Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: Examine the relationship between choroidal thickness (CT) and renal function tests.Methods: Cross-sectional study with 42 eyes of 21 ocular treatment-naïve diabetic patients. Demographic and ocular data were analyzed as well as the following renal function tests: microalbuminuria, microalbumin/creatinine ratio and glomerular filtration rate (CKD-EPI and MDRD-4). Choroidal thickness was measured by swept-source ocular coherence tomography...

Background: Up to 15% of pheochromocytomas are malignant. The only definite criterion for malignancy is the presence of metastases. The histological differentiation between benign and malignant tumours is difficult, being a challenging problem nowadays.Aim: To asses if postoperative histological evaluation using the previously proposed pheochromocytoma of the adrenal gland scales scored (PASS) can predict malignancy.Methods: Twenty...

Scrotal color-doppler ultrasonography (sCDUS) and transrectal ultrasonography (trCDUS) provide crucial information about the clinical status of testes and male accessory glands. However, the US evaluation of the infertile male is still often considered as a second level diagnostic tool. To analyze the role of ultrasound in male infertility, in order to predict hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis function, 1120 records from infertile men were retrospectively evaluated (from ...

Background: Hypothyroidism (HT) has been demonstrated to be associated to heart failure (HF) progression.Aim of the study: To evaluate the impact of HT on the progression of HF during a long-term follow-up.Methods: From 2006 to 2015, we evaluated 675 consecutive CHF outpatients (523 males, 64±13 years) in stable clinical conditions (>1 month) and in conventional therapy. They underwent a clinical evaluation, 12-lead ECG, e...

Seminal plasma (SP) contains proteins secreted by testis, epididymis and male accessory glands, involved in the successful fertilization of the oocyte. The function of epididymis, prostate and seminal vesicles are dependent upon the presence of androgenic stimuli.To investigate the role of testosterone in the modulation of the proteomic pattern in SP, we analyzed human SP proteome comparing the panel of common seminal proteins in five fertile normogonada...

Human seminal plasma contains a large array of proteins required for the normal physiology of spermatozoa and fertilization. To provide informations about the physiological mechanisms of male fertility we performed proteomic studies on human seminal plasma by a top-down approach. A semen sample was collected in a fertile normospermic man (sperm concentration 60×106 per ml; progressive motility 58%; normal morphology 45%). Hormonal blood assay was performed: tes...

Somatostatin (SST) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) are hypothalamic hormones that, respectively, inhibit and stimulate pituitary GH secretion. In addition, in peripheral tissues somatostatin and its analogues inhibit, whereas GHRH stimulates, both normal and cancer cell growth and survival. Furthermore, both somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR-2) and GHRH expression have been shown in normal human endometrium. Endometriosis is a common estrogen-dependent disorder defined...

Background: Hypothyroidism and low T3 syndrome frequently occur in HF patients.Aim of the study: To evaluate in a large sample of CHF patients the association between thyroid hormone deficiencies and poor outcome.Methods and results: From 2006 to 2015, we screened 712 consecutive CHF outpatients (551 males, 64±14 years, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 33±10%, NYHA class 2.3±0.6, NTproBNP 2153±4696 pg/m...

Background: It has been previously demonstrated that thyroid hormone deficiency is associated with a worse outcome in patients affected by chronic heart failure (CHF). However, few data are available about the effects of thyroid replacement therapy on the prognosis of patients.Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship among thyroid replacement therapy, correction of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) serum levels and outcome ...

Background: Human fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a new liver hormone that stimulate adipocyte glucose uptake and is involved in regulation of body fat.Objective: To define the natural history of FGF21 in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients and analyze its relationship with glucose metabolism, peritoneal function, and residual renal function (RRF).Methods: We studied 48 uremic patients undergoing PD. Patients were evaluated at...