Endocrine Abstracts

Elongation factor, RNA polymerase II, 2 (ELL2) is an RNA Pol II elongation factor with functional properties similar to ELL that can interact with the prostate tumor suppressor ELL-associated factor 2 (EAF2). In murine models, deletion of Ell2 induced prostate intraepithelial neoplasia similar to that induced by deletion of Eaf2. Since ELL2 and EAF2 can functionally interact and appear to have similar function in regulating prostate homeostasis, we investigated the impact of c...

The morning serum cortisol measurement has long been used as an index of adrenal function in the unstressed patient, but does not necessarily differentiate normal subjects from those with adrenal dysfunction. We investigate causes and clinical findings of adrenocortical insufficiency in this study, and will propose a model predicting results of rapid ACTH stimulation test. A consecutive series of 363 subjects who were examined rapid ACTH stimulation were recruited. Adrenocorti...

BackgroundPPAR-gamma agonists have been proposed as therapy to lower plasma ACTH in Cushing's disease. However, cyclical secretion may explain some of the 'responses' seen. In contrast, patients with Nelson's syndrome have continual high ACTH levels, and can present with pituitary mass effects and pigmentation. Since no established medical therapy exists, we assessed whether prolonged high-dose rosiglitazone therapy reduces circulating ACTH levels in Nel...

BackgroundPPAR-gamma agonists have been proposed as therapy to lower plasma ACTH in Cushing's disease. However, cyclical secretion may explain some of the 'responses' seen. In contrast, patients with Nelson's syndrome have continual high ACTH levels, and can present with pituitary mass effects and pigmentation. Since no established medical therapy exists, we assessed whether prolonged high-dose rosiglitazone therapy reduces circulating ACTH levels in Nel...

Telmisartan, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker (ARB), is widely prescribed for the treatment of hypertensive patients with simultaneous diabetes mellitus (DM). Unlike other ARBs, telmisartan is reported to have various ancillary effects as well as common blood pressure-lowering effect. In this regard, telmisartan improves endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular complications in DM patients and is recently reported to reduce new-onset DM incidence. However, effects a...

Purpose: We conducted this study to determine the prevalence and incidence of pituitary tumors in South Korea.Methods: This is a nationwide population- based retrospective study. We analysed two national databases, the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) claims database and Rare Intractable Disease (RID) registration database, which include information on every patients with pituitary tumor diagnosed through uniform criteria from 2009 to 2013. Pituita...

Background: The National Health Insurance Service of South Korea is considered to be one of the most effective systems in the world with high accessibility to health care for all Koreans including foreign residents in the country as many as 50 M people. The accumulative information on the behaviors and the statistics of healthcare use based on the National Health Insurance Sharing Service Database has become important for medical research as a nationwide surveillance.<p cl...

Introduction: Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) are the key transcription factor induced by hypoxic condition, which regulate expression of specific target genes including angiogenic factors, erythropoietin, glucose transporters, and glycolytic enzymes. Recently, many studies connected to intracellular calcium levels and regulation of HIF-1α protein level. Calbindin-D9k is a cytosolic calcium-binding protein and compensate with other calcium transporter protein f...

Background: Many studies indicated an increased cancer incidence and cancer mortality in subjects with diabetes mellitus. But most of studies have been surveyed in western countries and have problems in applying the results to Korean. We aimed to evaluate the site specific cancer risk of diabetic patients in Korea over 30 years, and investigate causal relationship and temporal relationship by analyzing the organ-specific cancer risk in diabetics according to duration.<p cl...

It has been proposed that cellular Ca2+ signals activate hormone secretion. In pancreatic β cells, which produce insulin, Ca2+ signals have been known to contribute to insulin secretion. Prior to this study, we confirmed that Calbindin-D9k (CaBP-9k) was responsible for regulation of the distribution of free calcium in the cytoplasm. We also confirmed that insulin-secreting β cells express CaBP-9k, and assumed that CaBP-9k play a role in β c...