Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The most important aspect in the diagnostic approach of thyroid nodule is identifying the malignancy. Elastography is a newly technique that measures the elasticity of tissue, after applying a external force, standardized control. US elastography is currently used in differentiation of malignant from benign lesions.Material, Method: This prospective study included 69 patients, mean age 50.08±12.43 years, 67 females and 2 men, with thyroi...

Background: Conventional ultrasound remains the most used imaging evaluation in case of a thyroid nodule.Material, method: This prospective study included 69 patients (107 nodules). Conventional and Doppler ultrasound was performed with a HITACHI EUB 7500 HV machine with 6–13 MHz variable frequency linear probe, with Doppler software. All patients underwent surgery after complete evaluation.Postsurgical histopathological exam was performed. We analy...

Objectives: Elderly men often show a concurrence of a decline of testosterone with features of the metabolic syndrome.Materials and methods: One hundred and twenty-two men of a mean age of 59.5±6.0 years, with baseline testosterone 5.9–12.1 nmol/l were treated with parenteral testosterone undecanoate for 42 months as the sole intervention.Results: Plasma testosterone rose from 9.3±1.7 to 18.7±2.1 nmol/l reaching...

Objectives: To investigate the safety of the administration of long-acting parenteral testosterone undecanoate (TU) to hypogonadal, mainly elderly men.Design and methods: One hundred and twenty-two men of a mean age of 59.5±6.0 years, with baseline testosterone 5.9–12.1 nmol/l were treated with parenteral TU. These 122 patients were followed for 42 months.Results: Plasma levels of testosterone rose from 9.3±1.7 to 18...

Since ancient times, physicians have speculated that balneotherapy (therapeutic bathing in medicinal and thermal springs) has a stress-relieving effect, but this has not yet been scientifically established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the stress-relieving effects of short-term balneotherapy in a controlled trial by measuring salivary cortisol as a sensitive stress marker. Forty-nine healthy probands were randomised into three intervention groups. Group one performed ...

In 2007 a genome wide association study linked SNPs in intron 1 of FTO with an increased body mass index. Individuals with the ‘risk’ allele are on average 3 kg heavier than those with the ‘protective’ allele. Furthermore, those with the ‘risk’ allele have demonstrated greater energy intake. Mouse models of FTO have been generated including a conditional overexpression allele of FTO, which has 2 additional copies of FTO (FTO-4). These mice have in...

Introduction: Adrenal incidentaloma are becoming very frequent. Bilateral adrenocortical adenomas are a rare cause of ACTH-independent Cushing syndrome.Clinical case: A 64-year-old hypertensive woman presented with bilateral adrenal incidentaloma detected on the evaluation as a living kidney donor candidate. She was normotensive (129/87 mmHg) on monotherapy, BMI – 24.8 kg/m2, with no recent weight gain, hirsutism, striae or mood disturban...

Introduction: Cortisol insufficiency has been reported following cardiac surgery in infants but has not been associated with postoperative complications. In our hospital serum cortisol is measured following cardiac surgery when hypotension is refractory to two inotropes at maximal dose.Methods: Retrospective case note study to describe features of adrenal insufficiency in post-operative cardiac patients with low serum cortisol.Resu...

Background: Bone densitometry by DXA is now considered routine part of clinical management of children at risk of osteoporosis. Data on activity of a paediatric DXA service would be helpful for service planning but are currently lacking.Aim: A survey of referrals to the service and size-adjusted total body (TB) and lumbar spine (LS) bone mineral content for bone-area standard deviation scores (BMC for BA SDS) were obtained from the local database.<p ...

Context: Androgen excess may contribute to the increased body iron stores of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) by stimulating erythropoietic activity.Objective: To estimate iron stores and erythropoietic activity in premenopausal women, considering simultaneously the effects of PCOS, obesity and abnormal glucose tolerance.Design: Case–control study.Settings: Academic hospital.Patien...