Endocrine Abstracts

Since estrogens are known to have some antiatherosclerotic properties and influence on endothelial function, including nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, the purpose of this study was to determine NOx levels after menopause and to find whether the administration of estrogen therapy restores plasma NOx levels back to normal. The study group consisted of 26 women with surgically induced menopause, mean age 50.9±2.9 years, and the controls were 40 healthy pre...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common endocrine disorder among women in their reproductive years. Apart from reproductive and metabolic manifestations, recently more attention has been paid to psychological features of this syndrome. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of PCOS on quality of life and to estimate the frequency of anxiety and depression in Polish women with PCOS.Methods: One hundred seventy five women with PCO...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder with a pathogenesis in which hormonal and metabolic disturbances have been considered. There is evidence of a familial aggregation of hormonal and metabolic abnormalities in siblings of PCOS women. Some of the female relatives fulfill the diagnostic criteria of PCOS. Premature balding in the age of <30 has been proposed as the male phenotype in PCOS families.The aim of the study was to determi...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. Hormonal disturbances, metabolic disorders, and more recently, chronic inflammation have been considered in pathogenesis of PCOS. One of the determinants of inflammation investigated in terms of insulin resistance (IR) is paraoxonase 1 (PON1).Aim: To evaluate PCOS patients for the existence of chronic inflammation and to assess the relationship among PON1 polymorphism...

Results of many studies indicate that the BsmI polymorphism in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene may influence bone tissue metabolism and may be useful in identifying patients at greater risk of osteoporosis. As far as long-term glucocorticoid treatment is a major risk factor for osteoporosis development, we looked for the BsmI VDR gene polymorphism and its relation to phenotypic features characterizing bone status (BMD and metabolic bone turnover) in 74 premenopausal women: 5...

Background: Calcium and vitamin D malabsorption in celiac disease (CD) predispose to high bone turnover and skeletal demineralization. Osteoprotegerin (OPG), a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family, and ligand of receptor activator of NFkB (RANKL) inhibits osteoclast formation and activity.The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD), bone-turnover markers and osteprotegerin in adult patients wit...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age characterized by chronic anovulation and hyperandrogenism, and also associated with insulin resistance. Subclinical chronic inflammation might be an important pathogenetic factor in the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and recently has been also observed in PCOS. There is evidence for a familial predisposition not only to hormonal abnormalities but also to metabolic d...

Various psychiatric conditions have been associated with stress and alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity. Yet while stress is a general phenomenon, illness is only seen in a proportion of individuals, suggesting genetic modifiers of ability to cope with stress. 11-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD1) regenerates corticosterone from inert 11-dehydrocorticosterone, amplifying the levels of glucocorticoids and is expressed in the brain. To deter...

Introduction: Results of many studies indicate that the BsmI and FokI polymorphisms in the VDR gene may influence bone tissue metabolism and may be useful in means of identifying patients at greater risk of osteoporosis.Aim of the study: To determine frequency of polymorphic variants of VDR gene (BsmI and FokI) and its relationship to phenotypic features characterizing bone status (BMD).Materials and methods: 176 randomly selected ...

Introduction: It was found that vitamin D could have a direct effect of on adipocyte differentiation and metabolism and might be involved in glucose regulation of insulin secretion, which may be speculated from finding of a nuclear localization of 1,25-(OH)2D3 in the pancreatic islets. In recent years several polymorphisms in VDR gene, which are potent to alter the activity of VDR protein, have been described. BsmI and FokI polymorphisms were described in...