Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Higher testosterone levels during pregnancy in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) could be associated with longer offspring ano-genital distance (AGD).Aims: To compare AGD between offspring of mothers with PCOS and controls and to determine possible associations between maternal 3rd trimester testosterone levels and offspring AGD at three months of age.Methods: The study was part of the prospective s...

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism is associated with a number of cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diastolic dysfunction, but only limited data exist on long-term outcome of levothyroxine substitution therapy.Objectives: To examine effects of levothyroxine substitution treatment on mortality in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism.Study design: Historical cohort study.<p class=...

Context: Acromegaly is a rare and insidious disease associated with severe somatic morbidity but data on socioeconomic status are scarce.Objective: To study the socioeconomic status in acromegaly in a population based, nationwide follow-up study.Patients and Methods: All incident cases of acromegaly (n = 576) during the period 1997–2010 were included, representing 10.116 years at risk. For every patient, 100 pers...

Objective: QT interval prolongation of unknown aetiology is common in Turner syndrome (TS). This study set out to explore the presence of known pathogenic long QT (LQT) mutations in TS and to examine the corrected QT interval (QTc) over time and relate the findings to the TS phenotype.Methods: Adult females with TS (n=102) were examined thrice with a mean follow-up of 4.7±0.5 years, and 68 age-matched healthy controls were examined once. QT...

The insulin signalling system including the insulin receptor tyrosine kinase (IRTK) is evolutionarily ancient and appears in the first multicellular organisms (Cnidarians). The Drosophila melanogaster genome contains seven genes for insulin-like peptides (ILPs) that are expressed in neurosecretory cells in a highly tissue- and stage-specific pattern, DILP1-7. There is however only one IRTK (dIR). This system is important in the regulation of metabolism, growth, reprod...

Introduction: To investigate whether the incidence of severe hypoglycaemia in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes can be reduced without deteriorating pregnancy outcomes in a routine care setting.Methods/design: A new cohort (2009–2011) of 59 women receiving intensified education about the risk of severe hypoglycaemia in pregnancy was compared with an old cohort (2004–2006) of 108 women. The women entered the study at median 8 (range 5–13)...

Introduction: We questioned the justification of general recommendations for assessment of hypopituitarism in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and aimed to describe the prevalence of hypopituitarism in a national TBI population of patients admitted to a Danish hospital in 2008, as compared to healthy controls.Patients and methods: We included 463 patients (18–65 years) hospitalized ≥24 h, with more than subtle TBI as indicated by lo...

Erythropoietin (Epo) treatment has been shown to induce mitochondrial biogenesis in cardiac muscle along with enhanced mitochondrial capacity in mice. We hypothesized that recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) treatment enhances skeletal muscle mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) capacity in humans. In six healthy volunteers rhEpo was administered by s.c. injection over eight weeks with oral iron (100 mg) supplementation taken daily. Mitochondrial OXPHOS was quantified by...

Objective: To investigate the effect of pioglitazone on cortisol metabolism in PCOS.Design: Thirty insulin resistant PCOS patients were randomized to either 16 weeks of pioglitazone (30 mg/day) or placebo treatment. Before and after intervention, patients underwent 24 h 20 min.-integrated blood sampling for measurement of cortisol and 24 h excretion of cortisol, cortisone and steroid metabolites (cortisol, corticosteron, androgen, and 17-hydroxyprogester...

Background: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are endocrine disrupting chemicals, with elimination half-lives ranging from four to eight years. Experimental studies found PFAS able to interfere with thyroid hormone-binding proteins. During the first 20 weeks of gestation (GW), the fetus is reliant on placental transfer of maternal thyroid hormones, mainly free thyroxine (FT4). However, previous studies investigating associations between exposure to PFAS and thyroid hormone stat...