Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Myotonic dystrophy (DM) type 1 and 2 are multisystemic autosomal dominant disorders with visceral obesity, insulin resistance and hypogonadism. The prevalence of metabolic risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) in DM is not well defined, particularly in patients affected by DM2, a milder and clinical challenging condition.Methods: We assessed the frequency of CAD risk factors in 31 male DM1 (44±11 years) and 13 male DM2 (54&#17...

A highly polymorphic microsatellite in the IGF1 gene promoter, composed of variable cytosine-adenine (CA) repeats (n=10–24) has been linked to IGF1 serum concentrations in normal, acromegalic and GHD subjects with conflicting results. Aim of this study was to investigate whether this polymorphism may influence the clinical and biochemical characteristics of adult patients with GHD (n=97). Moreover, the response to 12-month rhGH replacement in terms of IGF1 l...

Patients (pts) with adrenal incidentaloma (AI) may show an increased incidence of several cardiovascular risk factors, as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia. As previous data suggested that the increased cardiovascular risk in these pts could be in part mediated by alterations of adipokines, this study was aimed to evaluate plasma IL-6, resistin, CT-1 levels in a wide series of pts with AI.Ninety-three pts (42 males; 51 females; ag...

Previous evidences have suggested that in adults with organic hypopituitarism the condition of GH deficiency (GHD) could mask the presence of other pituitary deficits. In our experience, both central hypothyroidism and hypoadrenalism were unmasked during rhGH therapy in adults with GHD due to central organic lesions. Few and conflicting information are available about the relationship among GHD, rhGH therapy and gonadal function. Aim of the present study was to investigate the...

Background: There is a clear relationship between obesity and carbohydrate metabolism alterations (CMA), such as impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and T2D. OGTT is used for the diagnosis of those alterations, but is not performed in case of normal fasting glucose values (NFG). Moreover, BMI underestimates the diagnosis of obesity and body composition alteration can be crucial to the development of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism. This study aimed to examine the discriminating ...

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is very common in severe obese patients and has been related to insulin resistance (IR) and hyperleptinemia, and these findings may have effects on food behavior and obesity complications. In order to explore this relationship and the role of sex we have studied 531 patients with morbid obesity (BMI 42.8+6.5 kg/m2). A full polysomnographic study and glucose, insulin and leptin measurements as well as air displacement plethysmography we...

Generously supported by IPSEN)-->A highly polymorphic microsatellite in the IGF-I gene promoter composed of variable cytosine–adenine (CA) repeats (n=10–24) has been linked to IGF-I levels, risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases with conflicting results. Aim of this study was to investigate the impact of this polymorphism on the response to rhGH (mean dose 0.34±0.14 mg/day) in adult GH-deficient (GHD) pa...

Introduction: Hypogonadism occurs in myotonic dystrophy (DM) type 1 and 2, a multisystemic autosomal dominant disorder with insulin resistance and visceral obesity. DM patients provide a model to investigate the impact of metabolic alterations on hypogonadism.Methods: We assessed Leydig and Sertoli cell functions and metabolic features in 32 DM1 (44+11 years),13 DM2 patients (54+9 years) and 32 age and BMI-matched controls.Results:...

Adult GH deficiency syndrome is characterized by visceral obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk. Epicardial adipose tissue, giving its relationship with abdominal visceral adiposity, coronary artery disease, cardiac morphology and function and metabolic syndrome, has been proposed as cardio-metabolic risk indicator. In this study, we evaluated the echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness in 14 patients (8 M and 6 F,...

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is frequently associated with congenital heart defects (CHD). Thyroid defects may have a higher prevalence in children with CHD as embryonic thyroid gland share nuclear transcription factors with heart and great vessels during organogenesis. We investigated thyroid function in 325 children (165 M/160 F, aged 0.2–15.4 years), affected by CHD. Patients with Down syndrome, recent administration of iodinated contrast agents, low T3 sy...