Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Cushing’s disease (CD) is a condition due to an ACTH-secreting pituitary adenoma and leading to hypercorticism. Hirsutism is common in CD but its exact frequency has been poorly studied. It results from the stimulating effect of ACTH on adrenal production of androgens.The aim of this study is to determine the androgenic profile in hirsute patients with CD.Patients and methods: It is a retrospective study of nine ...

Neurohypophysial hormone, arginine–vasopressin (AVP) concentrations in human plasma and in the plasma, and hypothalamus of the rat display diurnal variations with rising levels over the hours of sleep. Previous reports indicate that AVP infusions reduce rapid-eye-movement sleep in humans and increase the amount of time spent in waking in rats. Our aim was to determine whether AVP content of the rat hypothalamus is altered by sleep deprivation (S.D.). Adult ...

Introduction: C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute reactant protein and member of the pentraxins family has a primitive defense function against exogenous organisms. Although its production is predominantly under the control of IL-6, IL-1 and tumor necrotic factor also contribute to hepatic synthesis and CRP secretion. CRP is mainly produced in the liver and possibly other tissues, such as atherosclerotic lesions. C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with increased risk for ca...

Introduction: Insulin resistance is quite common among obese individuals. Lifestyle interventions like diet interventions and regular physical activity are still important and safe first-line therapy.The aim of this study was to assess the effects of diet and physical activity-induced weight loss on insulin resistance in extremely obese patients.Methods: Forty-four patients (mean age 41.05±10.23 years) were consecutively recru...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a chronic disease associated with impairment of quality of life (QoL) and psychological status. The aim of the present study was to assess QoL and mood disturbance in patients with acromegaly.Description of methods/design: It was a comparative, cross-sectional study conducted in the department of Endocrinology at a tertiary medical centre of northern Greece in 2011. AcroQoL questionnaire was used to assess QoL in acromegalics ...

Introduction: Acromegaly is characterized by high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction are underlying mechanisms of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the blood redox status and endothelial function by means of nitric oxide (NO) levels in patients with acromegaly.Description of methods/design: Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), catalase activity and glutathione concentration (GSH), as mea...

Objective: Hyperprolactinemia is reported to be associated with impaired glucose metabolism, and low-grade inflammation. There is some data regarding increased oxidative stress- particularly protein oxidation in the conditions like metabolic syndrome or diabetes, but not in hyperprolactinemic subjects in the literature. We aimed to investigate advanced oxidation protein product (AOPP) levels-an established marker of protein oxidation and antioxidant thiol levels in hyperprolac...

Introduction: Hypothalamo-pituitary dysfunction has been reported in patients after traumatic brain injury or subarachnoid hemorrhage with relatively high frequency according to published studies. Assessment of hypothalamo– pituitary functions in patients with chronic subdural hematomas has not been published yet, although dysfunction of hypothalamo- pituitary unit could be expected (head trauma, compression and oedema of the brain, shifting of the midline structures).</p...

The incidence of macroprolactinemia decreased notably because of wide use of prolactin (PRL) assays measuring macroprolactin at a lower rate. However, in case of high PRL levels, measurement of monomeric PRL (mPRL) levels after polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment is still required. Our aim was to determine – by the use of a second generation PRL assay – how total PRL (tPRL) levels in native sera of healthy blood donors change after PEG treatment. In women, the use of...

Sleep apnoea syndrome (SAS) is common in acromegaly and both diseases are independently associated with hypertension and insulin resistance contributing to increased morbidity and mortality.The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors of SAS in acromegaly, to study clinical and polysomnographic particularities of SAS in acromegaly and to analyze the effects of acromegaly treatment on SAS.It’s a retrospec...