Endocrine Abstracts

The ongoing obesity epidemic is one of the main concerns worldwide and for this reason preventive strategies to reduce the future global health and the economic costs of this disease are urgently needed. Diets for weight loss and physical activity represent the cornerstone of treatment for patients who are overweight and/or obese, in particular to improve the frequent comorbid conditions associated with obesity. Now and in the past multiple medications have been approved for c...

The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), affecting 4–7% of women worldwide, is one of the most common causes of infertility. Hyperandrogenism and chronic oligo-anovulation are the prominent clinical features. However, PCOS is no longer considered as a constellation of disorders only related to the reproductive sphere, but represents an aggregation of metabolic disorders having an early onset and with advancing age predominating over reproductive disorders. Obesity, particula...

Endocrinology came to its third revolution in the field of hormone determination. As radioimmunoassays in the 60s paved the way to the knowledge of modern endocrinology, and as automated immunoassays in the 70s linked analytical measurement to the clinical practice, nowadays liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) represents the evolution of the high-throughput approach, typical of automated platforms, toward the high reliability and specificity o...

During the last few years, the endocannabinoid system has emerged as a relevant topic in the scientific community. Many different regulatory actions have been attributed to endocannabinoids, and their involvement in several pathophysiological conditions is under intense scrutiny. Cannabinoid receptors first discovered as the molecular targets of the psychotropic component of the plant Cannabis sativa, participate in the physiological modulation of many central and peripheral f...

Introduction: Hypoparathyroidism Bone Score (TBS) has been associated with fragility fractures in post-menopausal women. Estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer is usually treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs), with international guidelines recommending initial bone density (BMD) evaluation, since this therapy is associated with high rates of fragility fractures. Each Country has different thresholds of intervention to recommend pharmacologic treatment for fracture preventi...

Context: Normocalcemic hyperparathyroidism (NHPT) is considered as an earlier or milder phenotype compared to traditional primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). To make a correct diagnosis, secondary hyperparathyroidism due to low calcium intake must be excluded. Whether calcium intake might affect presentation of PHPT vs NHPT has never been addressed consistently.Objective: To describe patients with a diagnosis of NHPT or PHPT in relation to their calcium ...

Context: Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) may be treated with denosumab due to coexisting osteoporosis. Few studies have been conducted in this population.Case presentation: An 84-year-old woman was seen in the outpatient clinic in March 2018 due to calcium levels at the upper limit of reference range (10,2 mg/dl) associated with elevated levels of PTH (112 pg/ml) and sufficient 25(OH)Vit D (24 ng/ml) levels, findings consistent with mild...

Recent data showed the existence of a specific adipocyte population composed of ‘brite’ cells in white adipose tissue (WAT), characterized by a peculiar gene expression pattern including PRDM16. Despite showing a low basal UCP1 expression, these cells display higher UCP1 expression when stimulated. In view of the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in energy homeostasis, the aim of our work is to establish whether the CB1 receptor could be a target for brown ph...

We report of two sisters with hyperandrogenism, menstrual abnormalities, and severe insulin resistance. The elder sister was seen after puberty at age 21 and she was referred for the evaluation of hirsutism and polymenorrhoea; the younger was seen earlier in life, at age 15, for the evaluation of secondary amenorrhoea. In both of them, we performed the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in accordance to the Rotterdam criteria. They also presented a lipodystrophic ph...

Tissue inflammation is usually transient but in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) inflammation persists. It remains unclear why inflammation persists in some tissues and not in others. Recent studies have shown that stromal cells such as fibroblasts play a pivotal role in determining this persisitance. We have hypothesized that glucocorticoid (GC) activation via the enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1) within fibroblasts plays a key role in ...