Endocrine Abstracts

Serum TSH is universally considered the best laboratory test to evaluate thyroid function. Current TSH reference ranges are 0.3–5.0 mU/l, but a narrower range (0.4–2.5) has been recently advocated, which better defines normal thyroid function. The question is still debated and matter of controversy, since it has been argued that with the narrower range, an additional 10% of the general population could be diagnosed as mild or subclinically hypothyroid, although most ...

Primary subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is commonly defined by laboratory parameters (TSH above the commonly accepted reference range of about 0.4–4.0 mU/l with normal FT4). This definition does not implies actual thyroid dysfunction, since individual variations of hypothalamic-pituitary feedback set point due to endogenous (genetic, age/gender, NTIS) or exogenous (e.g. drugs) factors may lead to TSH increase in the absence of thyroid disease. Thus, to answer the question...

Obesity and type II diabetes have been linked to several health issues, including an increased risk of bone fractures. It is well known that an increase of visceral fat affects bone health causing fragility, mechanical strength reduction and increased propensity of fractures because of impaired bone matrix microstructure and aberrant bone cells function. Adult Danio rerio (zebrafish) represents a powerful model to study fat and bone metabolism. Then, the aim of this s...

Introduction: Thyroid hormones affect male and female sexual and reproductive function, but few studies have been performed on sexual dysfunctions in hyper- and hypothyroid women.Aim of the study: To evaluate female sexual function in untreated and treated hyper- and hypothyroidism and in euthyroid Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT).Patients and methods: Fifty consecutive women (38.5±8.2 years, range 18–53 years), 22 with ...

Introduction: Regorafenib, a Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) recently approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer patients previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy, VEGF and EGFR inhibitors, may, like others TKIs produce hypothyroidism, but this effect has not been systematically evaluated so far.Description of methods: Prospective evaluation of thyroid function, autoimmunity and morphology during treatment with Regorafe...

The relationship between papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and autoimmune thyroiditis remains controversial. To gain mechanistic insights, we developed a mouse model by combining three strains: BRAFv600E knock-in and TPO-CRE-ER transgenic to induce PTC upon tamoxifen injection, and NOD.H2h4 congenic to induce thyroiditis upon iodine administration.A total of 113 mice of the desired genotype (BRAF mutant homozygous, CRE transgenic hemiz...

3-Iodothyronamine (T1AM) is a recently discovered compound which can be regarded as a novel hormone, since it is an endogenous relative of thyroid hormone with systemic distribution, which does not interact with thyroid hormone receptors, but rather with specific G protein-coupled receptors. T1AM has been reported to modulate energy metabolism, and in rodents chronic T1AM treatment has been associated with lipolysis and decreased body weight. T...

Objective: The presence of APA has been reported in patients with autoimmune polyendocrinopathies, but their prevalence in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is still unknown. The aim of this study was to assess APA prevalence in T1D patients as compared to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and healthy subjects.Research design and methods: The presence of APA was assessed by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) technique, with bovine adrenal gland and...

Introduction: The association between autoimmune thyroid diseases and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is still controversial and it is based only on retrospective analyses.Objective: Aim of the present research was to evaluate this association in a prospective study of unselected consecutive thyroid nodules (TN) submitted to fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), anti-thyroid autoantibodies (ATA) measurement and histological analyses of surgical sampl...

Introduction: Gonadal and erectile function in patients submitted to heart transplantation has not been previously investigated.Aim of the study: To evaluate gonadal and sexual function in patients successfully submitted to cardiac transplantation.Materials and methods: Fifty-two patients, aged 20–78 years (mean±S.D.: 54±15 years; range 20–78 years) transplanted 88±65 (range 4–220) month...