Endocrine Abstracts

Background: TPTD treatment has been shown to reduce vertebral and non-vertebral fracture risk in postmenopausal osteoporosis efficiently. However, gains in bone mass achieved by this treatment are almost lost 2 years after cessation of treatment, unless consecutively followed by an antiresorptive treatment such as alendronate.Subjects and methods: In the present prospective randomised open-labelled study in 52 pmp women, we investigated the effect of eit...

Elderly residents are at high risk for vitamin D deficiency due to immobilization or little opportunity of uv exposure. Decreased cutaneous capacity to form cholecalciferol and diets low in calcium and vitamin D add to this problem.In a prospective cohort study that we performed in 95 institutions in four different provinces of Austria we found that 93% of all patients had a 25(OH)D level ≤20 ng/ml. Aim of this study was to analyse whether differen...

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients are at high risk for vascular complications. Some of them have even a higher risk during metformin therapy, as we have recently shown by associations of polymorphisms in the Oct1 gene with a therapy-dependent increased risk of cardiovascular death. In this study, we investigated whether Oct1 gene variants were associated with cardiovascular characteristics such as pulse wave velocity (PWV), echocardiographic parameters and intima/media thickness...

Background: Although polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) constitutes a common endocrinopathy, there are several issues which confuse clinicians during everyday practice.Objective: To define the current status of knowledge of the full spectrum of PCOS among European endocrinologists.Methods: A detailed questionnaire comprising 41 items covering various aspects of diagnosis and management of women with PCOS was shared via web among memb...

Objective: Age-associated double negative (DN) B memory cells lacking surface expression of CD27 and immunoglobulin D (IgD) are associated with proinflammatory characteristics and higher disease activity in autoimmune diseases. We first characterized B cells phenotypes in women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We then took an in vivo approach, transferring purified IgG extracted from serum of hyperandrogenic women with PCOS to mice to establish wheth...

Matrix-GLA-protein (MGP) was repeatedly associated with inflammation markers during the last decade. It is expressed in leucocytes and is a regulator of immune response. Due to posttranslational modification, there are 4 forms. The form responsible for immunomodulation is still unknown. Since the predicted active form - carboxylated, phosphorylated MGP - is not directly associated with immunomodulation, we aimed to investigate the association of dp-ucMGP (dephosphorylated, unc...

Background: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is well known for its association with ovarian follicular count and ovarian reserve in general as well as for its recruitment of primordial follicles in women. With an explicit decrease in menopause, it is mainly used for clinical questions from in-vitro-fertilisation to polycystic ovary syndrome. Interestingly, AMH levels in men are quite high during lifetime, but there is only few data about its relevance and potential effects in...

Recently, human cerebral organoids (hCOs) emerged as powerful three-dimensional in vitro models recapitulating key aspects of early human cerebral cortex development. Improved protocols for hCO generation from induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) paved the way for new disease modeling approaches and enable multimodal analyses of perturbed neurogenesis resulting from manipulation of signaling pathways or gene function. These prospects prompted us to adopt this techno...

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a complex condition of pregnancy, associated with substantial perinatal morbidity and mortality, affecting 2% to 8% of pregnancies worldwide. Its hallmarks are high blood pressure (hypertension) and endothelial dysfunction, leading to potential end-organ injury. Affected organ systems include liver, blood, kidneys, brain and placenta. In the present study, we investigated steroid hormones such as progestagens, estrogens, androgens, and glucocor...

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), known for its role in fetal development and female reproduction, is also present in adult and elderly men in considerable amounts. In recent years, controversial findings regarding relations to age, other hormones, and BMI (possibly based on a dilutional effect due to higher blood volume) have been discussed. To date, little is known of its clinical relevance in this population. We aimed to further investigate AMH levels in an aging male popu...