Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Growth of the tongue and mandible and dental pathologies are recognized consequences of untreated growth hormone excess in acromegaly. However, data on the frequency of the individual oro-dental pathologies are sparse. We, therefore, developed a self-report questionnaire on typical oro-dental changes, therapeutic measures, costs for prosthetic treatment and the role of dental professionals in the diagnostic process of acromegaly.Methods: Th...

A decade ago, genetic disruption of the kisspeptin signalling pathway was observed to cause hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. Hypothalamic kisspeptin acts by stimulating secretion of endogenous GnRH. Our research has investigated the physiological effects of kisspeptin in women, with the overarching aim of determining if kisspeptin could be used to treat women with infertility.We initially observed that s.c. bolus injection of kisspeptin acutely stimulated...

Context and objective: Active Cushing’s disease is associated with cognitive impairments. We hypothesized that previous hypercortisolism in patients with Cushing’s disease results in irreversible impairments in cognitive functioning. Therefore, our aim was to assess cognitive functioning after long-term cure of Cushing’s disease.Design: Cognitive assessment consisted of 11 tests, which evaluated global cognitive functioning, memory, and ex...

Introduction: Cytokines are produced in different tissues under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. The present study was performed to compare local concentrations of cytokines in subcutaneous adipose tissue and muscle using the open flow microperfusion (OFM) technique, as well as to investigate systemic effects of insulin on interstitial concentrations of these mediators.Methods: Ten healthy volunteers (age: 27±4 years, BMI: 22.6±...

Patients suffering from critical illness usually exhibit a characteristic functional state of thyrotropic feedback control that is referred to as non-thyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS). Today, there are still important questions unsolved, e.g. regarding the interdependence of immunological and endocrine functions in critical illness.Therefore, in the context of the prospective AQUA FONTIS study we investigated 164 patients that were treated in medical, su...

Objectives: The melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) belonging to the large superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors plays a crucial role in hypothalamic weight regulation. In approximately 3–5% of investigated obese patients inactivating MC4R mutations are the underlying molecular cause for early onset obesity. Functional characterisation revealed for specific partial loss of function MC4R mutations that restoration of receptor function is possible by usage of highly potent ...

Objective: To investigate the effect of pioglitazone on cortisol metabolism in PCOS.Design: Thirty insulin resistant PCOS patients were randomized to either 16 weeks of pioglitazone (30 mg/day) or placebo treatment. Before and after intervention, patients underwent 24 h 20 min.-integrated blood sampling for measurement of cortisol and 24 h excretion of cortisol, cortisone and steroid metabolites (cortisol, corticosteron, androgen, and 17-hydroxyprogester...

Background: Humans and other mammals need to maintain a stable core body temperature. Energy expenditure increases in response to a mild cold stimulus, this is called cold induced thermogenesis (CIT). Recently, thermogenic brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been found to play an important role for CIT in human adults. It is known that energy expenditure and CIT are acutely influenced by ambient temperature. In the present study, we investigated the effect of seasonal temperature v...

Background: Imaging of brown adipose tissue (BAT) is currently performed with combined positron emission tomography and x-ray computed tomography (PET-CT). Recent studies showed promising imaging features of BAT with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) through modified 2-point-dixon (mDixon) water-fat separation method. The aim of this study was to establish a reliable MRI-procedure for quantification of BAT volumes and weighted fat-fraction (WFF) and to correlate them to cold-in...

Objectives: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is one of the malignancies with the highest mortality among all cancers. Immune cells are highly abundant in ATC tumors and increased infiltration with tumor-associated macrophages is associated with decreased survival. We hypothesize that systemic inflammatory markers are also associated with survival in patients with ATC and are more elevated in ATC compared to poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC).<p class="abstext...