Endocrine Abstracts

Congenital morphological alteration of anterior and/or posterior pituitary lobes is a rare disease often associated with isolated or multiple hormonal deficiency. In this study we re-evaluated 24 adult patients, 20 males and 4 females, (23–46 years), in whom Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) showed congenital morphological alteration of the gland. Twenty out of 24 patients presented with an association of hypoplasic adenohypophysis and ectopic neurohypophysis, while 4 pres...

Insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3), a member of the relaxin-insulin family, is produced in the Leydig cells and at reduced levels in ovarian thecal cells. As ovaries from most of PCOS are characterized by an hyperplasia of the theca interna, we hypothesized that INSL3 could be overproduced in PCOS women and therefore that circulating levels of this hormone could became a new marker for the syndrome. Forty lean and obese women with PCOS and 20 controls comparable for age and weight ...

Introduction: Hypoparathyroidism (HP) is characterized by low serum calcium and increased phosphate levels associated with inappropriately low serum PTH levels. Clinical manifestations of HP are tingling, muscle cramps, seizures, nephrocalcinosis, kidney stone, kidney failure, depression and anxiety.Objective: Quantify the chronic symptoms and complications of HP in our monocentric cohort.Material and methods: We conducted a retros...

Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of non classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-NCAH) in hyperandrogenic women in the reproductive age attending our Endocrinology Unit and to identify specific phenotypic traits among clinical, biochemical and hormonal features.Setting: Outpatient Unit of Endocrinology, S. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital of Bologna, Italy.Patients a...

Importance: Adrenal insufficiency is a life-threatening condition complicating heterogenous disorders across various disciplines, with challenging diagnosis and a notable drug-induced component.Objective: To describe the spectrum and main features of drug-induced adrenal insufficiency through adverse drug event reports received by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Design: We conducted a retrospective disproportionality analysi...

Background: Evaluation of steroid replacement therapy (SRT) in adrenal insufficiency (AI) is challenging for the lack of reliable parameters. Measurement of salivary cortisol and cortisone emerged as a non-invasive tool for AI management, however poorly investigated. Aim: To analyse the cortisol and cortisone circadian rhythm in normal controls (NC) and patients with primary AI (PAI) under different SRTs, and to identify useful biomarkers. <p class="...

Background: Altered sleep quality and duration have been reported in 26-67% of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, differences in study designs, populations, and methods of sleep quality assessment have led to heterogeneous results in terms of association with clinical data and blood glucose parameters.Aims: To investigate the sleep quality of a large cohort of adult patients with autoimmune diabetes under insulin treatment, and to analyze the ...

Background and Objective: Severe metabolic complications generally manifest at an early age in Berardinelli – Seip congenital lipodystrophy (BSCL) and their management is especially challenging, often requiring prompt pharmacological treatment with insulin-sensitizers, lipid lowering drugs, insulin and eventually metreleptin. Nutritional intervention with low lipid personalized diets is considered by experts a fundamental tool in handling the disease when associated with ...

Background: The classical steroidogenic route to the synthesis of dihydrotestosterone in Leydig cells involves delta-5 and delta-4 precursors. Besides, the “backdoor pathway”, encompassing progesterone metabolites, is gaining increasing interest in fetal development and men pathophysiology. Nowadays, liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is the ideal technique to simultaneously quantify large panels of steroids with elevated sensitivity and specif...

Background: Excess testosterone in PCOS is accompanied by increased levels of other ovarian and adrenal androgens and precursors. Recently, 11-oxygenated adrenal androgens have been postulated as major components of the circulating androgen pool in PCOS. Obesity is strictly connected with androgen excess and with the derangement of hormone circadian rhythmicity. To date, it has not been clarified whether hyperandrogenism in PCOS, either complicated by obesity or not, is accomp...