Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Measurement of serum cortisol levels can be useful in the diagnosis of conditions of both adrenal insufficiency and excess. Several methods are available for the measurement of the cortisol levels and immunoassays are commonly used in routine laboratories. The aim of our study was therefore to compare four different automated immunoassays for measurement of cortisol in serum.Methods: Serum samples of seventy two healthy volunteers were used f...

Testosterone deficiency is common in men with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), such as atherosclerosis. Previous studies have shown that testosterone replacement improves several cardiovascular risk factors including insulin resistance, glycaemic control, cholesterol and inflammation. The mechanisms by which testosterone mediates these effects are unknown. LXR, a nuclear receptor also regulates these cardiovascular risk factors and the atheroprotective ...

Hyponatraemia is the most common electrolyte abnormality, encountered in up to 30% of inpatients. Inappropriate management can have serious implications for patients; including demyelinating disease, coma, and death.Methods: Patients (n=100) admitted to the medical admission unit of a district general hospital with a serum sodium (Na) <130 were selected for the study. All details including patient demographics, blood biochemistry, date of admi...

Introduction: Fetal goiter is a rare condition. The incidence of goitrous hypothyroidism is 1/30 000–50 000 live births. We describe a case of antenatal fetal goiter that vanished upon delivery and was not detected in the newborn. The case report is followed by a discussion wherein we review the literature on thyroid problems in pregnancy and management of fetal goiter.Case report: A 27-year-old known hypothyroid woman with bichorial biamniotic preg...

Back ground: Numerous researches indicate that DHEA administration decreases fat mass in human and rodent. We evaluated the effects of DHEA treatment on adiposity. Male Otsuka Long evans fatty (OLETF) rats, hereditary obese type 2 diabetic animals derived from long evans tokushima (LETO) rats. These rats were fed with or without (control) 0.4% DHEA containing food for 52 weeks. Telomere length as a marker of whole cell division in adipose tissue were assessed. Genomic DNA isol...

Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have elevated risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) development. In this population CAD often proceedsasymptomatically, especially if cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is present. Our aim was to assess relation between glycemia control and asymptomatic CAD inT2DM pts. Materials and methods: Participants were 160 T2DM patients without documented CAD divided into four groups (Gr.) according to HbA1c levels: Gr. 1 -HbA1c6...

Introduction: A potent and selective DPP-4 inhibitor improves islet function by enhancing α- and β-cell responsiveness to glucose in the diabetic patients. Renal impairment is a common complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Vildagliptin is used to treat T2DM as monotherapy or in combination with other antidiabetic drugs, since that it efficiently decreases glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values. Additionally, vildagliptin has been shown to be safe in patients w...

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor (ED) used as plasticiser present in plastic products of daily use. The leakage of BPA monomer into food, drinks represents the ubiquitous exposure to the general population. BPA stimulatory effect on breast cancer cells growth in vitro and increased incidence of hormone dependent malignancies suspected BPA from carcinogenic effect.The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of BPA alone and in t...

Introduction: Pheochromocytomas are characterized by a high attenuation value on unenhanced computed tomography (CT). It is not known whether pheochromocytoma can be outruled as a cause of adrenal incidentalomas based on unenhanced attenuation values only. We evaluated the outcome of routine biochemical screening for pheochromocytoma in a series of patients with adrenal incidentalomas in relationship to the unenhanced attenuation values on CT.Design and ...

Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH-ant) may exert their antiproliferative effects directly on cancer cells, which are mediated by the tumoral GHRH receptors identified by us. Furthermore we showed that GHRH-ant are able to induce apoptosis in LNCaP human prostate cancer cells through a Ca2+-dependent pathway. However, the molecular features involved in the antiproliferative effect of GHRH-ant have not yet been elucidated. To study this, gene expression profi...