Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Diets rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) n-3 may change the fluidity and composition of membrane phospholipids, leading to different prostanoids formation, decreasing IL-1β and TNFα releases and increasing the basal levels of corticosterone, important factors to promote acute phase response (APR) to stimuli. This study proposes to verify if PUFA n-3 or n-6 rich diets alters the APR of fibrinogen and haptoglobin after turpentine stimulus.<p cla...

Background: Recent consensus recommends assessment of aortic dimensions with aortic sized index (ASI) normalized for body surface area (BSA) defined as absolute aortic dimension/BSA, in girls with Turner syndrome (TS) as young as 10 years. There are currently multiple formulae for estimating BSA without agreement on a preferred method. We assess the clinical validity of each formulae as this may have implications on interpretation of ASI.Method: We calcu...

ACTH is a 39 amino acids polypeptide which stimulates adrenocortical steroid production. The N-terminal segment of ACTH(1–24) is biologically active and the C-terminal is considered to have greater antigenicity. In one previous (‘RoSA’) and one current (‘RADS2’) clinical trial synthetic ACTH (zinc tetracosactide; depot synacthen) was administered to autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) patients to stimulate adrenocortical regeneration. 4/13 RoSA pat...

Thyroid hormones increase foetal and adult metabolic rates, and, in adult tissues, increase mitochondrial biogenesis. Foetal tri-iodothyronine (T3) concentrations rise towards term in preparation for the increased postnatal energy demands but whether they affect mitochondrial development remains unknown. This study examined mitochondrial development in skeletal muscle of thyroid hormone deficient sheep foetuses near term.At 105–110 days (...

Introduction: Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) is a fatty acid chaperone that facilitates the efflux of free fatty acid from cytoplasm into circulation. Previous studies show that A-FABP knockout (KO) mice are more susceptible to diet-induced obesity comparing to wild type (WT) littermates. Here we investigate the underlying mechanism of A-FABP in the regulation of diet-induced obesity.Methods: A-FABP KO mice and their WT littermates were fe...

Women with CAH have decreased fertility and sexual activity because of psychological aspects and genital status. The aim of this study was to evaluate sexual function and psychological attitudes in 18 women with CAH due to 21-HD (12 with non-classical, four with salt-wasting and two with simple virilizing CAH; 20–48 yrs) under standard treatment, and 18 age-matched healthy women. Sexual function was evaluated by a validated Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnair...

Introduction: Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) has been associated with bone mass abnormalities and with an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures.Objective: Evaluate the effect of treatment on the 10-year probability of fracture predicted by FRAX® and on the overall bone profile, in patients with CS.Patients and Methods: We evaluated 36 patients (6 M, 30 F, 12 post-menopausal, mean-age 43.6±13.5), 22 with Cushin...

Background: Recent studies have suggested extensive associations between plasma levels of vitamin D and hepatobiliary diseases including viral hepatitis B or C. In hepatitis C, vitamin D deficiency may lead to a poor prognosis and a poor response to antiviral treatment. CHB has different pathophysiology. There has been no study on the association of vitamin D level and the ALT level in CHB patients, and it is not known whether vitamin D levels are associated with host response...

Introduction: Acromegaly secondary to an extrapituitary source of GH or GHRH is rare, usually associated with bronchial/thymic carcinoids, neuroendocrine enteropancreatic tumors or extrasellar somatotropinomas. Few series of acromegalic patients with negative pituitary imaging and lack of an ectopic source are reported in the literature.Methods: We report the clinical history and the laboratory and imaging results of an acromegalic woman with no clear ev...

Introduction: Pheochromocytoma occasionally associates with pathological lesions of the adrenal cortex. We report a case of non-functional adrenocortical nodular hyperplasia with a concomitant pheochromocytoma in the controlateral adrenal and empty sella.Case report: We describe the case of a 52 year old women with a history of essential hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. She complained of: nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting and constipation. The c...