Endocrine Abstracts

Thyroid hormones play a central role in the regulation of bone turnover and thyrotoxicosis is an established cause of secondary osteoporosis. Increased prevalence of reduced bone mineral density (BMD) has been reported even in patients with subclinical thyrotoxicosis such as those with differentiated thyroid carcinoma undergoing long-term L-thyroxine (L-T4) TSH-suppressive therapy. Morphometric vertebral fractures (VFs) are an early and clinically...

As known, an imbalance of the gut microbiota is associated with a higher risk for autoimmune diseases. Moreover the increased rates of autoimmunity reported in urban residential areas worldwide suggest a possible influence of diet. We report on the antibody response to food antigens in GD patients. Since 10% of celiac patients develop an autoimmune thyreopathy we focused on gliadin (DGP), transglutaminases (tTG) and 40 other food antigens (FA). Commercially available ELISA ass...

Acromegaly is associated with skeletal fragility and high risk of vertebral fractures (VFs), but the determinants of such a risk are still under investigation and it is not clear whether replacement therapies of coexistent hypopituitarism may influence prevalence and incidence of VFs. In this cross sectional study, fourty acromegaly patients (24 M, 16 F; median age, 57 years; range, 25–72), 20 with active disease, were evaluated for the effects of replacement therapy of c...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), may lead to a severe acute respiratory syndrome requiring hospitalization and assisted ventilation with high lethality. Replication of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and Ebolavirus is calcium-dependent and hypocalcemia has been frequently reported in all these infections. Despite already many studies reporting on clinical and laboratory presentation of COVID-19 patients, including inflammatory and organ injury biomarkers, only one case report has so fa...

Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is a frequent form of male hypogonadism that may be associated with a series of comorbidities potentially affecting quality of life and survival. As a matter of fact, KS was shown to negatively impact skeletal health. However, the studies so far published on this topic were mainly focused on evaluation ofbone mineral density (BMD) and bone microstructure, whereas data on fracture risk are still lacking. In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated for ...

With HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) introduction, HIV infection history has radically changed. Increased survival has led to new complications, including osteoporosis. The pathogenesis of osteoporosis in HIV patients is multifactorial: virus, HAART, smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity, comorbidities, and hypogonadism can interact in bone depletion.Aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of osteoporosis, vertebral fractures (VF) ...

The association between acromegaly and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is widely recognised. The aim of this retrospective multicentric study is to evaluate the impact of different therapeutic approaches on the progression of cardiovascular risk (CVR) in acromegalic patients. At diagnosis and last follow up (follow up time of 13 ± 8 years),we assessed BMI, blood pressure, glycaemic and lipid profile, GH and IGF1 levels in 199 patients with acromegaly (116...

Ectopic Cushing syndrome (EAS) is a rare condition characterized by ACTH-dependent hypercortisolism resistant to normal physiologic suppression by glucocorticoids. EAS is due to an extra-pituitary tumor producing bioactive molecules generated by post-translational cleavage of the proopiomelanocortin gene (POMC). EAS is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and although surgical resection of the primary ACTH-producing tumor remains the mainstay of therapy, not all...

Background: Familial isolated pituitary adenomas (FIPA) is a rare inherited disorder accounting for about 2% of pituitary adenomas. Mutations in the Aryl hydrocarbon receptor Interacting Protein (AIP) gene have been described in about 15% of FIPA families and rarely in early onset sporadic pituitary adenomas. Among the AIP mutations reported so far, the R304X represents, after the Finnish founder mutation Q14X, the second most common one.Me...

Graves’ Disease (GD) affects about 2% of the population in the UK, with female predominance. A proportion of GD patients (5–50%) develop orbitopathy (GO), which is characterized by tissue remodeling in the orbit leading to protrusion of the eye (proptosis). Blood biomarkers associated with GD or GO could be useful diagnostic or prognostic tools for researchers and clinicians. Within the framework of INDIGO IAPP-612116 (Investigation of Novel biomarkers and Definition...