Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The growth hormone system (growth hormone, GH and insulin-like-growth-factor I, IGF-I) might be implicated in congestive heart failure (CHF). In experimental models IGF-I increases cardiac contractility and reduces apoptosis of myocytes exposed to ischemic injury. In clinical studies GH-therapy has been used in CHF. One previous population based investigation showed that low levels of IGF-I was associated with an increased incidence of CHF. The result of this inves...

Background: Surgery of the pituitary gland is increasingly being performed through an endoscopic approach. We report the results of the first 26 patients after transition from microsurgery to endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery at our institution.Methods: Medical records of 26 consecutive patients (13 females) with a median age of 59 years who underwent endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery by a single surgeon from 2008 to 2010 and had a follow-up of at leas...

Introduction: α-Defensins are recently described peptides, which are part of the innate immune system. Increased circulating levels are observed in conditions associated with chronic low grade inflammation, such as ischemic heart disease and in diabetes mellitus (DM). Recently we reported adverse prognostic implications of high α-defensins in patients with type 1 DM. However, it is not clear whether this finding may be generalized to include other groups such as pati...

A 58-year-old male patient presented with a 2 months history of bilateral frontotemporal headache, fatigue and impaired vision. Further exploration revealed short term memory losses, confusion, gait disturbances, decreased libido and erectile dysfunction. Radiological investigation showed a 4 cm pituitary mass with destruction of the upper clivus and left petrous apex associated with a 5 cm large suprasellar cyst bulging upward into the 3d ventricle with obstruction hydrocepha...

Objective: The cardiac hormone brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), including the N-terminal fragment of the prohormone (NT-proBNP) have in cross-sectional studies been demonstrated to be inversely associated with BMI. Clearance of these peptides by adipocyt specific receptors have been suggested. We therefore investigated the impact of weight loss on plasma levels of NT-proBNP and adiponectin in obese individuals.Methods: A total of 20 obese women and 2 men...

Introduction: Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) is an autosomal recessive disease and one of the most common causes of syndromic obesity. An excessive weight usually appears at an early age and affects almost 90% of patients. Mutations in BBS genes have been found to disrupt the function of the cilia, leading to disturbances of transduction satiety and hunger signals in hypothalamus and increased adipogenesis in the fat tissue.Methods: We present a case series...

Introduction: Heart failure is characterised by an up-regulation of neurohoromones, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) are well-established diagnostic biomarkers with substancial prognostic value. Adrenomedullin is a vasoactive peptide and a potential biomarker of vascular injury in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) The aims of the present study were to investigate whether mid-regional pro adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is predictive ...