Endocrine Abstracts

Case 1: Thirty-eight year woman consulted to gynecologist for oligomenorrhea in the last 4 years; PRL 51 μg/l and TSH 8.4 mU/l were discovered, initiating treatment with levotiroxine (f-T4). She got pregnant, persisting elevated levels of TSH and increasing f-T4, with normal campimetry. With the diagnostic of hyperthyroidism due to inadequate TSH secretion, treatment with PTU was initiated. After normal delivery, MRI showed a 22 mm. hypophisary macroadenoma and a transesp...

A major difficulty of obesity treatments is that patients stop losing weight after a period of responsiveness and often experience a rebound. This could be caused by an impairment in energy balance circuits that becomes irreversible as obesity progresses. To test this hypothesis, we generated a reversible knockout-mouse model of early onset obesity. These mice are unable to express the proopiomelanocortin gene (Pomc) in hypothalamic neurons (CNS-Pomc−/...

Background: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) is associated with increased rates of cardiovascular (CV) risk. Moreover, it is not fully clear whether surgery can attenuate CV risk. The intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid vessels is considered a marker of atherosclerosis and CV events.Aim: Of the study was to evaluate IMT and some metabolic parameters in PHP patients.Subjects: Of 56 subjects were studied. Patients were divided i...

Objectives: The fetus is dependent on maternal thyroid hormones during pregnancy and an adequate thyroid function during pregnancy is essential for the normal brain development. The effects of subclinical hypothyroidism during pregnancy are poorly known. The present study assesses the association between thyroid hormones and thyrotropin in healthy pregnant women from the general population, and the neurodevelopment of their children at the age of 14 months.<p class="abstex...

Background: Diabetes mellitus leads to endothelium dysfunction and an accelerated progression of atherosclerosis. Vascular complications of diabetes mellitus can affect not only large and medium arteries resulting in coronary heart disease and peripheral arteries diseases, but also small vessels leading to retinopathy and nephropathy.Endothelin-1 is mainly synthesized by the vascular endothelial cells and acts on the vascular smooth muscle. Because of it...

Pituitary carcinomas are rare but represent a particular challenge to clinical practice. We report a case of pituitary carcinoma with metastatic disease in a separate non-contiguous foci within the central nervous system. A 64 year old man presented with a large non-functioning pituitary adenoma manifesting as headache, third pair of cranial nerves paralysis, panhypopituitarism and impaired visual acuity in 1996.The tumour was grossly removed through a right pterional cranioto...

The RET/GFRa/GDNF system displays a wide distribution in tissues such as nervous system, kidneys, intestine or testis. RET has been implicated in human pathologies. RET is a tyrosine-kinase receptor activated by four ligands GDNF, NTN, ART and PSPN through four co-receptors GFRa1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Activation of the receptor leads to cell differentiation or proliferation. Our group has shown that RET is expressed specifically in the somatotrope (GH) adult cell populatio...

Background: Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency and adiposity have deleterious effects on skeletal health and can increase arterial stiffness. Additionally, low bone mass is associated with increased arterial disease, but little is known about the association of bone geometry with arterial disease.Objective: To determine the association between bone geometry and arterial stiffness in overweight (body mass index >25 kg/m2], older adults [50&...

Context: Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) is associated with other comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and impaired glucose homeostasis. Vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent, and may be a common link between these disorders. Recently, it has been shown that vitamin D may be involved in insulin resistance; however, this relationship has not been well evaluated in women with PMO.Objective: To assess the relationship between circulating lev...

Background: We previously showed that menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) favorably affects both bone density and microarchitecture with persistent benefit after its withdrawal (1). Looking for indirect factors contributing to bone effects, we investigated the relation between MHT and changes on fat and lean (muscular) tissue. Existing results on MHT and body composition are conflicting and large cohort studies are lacking.Material and methods: The OsteoLau...