Endocrine Abstracts

LH hyper-secretion, driven by increased GnRH pulsatility, underpins excess testosterone secretion – a key clinical feature of PCOS.The kisspeptin-neurokinin B (NKB)-GnRH pathway has emerged as the pivotal regulator of reproduction. We hypothesised that pharmacologic blockade of NKB may address the central pathophysiology of LH hyper-secretion and hyperandrogenism in PCOS. We undertook a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled multi-centre Phase...

Objective: Cilostazol, a selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 3, which has been widely used in patients with atherosclerotic diseases, is known to have additional beneficial effects on dyslipidemia. ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) plays a critical role in the regulation of intracellular cholesterol levels in hepatocytes. We aimed to investigate the effect of Cilostazol on hepatic steatosis and its underlying mechanism related to ABCA1.Met...

Introduction: The mortality rate from cardiovascular disease (CVD) among young adults has declined less than that in the older population, raising concerns about the increasing prevalence of obesity-related conditions including hypercholesterolemia in the younger population. We investigated the age-standardized mean levels of serum cholesterols and the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rates of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia based on age.Methods: N...

We previously showed that progesterone (P4) regulates p53 expression and cell cycle progress in human umbilical venous endothelial cells (HUVEC) through progesterone receptor (PR) activation of extra-nuclear signaling pathways. Here, we showed that P4 activated the PR and hence increased the formation of progesterone receptor A-(PR-A)-NF-κB complex in both the cytosol and the nucleus. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated an interaction between PR and the NF-κB ...

Aims: To investigate the mechanism of α-lipoic acid (ALA) on preventing diabetes, we evaluated the effect of ALA on growth regulation and composition of skeletal muscle.Methods: OLETF and LETO rats, aged 24 weeks, were treated with or without ALA (100 mg/kg body weight/day in drinking water) and / or insulin (insulin glargine, 2 U/kg body weight/day; subcutaneous injection) for 8 weeks.Results: The treatment of ALA with or wit...

AIM: To assess efficacy of GH replacement and safety of stopping treatment in patients aged over 60 years.METHODS: GH-deficient patients were started on GH 0.13 miligram per day and the dose titrated over 4 months to a serum IGF-1 in the upper half of the age-related normal range. After 4 months titration, patients were randomised to either continuing GH or placebo in a double-blind, cross-over study with 2 x 4 month periods of either GH or placebo treatment.RESULTS: 1...

Silent corticotroph adenomas (SCAs) are difficult to distinguish from other non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) preoperatively. This study assessed the preoperative clinical parameters associated with SCAs. After excluding patients with increased 24-h urinary free cortisol, 341 patients who underwent surgery for NFPAs during 2011–2016 with available preoperative combined pituitary function test (CPFT) and immunohistochemical staining results were enrolled. The pati...

Background: The optimal initial surgical extent for medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) remains controversial. Aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of serum calcitonin and carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) to predict the extent of surgery needed in the lateral neck in patients with MTC.Methods: This retrospective multicenter cohort study included data from patients with MTC surgically treated in the 6 tertiary medical centers in Korea from 1996 to 202...

Intrathyroidal thymic carcinoma (ITTC) is a rare thyroid malignancy. Its histology resembles that of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the thyroid. However, ITTC shows a much more favorable prognosis than SCC. We analyzed the backgrounds and clinicopathological features of 10 patients who treated with ITTC in our medical center. Five patients was male, and another five was female. The average tumor size was 4mm, and it ranged from maximum 68mm to minimum 13mm. In pre-operative ...

Background: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is associated with the highest mortality risk of any thyroid-arising tumor; however, there is currently no effective therapy for ATC, and multimodal therapy is associated with a relatively high mortality risk. Here, we investigated the effects of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy on patients with ATC treated with paclitaxel and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).Methods: The medical records of 157 pati...