Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Many studies have shown that cigarette smoking exerts multiple effects on the thyroid gland. Smoking seems to induce changes in thyroid function tests, like a left-shift in serum TSH level that is more apparent in iodine-deficient subjects and increase in thyroid hormones. We describe the effect of an intensive thyroxine intravenous treatment in severe hypothyroid patients and the results depending on their smoking status.Material and metho...

Introduction: The endoplasmic reticulum enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase catalyzes the common terminal reaction in the gluconeogenic and glycogenolytic pathways and plays a central role in glucose homeostasis. In most mammals, different G6PC subunits are encoded by three paralogous genes (G6PC, G6PC2, and G6PC3). Mutations in G6PC and G6PC3 are responsible for human Mendelian diseases, whereas variants in G6PC2 are associated with fasting glucose (FG) levels.<p class="abstext"...

Background: Octreotide s.c. depot is a novel, ready-to-use formulation administered via a thin needle, which may allow self-administration. In a phase 1 study in healthy volunteers, octreotide s.c. depot provided greater bioavailability with faster onset and greater IGF1 suppression than long-acting octreotide. Here, we present data from a phase 2 study evaluating pharmacokinetics (PK), efficacy, safety, and tolerability of octreotide s.c. depot in patients with acromegaly and...

Introduction: Incidental focal uptake in the thyroid gland is detected in 1%–2% of 18FDG-PET examinations. FNA is recommended due to an increased risk of malignancy (25–50%), but these figures are extracted from the studied cases (about a half). Moreover there is controversy about the maximum standardized uptake value (Suvmax) ability to discriminate between benign or malignant nodules.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 4207 FDG-PE...

Transcription factors (TFs) regulate gene expression by interacting with chromatinized DNA response elements (REs). Access to these elements is dramatically restricted by chromatin organization, and modification of the nucleoprotein structure to allow factor binding is a key feature of cell selective gene regulation (Molecular Cell 29:611, 2008; Molecular Cell 43:145, 2011). Local transitions in chromatin access (often characterized as DNaseI hypersensitive sites (DHSs)) are o...

Glucocorticoid actions in the brain are mediated by glucocorticoid receptors (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MR). MR and GR bind endogenously circulating glucocorticoids, share a hormone response element in DNA, and are co-expressed in neurons of the hippocampus and hypothalamus. This arrangement suggests MR and GR functionally cooperate in the regulation of gene expression though hitherto poorly described mechanisms. This possibility was previously exampled by the demon...

Metabolic syndrome and obesity are principal causes of morbidity all over the world, particularly for their association to cardiovascular risk. There is now an obesity worldwide epidemic (Globesity). Amerindians are often living in countries and remote areas with unavailable sophisticated diagnoses methodologies. However, waist circumference is a reliable and easy to record parameter of visceral obesity and MS. Waist circumference normal values are not yet established in Ameri...

Background: Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies are the cornerstone of preoperative evaluation of thyroid nodules, but FNA diagnostic performance has varied across different studies. We conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound guided FNA in the thyroid nodule and to review the correlation between cytopathology and histopathology.Methods: Prospective FNAs were collected from 332 patients who underwent thyroid surgery between 2008 an...

Background: Subclinical hyperthyroidism (SHT) is associated with harmful effects on cardiovascular system, bone metabolism and progression to clinical hyperthyroidism. Loss of weight is a common fact in patients with clinical hyperthyroidism and of particular relevance in elderly patients, who are vulnerable to sarcopenia.Objective: To assess changes in body composition after radioiodine therapy for SHT due to toxic nodular goitre....

Introduction: Vasoactive intestinal peptide-producing tumours (VIPomas) represent a rare type of neuroendocrine tumour whose incidence is 1 in 10 million per year. Most are located in the pancreas. They cause diffuse watery (secretory) diarrhoea, hypokalaemia and achlorhydria and also appear as an uncommon cause of hypercalcaemia.Case report A 69-year-old female with previous diagnosis of a ‘non-functioning’ neuroendocrine pancreatic tumour (20...