Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hypothyroidism has detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system but controversy remains over the benefit of levothyroxine substitution in heart failure (hf). The aim of this register based cohort study was to examine the effects of levothyroxine treatment on all-cause mortality in patients with hf.Methods: The study cohort comprised all Danish citizens aged ≥18 years admitted with hf in 1997–2012 and still alive 30 days after...

Introduction: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is a common condition and can lead to impaired systolic and diastolic cardiac function. However, controversy remains over the potential benefits of levothyroxine substitution in patients with SCH and concomitant heart disease. We aimed to examine the effects of levothyroxine treatment on all-cause mortality in patients diagnosed with SCH and heart disease.Methods: Primary care patients aged 18 years and olde...

The insulin signalling system including the insulin receptor tyrosine kinase (IRTK) is evolutionarily ancient. 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, reproduction and lifespan. We reported in 2011 the crystal stru...

Objective: The beneficial effects of testosterone treatment (TT) in men with low normal testosterone levels are debated. Chemokine levels have not previously been evaluated during TT in combination with strength training (ST).Design: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of 6 months TT (gel) in 54 men aged 60–78 years with bioavailable testosterone (BioT) <7.3 nmol/l and waist circumference >94 cm randomized to TT (50–1...

Ghrelin (Ghr) is an orexigenic peptide investigated by Lutter and col. 2008 for its potential role in the development of depressive symptoms induced by chronic stress, suggesting that Ghr defends against depressive-like symptoms. Rodent bilateral olfactory bulbectomy (OB) is an animal model that appears to fulfill many of the criteria required for the study of depression; hence, Ghr could be an alternative therapeutic tool for depression therapy. We study the possibility that ...

Objective: The short-term cardiovascular effects of continuous ghrelin infusion in healthy humans remain to be studied.Methods: Fifteen healthy, young and normal-weight men volunteered to participate in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study. The local ethics committee approved the study. We used a constant infusion of human ghrelin at a rate of 5 pmol/kg body weight per minute for 180 minutes and measured peak left ventricular my...

Introduction: Maternal thyroid function in early pregnancy is crucial for fetal neural development. Early offspring language acquisition is an important indicator of fetal neural development and a predictor of future cognitive development. We aimed to investigate how the mother’s thyroid function and the presence of thyroid autoimmunity in early pregnancy are associated with offspring’s language acquisition at the age of 12-37 months.Methods: T...

Background: The risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in PCOS is associated with BMI, but prospective data regarding risk of T2D in PCOS are limited. We investigated prospective risk of T2D in Nordic women with PCOS compared to controls.Methods: National register-based study in women with PCOS and age-matched controls originating from Denmark (PCOS Denmark, (n=27,016, controls, (n=133,994), Finland (PCOS Finland, (n=20,467, controls, (...

Background: Synthetic glucocorticoid exposure in late pregnancy may be associated with higher blood pressure in offspring. We hypothesized that endogenous cortisol in pregnancy relates to offspring blood pressure (OBP).Objective: To investigate associations between maternal cortisol status in 3rd trimester pregnancy and OBP.Methods: We included 1,317 mother-child pairs from Odense Child Cohort (OCC), an observational prospective co...

Introduction: Myopathy is a known and dreaded adverse effect of pharmacological glucocorticoid (GC) treatment, but its impact on daily physical activity is not known.Aim: To measure spontaneous physical activity and musculoskeletal function in patients shortly after planned cessation of long-term (>12 weeks) prednisolone treatment.Patients and methods: Baseline data from an ongoing nation-wide prospective study (DOUBLE EDGE &#1...