Endocrine Abstracts

This work aimed at acquiring data on pituitary response to CRH test in autoimmune type 1 diabetics with adult onset with/without thyroid autoimmunity. Our previous study showed 25% of such diabetic patients without clinical and immunological signs of adrenal insufficiency had lower response to the Synacthen test with normal basal levels of ACTH and cortisol.Twenty-seven diabetics were investigated; age 44±10 years (mean±S.D.), ag...

Objective: It is known sex steroids affect fat distribution with men and women. With men there is a tendency to deposit fat abdominally. Men are more likely to have more visceral fat than premenopausal women, with whom the preferential fat distribution is gluteofemoral and the percentage of body fat overall higher. Androgens may affect fat tissue with men either directly by androgen receptor stimulation, or indirectly by oestrogen receptor stimulation after aromatization. Inte...

Introduction: Cigarette smoking is one of the most serious substance abuse problems. It is generally accepted that nicotine and other chemicals in tobacco smoke alter endocrine functions in men and adverse reproductive outcomes, including deterioration of sperm. Studies on the effects of smoking and smoking cessation on male sex hormones are inconsistent. We studied changes of hormonal levels in men during smoking cessation and we looked for a possible predictive marker of suc...

Objective: Chronic smoking alters the circulating levels of sex hormones and possibly also the neuroactive steroids, however, the data available is limited.Patients and methods: Therefore, a broad spectrum of free and conjugated steroids and related substances was quantified by GC–MS and RIA in premenopausal smokers and in age-matched (38.9±7.3 years of age) non-smokers in the follicular (FP) and luteal phases (LP) of menstrual cycle (10 non-sm...

Background: Smoking represents the most widespread substance dependence in the world. Several studies show the nicotine’s ability to alter women hormonal homeostasis. Women smokers have higher testosterone and lower estradiol levels throughout life compared to women non-smokers. This negatively affects women reproductive function. Furthermore, alteration of neuroactive and neuroprotective steroids occurs in women smokers, which plays an important role in the activity of t...

Introduction: Cigarette smoking is one of the most serious substance abuse problems. It is generally accepted that nicotine and other chemicals in tobacco smoke alter endocrine function in women, induce changes in female hormonal balance and likely contributes to reported associations of smoking with adverse reproductive outcomes, including menstrual dysfunction, infertility, and earlier menopause. Studies on the effects of smoking and smoking cessation on female sex hormones ...

This work aimed at gathering own data on adrenal response to low-dose Synacthen test, CRH test and about periferal metabolism of cortisol in autoimmune type 1 diabetics with onset in adults. Seventy diabetics were investigated; age 44±10 years (mean±S.D.), age at diagnosis 28.5±10 years, disease duration 15±8 years, BMI 24.5±2.7 kg/cm2, HbA1c 7.2±1.2%. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee. Adrenal reserve was t...

Background: A high percentage of adult smokers try to quit, but most of these attempts fail. The ability to predict the success or failure of smoking cessation efforts will be useful for clinical practice. Stress response is regulated by two primary neuroendocrine systems. Salivary cortisol has been used as a marker for the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and salivary α-amylase as a marker for the sympathetic adrenomedullary system.Method...

The majority of pregnancy steroids originate in the fetal zone of the fetal adrenal (FZ). The data in the literature indicates that placental CRH directly stimulates the FZ. Despite the substantial alterations in the placental CRH production in late pregnancy, the predictivity of CRH for an estimation of term is poor. To sidetrack the expensive determination of unstable CRH, it may be expediential to use the FZ steroids. However, even these substances may not be optimal for pr...

Introduction: 7-hydroxyl DHEA derivatives are labelled as natural anti-glucocorticoid and neuroprotective substances. Their impact on the production of cytokines, their activation of apoptosis, influence on the migration of macrophages to peripheral tissue, their possible effect on angiogenesis, effect on inflammatory mediators (arachidonic acid metabolites) and their role in the mechanism of oxidative stress have been described.Methods: In our study we ...