Endocrine Abstracts

Background: A common request at an endocrine outpatient clinic is to rule out acromegaly in a patient with acromegaloid features. It is important to do so, since the excessive excretion of growth hormone can result in various serious comorbidities. But when growth hormone-IGF-1 axis abnormalities are excluded, the physician faces a diagnostic dilemma. Here we provide a systematic approach to these patients.Methods: We present a case series of patients vi...

Introduction: Growth hormone (GH) is not only important for growth during childhood. Also, for (young) adults, growth hormone is important for bone mass, muscle strength and metabolism. GH deficiency (GHD) is a condition that can cause a broad range of adult health issues, if left untreated. Therefore on one hand, it is important to confirm and treat GHD after transfer to adult care. On the other hand, the personal and financial burden of unnecessary growth hormone in...

Introduction: NICE recommends specific annual health checks for children and young people (CYP) with diabetes aged 12 years and over to check for health of feet, kidneys, thyroid and eyes in addition to BP, BMI and HbA1c. Historically, we included annual review care processes into regular diabetes multi-disciplinary clinics. In 2017, our service was identified as negative outlier in the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit for completion of health care processes. In particular, ...

The past decade, epidemiological studies have associated disturbances of the biological clock, as occurs in shift work, with low bone mineral density and increased fracture risk. As a large part of the working population participates in shift work (e.g. almost 30% of workers in the U.S.), this demonstrates the need for further research on the risk of skeletal disorders associated with circadian disturbances. In this study, we aimed to investigate to what extent rhythmicity exi...

Background: Data from the literature has documented a remarkable immune-modulating role of prolactin. Previous evaluations of prolactin levels in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), disease of autoimmune origin, showed conflicting results. Thus, to clarify the impact of prolactin on MS pathology we decided to assess prolactin levels in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid in naïve to treatment subjects with newly diagnosed MS.Material and methods: A to...

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) is a major cardiovascular (CV) risk factor and independent predictor of the increased mortality in patients with acromegaly. Surgical cure of acromegaly is associated with improvement in blood pressure (BP) levels, however little is known on the effect of pegvisomant (PEGV) treatment on HTN.Methods/design: ACROSTUDY is an open-label, international, prospective, non-interventional study monitoring the long-term safety of P...

Background: Paragangliomas are predominantly benign tumors, but in some cases invasive growth and also metastasis is observed. Given the limited number of nonsurgical treatment options, novel target structures for diagnostics and therapy of this tumor entity are urgently needed.Aims: In the present study the expression of the five somatostatin receptor (SSTR) subtypes as well as of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and of the endothelin receptor A (ETA) was e...

Introduction: Although vitamin D is well known for its function in calcium homeostasis and bone mineralisation, several studies have shown an effect on physical function and muscle strength. Also, vitamin D has been associated with pulmonary function and the incidence of airway infections. As vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in COPD-patients, supplementation might have a beneficial effect in these patients.Objective: To assess the effect of vitam...

Introduction: In years 1996–2000, the predominance of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) (70.3%) compared to follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC; 27.0%) and medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC; 2.7%) was observed in our region. AIT coexisted in 1 PTC (2.7% of all cancers and 3.8% in PTC group).Aim: The aim of retrospective study was to analyze the coexistence of AIT and TC in years 2001-2015 in relation to years 1996–2000.Mater...

Human tissue kallikreins (KLKs) are serine proteases expressed in various organs including thyroid hormone-generating and target tissues. Besides their involvement in important physiological processes, KLKs are mainly recognized for their association with pathological conditions like cancer. Previously, KLK2 and KLK3 transcripts were detected in normal thyroid and carcinoma tissue, while the levels and subcellular distribution of KLK proteins remained largely elusive. Since th...