Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Expression of somatostatin receptor (SST) and therapy with somatostatin analogues have been scarcely investigated in parathyroid tumors.Objective: To evaluate the effects of depot long acting octreotide (OCT-LAR) on primary hyperparathyroidism in patients affected with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1).Subjects and methods: Eight patients with a genetically confirmed MEN-1 were enrolled. All patients presented...

Animal and observational studies suggest that the IGF axis is involved in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke; moreover, endogenous IGF-I could influence the evolution of ischemic stroke in humans and thereby contribute to an improved clinical and functional outcome. To assess and correlate the IGF-I axis with biochemical parameters in young patients experiencing ischemic stroke (32 aged 15–45 years,19F, BMI: 25.5±3.4 kg/m2), we evaluated IGF-I, IGFBP-3, A...

Dopamine receptors (DR) are expressed in the majority of corticotroph pituitary tumors and the dopamine agonist cabergoline is effective in controlling cortisol hypersecretion in around 50% of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). In order to characterize the tumors expressing D2 receptors and the profile of patients which might respond to the treatment with D2 agonists, the current study has the aim to correlate D2 receptor expression and...

Introduction and aim: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a common disorder associated with a wide range of endocrine and metabolic abnormalities. Obesity is present in about 45–50% of PCOS women. Increased cardiovascular risk factors and evidence of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) have been reported in PCOS. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether visceral fat amount may be considered as predictor for early CVD in PCOS women.P...

Microvascular endothelium is one of the main character and target involved in the inflammatory response. Upon specific activation, endothelial cells massively recruit Th1 IFNgamma secreting lymphocytes at the inflammatory site. In the present study, we investigate the intracellular signalling mediating TNFalpha (T) and IFNgamma (I) inflammatory response in a human endothelial cell line (HMEC-1) in vitro and the interfering effects of rosiglitazone (RGZ), a peroxisome pr...

The intensive physical activity is often associated with cardiac changes, particularly involving the right ventricular (RV) chamber. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in the RV physiologic adaptation to long-term training are not completely understood. In the present study we investigated the role of the growth hormone/insulin like growth factor 1 (GH/IGF-1) axis in the RV remodeling of athletes.Nineteen male top levels rowers and 19 age-matched...

Dopamine receptors was suggested to be expressed in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the expression of D2 dopamine receptor in MTC and the effectiveness of the dopamine agonist cabergoline in patients with MTC. Five paraffin-embedded cases of MTC obtained after thyroidectomy were used to evaluate D2 receptor expression by immunohistochemistry. Fifteen patients (7 males, 8 females, 36–78 years) with post-sur...

The GH/IGF-I axis function are reported to ameliorate after weight-loss. Bariatric surgery leads to a significant weight loss in morbidly obese patients. We investigated the relationships between GH/IGF-I axis and body composition in 20 morbidly obese females (BMI: 44.8±4.7; waist circumference (W) 119.5±7.2 cm, age 33.7±11.7 yrs) with a normal glucose tolerance, before and after laparoscopic silicone adjustable-gastric banding (LASGB). The GH axis was evaluated...

Cabergoline has been recently demonstrated to normalize cortisol secretion in more than one third of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). The aim of this study was to evaluate short-term (3-months) and long-term (12-24 months) effects of cabergoline treatment on the main systemic complications of CD, including hypertension, glucose intolerance and dyslipidemia. Twenty patients with CD unsuccessfully treated by neurosurgery entered the study. Cabergoline was admistered at...

Introduction and aim: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with an adverse metabolic and cardiovascular risk (CVR) profile, including: diabetes, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. Heart rate recovery (HRR) is a measure of autonomic dysfunction and an abnormal HRR is also associated with increased mortality. To date, no evaluation of autonomic function in young PCOS women has been performed, therefore the aim of the present study was to evaluate the HR...