Endocrine Abstracts

Hypoxia is a primary stimulus for angiogenesis, which is important for tumour proliferation and survival. The effects of hypoxia on parathyroid tumour cells, which may be important for parathyroid autotransplantation in patients, are however, not known. We therefore assessed the effects of hypoxia on gene expression in parathyroid adenoma cells from patients with primary hyperparathyoridism. Cell suspensions from human parathyroid adenomas (n=5) were cultured and afte...

Introduction: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare but devastating malignancy. We performed a review to determine outcome in our patient cohort.Of 20 patients 14 were females, six males. Median overall survival was 27.5 months (range 1–168), nine being deceased. Mean age at presentation 52.3 years (range 18–71). The majority of cancers were large; 5% ≤5 cm, 40% 5–10 cm, 55 >10 cm. 25% had stage IV disease, 10% stage III, 55% ...

Background: It is still uncertain if subclinical thyroid disease or ‘high-normal’ thyroid function are risk-factors for atrial fibrillation (AF).Objectives: To examine the risk of AF in relation to thyroid function.Methods: Patients consulting their general practitioner from 2000–2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, who underwent thyroid blood tests, were identified by individual-level linkage of nationwide registries. Patie...

Obesity is characterized by an increase of endocannabinoid circulating levels as anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol (2AG). Whether these lipids represent a biomarker of dysmetabolism or merely reflect the fat mass spill-over is still unclear. After generating rigorous, gender specific, plasma reference intervals by 2D-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, we defined the 97.5thcentile of endocannabinoid distribution in the normal population as the cut-off ab...

Pleiotropic effects of vit. D in the etiology of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes are still debated. So far published reports considered only changes in vit D plasma level in individuals with obesity and diabetes, and did not take into account the role of polymorphisms in the vit. D receptor gene.The aim of the study was to evaluate obesity, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and vitamin D level in two VDR polymorphisms (Fok and Bsm) in Polish agi...

The levels of bone turnover markers are elevated e.g. in osteoporosis, neoplastic diseases with bone involvement (e.g. myeloma). Recently bone markers have been found to play an important role in other diseases, like cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Vitamin D, which plays a role in body metabolism, is also an important hormone maintaining bone homeostasis.The aim of the study was to evaluate the levels of bone turnover markers (osteoprotegerin and ICTP) in...

Genetics plays a crucial role in the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Here we examined the association between endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphisms and MetS in a Saudi Arabian cohort to extend the understanding of the genetic basis of MetS in diverse ethnic populations. Anthropometric, clinical and biochemical parameters as well as genotyping for 894G>T, −786T>C variants of eNOS gene by PCR–RFLP and 4a/b by direct PCR were per...

Introduction: MEN1 is characterized by tumors of parathyroid glands, pituitary and pancreas. Pituitary tumors frequently produce PRL and GH, but acromegaly due to ectopic GHRH secretion has been reported in <1% of cases. Here we present a case of two patients belonging to a MEN1 family (c.207delC; p.P69PfsX118 mutation (ENST00000377313), affected by primary hyperparathyroidism, in association with acromegaly due to ectopic GHRH secretion and bronchial carcinoid, respective...

EAT has been linked to the presence and severity of cardiovascular disease. EAT has been linked to the presence and severity of cardiovascular disease. We searched if the patients with PCOS have increased EATT, or not.Total of 41 subjects with PCOS and 46 age and body mass index (BMI) matched healthy controls were enrolled. EAT was measured by echocardiography.EATT and HOMA-IR score were significantly higher (P=0.0001 for bo...

PCOS is characterized by insulin resistance. Inflammation has been anticipated to play role in the pathogenesis of both insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an inflammatory mediator synthesized in a variety of cells and tissues. In the present study, serum PTX3 level and its relationship with insulin resistance were investigated in patients with PCOS. In total, 40 patients with PCOS and 40 age and body mass index (BMI) matched healthy controls were enr...