Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Lack of expression of MGMT (O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) is associated with a better tumour response to temozolomide. There are no systematic studies of MGMT expression in pituitary tumour series.Aim: We introduced MGMT immunohistochemistry for all pituitary adenoma specimens in 2011. In this study we investigated the immunohistochemical expression of MGMT in a large series of pituitary adenomas, in order to determine (1) the over...

Background: Kisspeptin stimulates hypothalamic GnRH secretion resulting in gonadotrophin release and has the potential as a future therapeutic for infertility. Previous studies have observed that kisspeptin increases LH and to a lesser degree FSH when administered to healthy women, which may limit its therapeutic potential. However, studies in women with hypothalamic amenorrhoea show that i.v. infusions of kisspeptin-54 stimulated both LH and FSH equally. Chronic s.c. infusion...

A 32-year-old women initially presented with recurrent kidney stones and was found to have nephrocalcinosis. She was found to normocalcaemic but hypercalciuric, with a plasma ionized calcium at upper-limit of normal and a PTH in lower normal range. One year later, during the first trimester of a pregnancy, she presented with severe hypercalcaemia, hypercalciuria and suppression of PTH. Extensive investigations for causes of hypercalcaemia excluded hyperparathyroidism, other en...

Background: Pituitary adenomas (PAs) in the elderly, defined as people older than 65 years, represent less than 10% of all PAs. Because of increasing life expectancy and improving health care, diagnosis PAs in this age group is increasing with time. Age-related changes and associated diseases may significantly modify the clinical presentation in these patients, delaying the diagnosis of PAs.Objective: To analyse the clinical features of PAs in elderly pa...

Aim: To evaluate whether differences exist in terms of patient, radiological, tumour characteristics and surgical complications between malignant and benign thyroidectomy.Materials and methods: 184 correlatives cases of thyroidectomy during the period from October 2011 to October 2013 are analysed. Patient, ultrasound, tumour and complication characteristics are compared. Categorical data are reported as percentages. Characteristics between the two group...

Introduction: Thyroid hormones (TH) are essential regulators of metabolism and increase energy expenditure (EE). Mitochondria-rich brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialised in thermogenesis and significantly contributes to EE. BAT contains essential components of TH action but TH transporters like MCT8 have not been characterised so far. As direct effects on O2 consumption and mitochondrial action have not been investigated before we tested MCT8 expression and direct effects o...

Introduction: Testosterone production in male testicular cells is mainly stimulated by LH, secreted by the pituitary. Recent findings have shown significant clinical associations of vitamin D seasonal rhythms and androgens in men (Wehr et al. 2010, Nimptsch et al. 2012). We aimed to elucidate associations of vitamin D and androgen synthesis on a cellular level.Methods: Human primary testicular cells, isolated from testes of braindead donors, and a cell l...

Introduction: Pheochromocytomasand paragangliomas are tumors derived from chromaffin cells which result from mutations of at least six different genes as autosomal dominant disorders.Aim: To evaluate the existence of correlations between genetic alterations and clinical data in 16 patients with pheochromocytomas and/or paragangliomas.Methods: From 2007 to 2009, 13 patients with pheochromocytoma [3 men, medium age 39 years (14&#8211...

Background: Permanent hypoparathyroidism is the most common complication of thyroid surgery with a reported incidence of 2-10% depending on the observation time, extent of surgery and underlying disease, with higher risk for total thyroidectomy and Graves disease/thyroid cancer. European data on chronic hypoparathyroidism have been reported from several countries, especially Scandinavia. We therefore aimed to add more information from Central Europe.Meth...

Background: Circulating levels of the appetite-suppressing and glucoregulatory gut hormones glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and peptide tyrosine tyrosine 3–36 (PYY3–36) are markedly increased after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (RYGB), which may contribute to some of its profound metabolic benefits in morbidly obese individuals.Objectives: To directly compare the metabolic effects of chronic systemic administration of the clinic...