Endocrine Abstracts

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) and growth hormone deficiency (GHD) are both associated with alterations of bone metabolism.GH secretion is frequently impaired in PHP patients; thus GH/IGF-I system alterations could be involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.In the present study 50 post-menopausal women with PHP were evaluated by GH response to GH-releasing hormone (GHRH)+arginine (ARG) test and femoral neck bone mineral den...

Thyroid hormone resistance (THR) and pituitary TSH-secreting adenomas (TSHoma) are both characterised by increased serum free thyroid hormone levels and normal TSH concentrations. Differentiation of the two syndromes is a clinical challenge, and relies on the suppression (TRH) or lack of suppression (TSHoma) of TSH-dependent parameters and on the presence of germinal mutations in the thyroid hormone receptor beta 1 gene in patients with THR. Thyroid blood flow, evaluated using...

Pituitary autoantibodies have been detected in patients with endocrine autoimmune diseases as well as in various pituitary diseases but their role in determining pituitary dysfunction is not clear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate anterior and posterior pituitary function in a group of patients with detectable pituitary autoantibodies.31 patients (29 women and 2 men) were enrolled in the study: 21 patients affected by Hashimoto’s thyroid...

Organ-specific autoantibodies have been detected in patients with autoimmune diseases. The relationship between pituitary autoantibodies and lymphocitic hypophysitis has not yet been established and it is not clear if they are a specific serological marker of the disease.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of pituitary autoantibodies in patients affected by autoimmune and nodular thyroid disorders.803 patien...

Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma, collectively referred to as PPGLs, are rare, mostly benign neuroendocrine tumors arising from chromaffin cells of the adrenal gland or of extra-adrenal sites, respectively. Surgery is the first-line therapy for localized PPGLs. However, up to 17% of PPGLs show metastatic spread, and for these cases there is no curative treatment. Therefore, the identification of novel therapeutic approaches for advanced PPGLs is highly clinically relevant. W...

Introduction: Cardiac abnormalities are common in patients with acromegaly and contribute to the increased morbidity and mortality of the disease. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is the established, non-invasive gold standard for measuring morpho-functional changes of the heart. We aimed to detect cardiac alterations in patients with acromegaly through CMR and to identify potential risk factors associated with cardiac impairment.Materials and methods: T...

Introduction: In overweight and obesity energy unbalance is responsible for the accumulation of ectopic fat. Excess energy and metabolic alterations, namely insulin resistance, may favor ectopic fat depositions. However, the role played by dietary factors, especially the pro-inflammatory properties of dietary patterns, in ectopic fat storage is not thoroughly understood. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and di...

Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) is associated with a severe myopathy mainly affecting type 2 muscle fibres, with a higher prevalence in male subjects. The excess of glucocorticoids (GC) levels represents the most common cause of myopathy due to an alteration of protein metabolism. The non-coding post-transcriptional gene regulators muscle-specific microRNAs (miRNA) control muscle development and differentiation but when dysregulated lead to skeletal muscle (SM) disorder. The aim ...

Conventional glucocorticoids (CGCs) are unable to mimic physiological cortisol rhythm in adrenal insufficiency (AI), resulting in increased metabolic morbidity and impaired quality of life (QoL). Non-physiological cortisol pattern and elevated evening cortisol levels may be responsible for the increased risk of metabolic disorders observed in AI patients under CGCs. Once daily dual-release-hydrocortisone (DR-HC), which better reproduces physiological daily cortisol profile, si...

Introduction: Insulin resistance is a well-known hallmark of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), and it detrimentally affects also protein metabolism, favoring to the decline of lean body mass. The aim of the present study was to explore muscle strength (as a functional consequence of sarcopenic obesity) and muscle quality (namely, myosteatosis) in women with and without the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS).Methods: Study participants were enrolled at the Sapienza U...