Endocrine Abstracts

Increasing evidences indicate that brown adipose tissue (BAT) functional activity is reduced during obesity. The nature of this deficit in BAT function, however, is still poorly understood. To analyze whether insulin function in the BAT is altered during obesity, we studied the in vivo metabolic activity of BAT by PET/CT imaging and euglycaemic hyperinsulinemic clamp in lean and diet-induced obese mice. Three groups of mice were analyzed after administration of different diet ...

The aim of this epidemiologic study, performed in a wide population of high-school students in Northern Italy, was to obtain an unbiased estimate of the prevalence of hyperandrogenic states in adolescents and young females.2052 female students, aged 15–19 years, were consecutively contacted. 939/2052 (45.8%) refused to participate in the study, but 431 of the 939 non-participants (45.9%) agreed to fill out a brief questionnaire aimed to broadly asse...

Germline mutations in the succinate-dehydrogenase subunits A, B, C, and D (SDHA/B/C/D) predispose to development of the phaeochromocytoma-paraganglioma (FPGL) syndromes. SDHC and SDHD are anchoring proteins located in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The SDH complex has two major roles in energy production it is part of the tricarboxic acid cycle catalysing the oxidative dehydrogenation of succinate coupled to the reduction of ubiquinone. It is also the complex II component o...

Introduction: Vitamin D insufficiency is common in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Observational studies suggest that vitamin D plays a role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. However, results of intervention studies have been inconsistent. We investigated the effects of improving vitamin D status on insulin sensitivity and inflammatory markers in type 2 diabetic patients with vitamin D insufficiency.Methods: A double blind, randomized, placebo contr...

Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication of pregnancy. Identification of early determinants of GDM is necesary to designate possible preventive strategies. The aim of this study was to reveal the most significant risk factors for GDM.Design: A total of 209 women with singleton pregnancies were included in the study. Maternal fasting glucose, anthropometric parameters and blood pressure were measured in the first trimeste...

Empagliflozin is a potent, highly selective sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor in development for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study assessed the effects of empagliflozin on the QT interval. Thirty healthy subjects (14/16 female/male; mean [range] age 34.5 [18–52] years) received single doses of 25 mg (within therapeutic range) and 200 mg (supratherapeutic) empagliflozin and 400 mg moxifloxacin as positive ...

Objective: Obesity is a major problem in pregnancy. Obesity has been associated with decreased vitamin D levels, diabetes and reproductive risks. Women were followed through pregnancy with frequent blood samples to determine any differences between lean and obese subjects. We present data on vitamin D levels through gestation in these subjects.Methods: Normal pregnant women at 6–9 weeks GA provided blood samples every 2 weeks and body weights were r...

Introduction: To date, several mutations have been identified as the underlying cause of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. However, they account for a small minority of cases, suggesting that other genes play a significant role in the pathogenesis. The aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of KAL1, GnRH1, GnRHR, PROK2 and PROKR2 mutations. Because it has several advantages over traditional screening methods, multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification (MLPA)...

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether SUR2A (sulfonylurea receptor type 2A, ABCC9) MEF2a (myocyte enhancer factor-2a) and HIF1a (Hypoxia-inducible factor-1) can influence glucose uptake in oxidative muscle soleus by regulating GLUT4 expression.Methods: Insulin resistance was induced in male Wistar rats by inducing obesity with monosodium glutamate (MSG). At the age 3 months, half control and MSG-treated animals started receiving 0.1...

Background and aim: Epicardial fat (EF) is a metabolically active organ as well as visceral fat (VF). EF has been recognized as a potential additional marker of cardiac risk in obesity and type 2 diabetes. This study wants to assess the relation between EF and VF and the correlation with nutritional and hormonal parameters.Material and Methods: Fifty-nine overweight/obese women were enrolled in the study. All women underwent anthropometric measurements, ...