Endocrine Abstracts

The evidence base for starting early insulin treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes is rather scanty. In the UKPDS trial the intensive treatment of hyperglycaemia in newly detected patients with type 2 diabetes based on insulin or sulponylurea (no separation possible) revealed a significant reduction of myocardial infarction risk (15%, P=0.01), but only after prolonged post-study follow-up after 10 years1. In 2012 the ORIGIN study was published showing ...

Estrogen protects women from cardiovascular disease through an unknown mechanism. Two subtypes of estrogen receptors (ERalfa and beta)have been isolated and cloned. We have demonstrated abundant vascular expression of ERbeta in female rats and mice using immunocytochemistry. A majority of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell nuclei in various segments of the vascular tree showed immunoreactivity towards ERbeta. Activation of vascular ERbeta with the selective ERbeta ago...

Background: The prescription of triiodothyronine (T3) for hypothyroidism is increasing worldwide, however, long-term effects of its use are largely unknown. Previous studies have suggested possible association between T3 use and breast cancer. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of T3 use on cancer incidence and mortality.Material: Our sample included the full adult population of individuals living in Sweden with at least three purchases of t...

We use redundant peptide counting as a tool to compare, quantitatively, data from mass spectrometry analyses. When combined with hierarchical clustering, a tool commonly used for micro array analysis, we can group proteins based on their relative abundance across samples. In this way, we recently completed a spatial map of the secretory pathway of rat hepatic cells comprising some 1400 different proteins, each with a defined distribution (Gilchrist, Au, Hiding et al. 20...

Introduction: GH deficiency (GHD) in adults is associated with low serum levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and a deteriorated cardio-metabolic profile. GH replacement therapy (GHRT) increases serum IGF1, an important mediator of the treatment response and safety marker of dose titration. The interindividual variation in treatment response is large and most likely influenced by genetic factors.Aim: The aim of this study was to test the hypothe...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine and metabolic disorder affecting women of reproductive age. The main features of PCOS are hyperandrogenism and reproductive and metabolic dysfunctions. We have previously shown that muscle contractions induced by either electrical stimulations or exercise act through partially similar signaling pathways in the muscle to induce glucose uptake in the acute response. Long-term electrical stimulations decrease circulating testostero...

Background: Immigrants from the Middle East to Sweden have a twice as high prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity as native-born Swedes. Both obesity and T2D have been linked to increased incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality (ACM); however, data on differences between ethnicities are scarce. Aims: In a population-based cohort we aimed to study the impact of Middle Eastern and European ethnicity on ACM, cancer...

Patients with hypopituitarism and untreated growth hormone (GH) deficiency have excess mortality. GH replacement therapy (GHRT) has many beneficial effects, but its impact on mortality has not been proven and there are still safety concerns regarding the potential cancer risk. We have therefore studied the mortality in non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) patients with and without GHRT. Only patients with NFPA were studied in order to eliminate the influence of the aetiolo...

Background: Previously, the endocrine nurses in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland have not been organized. As Endocrine nursing is specialized and no education for a specialist competence in endocrinology is available there is a need for a collaboration to improve the Nordic endocrine nursing.Purpose: The purpose of the Nordic network for endocrine nurses (NNEN) is to enhance the Nordic endocrine nurse knowledge and skills, and also work for a...

Background: The study aimed to evaluate quality-of-life (QoL) aspects and impact of vitamin D deficiency in primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT).Method: 150 consecutive patients (119 women) with pHPT (mean age 60±11 years; BMI 27±5 kg/m2; ionized calcium 1.44±0.08 mmol/l; PTH 130±69 ng/l) were included. Six weeks postoperatively, the pHPT patients were reexamined and randomized (double-blind) to daily substitution with calciu...