Endocrine Abstracts

During the evaluation of hypercortisolism, distinction between Cushing’s disease (CD) and ectopic ACTH syndrome (EAS) may be problematic. Detailed medical history, diagnostic procedures and pitfalls associated with EAS of four cases are presented. All the four patients had ectopic Cushing’s syndrome due to typical bronchial carcinoids. Their mean age was 39 years, and the mean time from the presentation of Cushing’s symptomes until diagnosis and definitive cure ...

GLUT8 is a class 3 sugar transport facilitator, and transports glucose with high affinity (km~2 mM). GLUT8 mRNA is expressed in brain, heart, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, adrenal gland, liver and at particulary high levels in testis. In testis, the GLUT8 protein is located in an intracellular compartment of spermatocytes, spermatids and mature spermatozoa. GLUT8 contains an N-terminal dileucine sorting signal retaining the transporter in an intracellular compartment. So fa...

Objective: The role of smoking in the pathogenesis of thyroid enlargement is currently under debate. The aim of this paper was to investigate the role of smoking on thyroid volume change and incident goiter for different age-strata in a region with normalized iodine supply.Methods: The population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) compromised 3300 subjects with complete 5-year examination follow-up. Data from 2484 participants without known thyroi...

Context: Monitoring of iodine fortification programs is required for early recognition of oversupply or ineffective supply with iodine. Potential effects of non-response studies that are aimed at monitoring such programs have not been analysed.Objective: With the present analyses we investigated the potential role of selection bias for studies performed to monitor the iodine supply and prevalence of thyroid disorders.Design: The pr...

Objective: Opioids are among the most commonly used symptomatic treatments of somatoform pain disorder. Human and animal studies suggest that chronic exposure to opioids suppresses the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. We report on a rare case of secondary adrenal failure and secondary amenorrhea due to hydromorphone treatment.Case report: A 32-year-old female patient presented with fatigue, weakness, orthos...

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients are at high risk for vascular complications. Some of them have even a higher risk during metformin therapy, as we have recently shown by associations of polymorphisms in the Oct1 gene with a therapy-dependent increased risk of cardiovascular death. In this study, we investigated whether Oct1 gene variants were associated with cardiovascular characteristics such as pulse wave velocity (PWV), echocardiographic parameters and intima/media thickness...

Matrix-GLA-protein (MGP) was repeatedly associated with inflammation markers during the last decade. It is expressed in leucocytes and is a regulator of immune response. Due to posttranslational modification, there are 4 forms. The form responsible for immunomodulation is still unknown. Since the predicted active form - carboxylated, phosphorylated MGP - is not directly associated with immunomodulation, we aimed to investigate the association of dp-ucMGP (dephosphorylated, unc...

Background: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is well known for its association with ovarian follicular count and ovarian reserve in general as well as for its recruitment of primordial follicles in women. With an explicit decrease in menopause, it is mainly used for clinical questions from in-vitro-fertilisation to polycystic ovary syndrome. Interestingly, AMH levels in men are quite high during lifetime, but there is only few data about its relevance and potential effects in...

Background: The ESE-ENSAT guidelines emphasize the role of local therapies and suggest radiotherapy (RT) as an individualized treatment in patients with advanced ACC. However, the evidence for this recommendation is very low.Objectives: The aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate the efficacy and tolerance of RT in advanced ACC.Methods: We screened all patients in five European reference centers for ACC since 2000 for ...

Introduction: Acromegaly is associated with significant morbidity and reduced quality of life. A robust clinical programme (14 trials) established pasireotide as an effective second-generation somatostatin receptor ligand for the treatment of various endocrine conditions, including acromegaly. Patients who completed a previous pasireotide trial and continued to receive clinical benefit, according to the parent study investigator, could continue treatment in the B2412 rollover ...