Endocrine Abstracts

In mammals, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), produced by pituitary gonadotropes, is required for proper gonadal function and female fertility. The TGFβ superfamily members, activins, are critical regulators of FSH synthesis. Activins signal through heteromeric type I/type II receptor complexes and the effector proteins SMADs 2 and 3 to regulate gene transcription. Numerous studies in gonadotrope-like cell lines suggest that activin-stimulated FSH β subunit (Fshb) ...

Introduction: The role of dietary protein in maintaining bone health is controversial. Traditionally the acidifying effect of high dietary protein (HP) has been thought to promote calcium loss from bone and hence hypercalciuria and so was considered harmful compared to a normal protein (NP) diet. However more recently the anabolic effect of increased dietary protein and its effect in increasing calcium absorption have been appreciated. There are no long term prospective clinic...

We report on a patient whose type 2 diabetes resolved following interferon-α (IFN-α) therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV). A 57-years-old man, presented with fatigue, polyuria and polydipsia. He was newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. During the hospital day, he was also diagnosed with chronic hepatitis. Serological studies for chronic hepatitis demonstrated presence of hepatitis C, type 2a/2c genotype. He was started on subcutaneous insulin and IFN-α. After 24...

Recently basal insulin is the first recommended step when failed with oral medication, and adding morning NPH is one of step 1 intensive insulin treatment regimen when failed with basal insulin alone and post-lunch glucose level is high. But morning NPH or premixed insulin alone was the usual first step before basal insulin was available. When once a day morning insulin failed to reach target, next option was splitting twice a day injection. But many patients don’t agree ...

Background: Chromogranin A (CgA) is essential for the formation of secretory granules and sequestration of hormones in neuroendocrine cells. Measurement of CgA levels is included in the diagnostic procedure of neuroendocrine tumors and pheochromocytoma. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the Kryptor assay for CgA measurement.Methods: Imprecision of the Kryptor CgA assay was determined with two levels of CgA concentration. Reference va...

Aim: Studying of influence of various doses of cabergoline in dynamics of 6, 12 and 24 months of treatment on level of blood serum soluble apoptosis markers P53, Bcl-2 and TNF-α in patients with IPA.Materials and methods: One hundred and twenty-seven patients with IPA (38 men, 89 women) were observed, among them 65 (51.2%) with microadenoma and 62 (48.8%) with macroadenoma/ patients were at the age from 35 till 60 years.Patients with pituitar...

Introduction: Prolactinomas are the most common pituitary adenomas. Several authors hypothesized that there is an association between the development of pituitary adenomas and psychologically significant experiences, especially traumatic ones. This is particularly well-established for Cushing’s disease. When it comes to prolactinomas, it was suggested that prolactin acts as an alternative to cortisol in the response to stress, especially in patients who present with passi...

Background: Many endoscopic minimaly invasive procedures have been developed and are used now in thyroid and parathyroid surgery. However, the endoscopic approach is more technically demanding and due its limitations, endoscopic thyroidectomy remains limited in application and practiced in a relatively small number of centers. Recently robotic technology has been also applied to thyroid surgery. The aim of this study is to present our experience and to demonstrate the technica...

Introduction: The 2006 Endocrine Society – testosterone therapy in adult men guidelines were audited against the clinical practice at a UK teaching hospital endocrine department. The aim of the audit was to determine whether patients were undergoing appropriate screening tests for prostate cancer and polycythaemia as described in these guidelines.Method: Patients were initially identified by searching the endocrine clinic letter database for the nam...

Obesity is reaching epidemic levels especially in western countries and has become a major public health issue because is frequently associated with other comorbidities such as hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes. Therefore, there is increasing interest in the development of therapies against obesity that can offer additional improvements in those associated comorbidities. Unfortunately the current pharmacological treatments have demonstrated limited efficacy, leaving bari...