong and consistent evidence that bariatric surgery (BS) is an effective strategy to improve glycemia in diabetic patients and often leads to remission of T2DM in patients with obesity. The majority of the published literature supporting T2DM remission after BS ha...

Background: Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a rare disorder characterized by pronounced and symptomatic hypo secretion of growth hormone (GH) from the anterior pituitary gland. Biochemical tests are used as part of the diagnosis in both children and adults but controversies remain as regards whom, when, and how to test, and also how to interpret a given biochemical test result.Aim: To map the current clinical practice of GHD diagnosing in children and...