Endocrine Connections

Despite the availability of adrenal hormone replacement therapy, patients with adrenal insufficiency can be affected by reduced fertility and parity. Patients with well managed adrenal insufficiency are expected to have uneventful pregnancies and favourable outcomes, but an increased risk of maternal and neonatal complications have been reported in some cases. Many physiological changes occur to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during pregnancy, often making a new diagnosis and management of adrenal insufficiency challenging...

OBJECTIVES: It has not been established whether vitamin D deficiency is associated with anthropometric state; therefore, this systematic review examined the relationship between serum vitamin D levels with anthropometrics and adiposity across different ages. METHODS: Studies that examined vitamin D deficiency with adiposity measures in different age groups were searched in the PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases until November 2023. Two investigators independently reviewed titles and abstracts, examined full-text articles, extracted data, and rated the quality in accordance with the Newcastle-Ottawa criteria...

Individuals with untreated isolated GH deficiency (IGHD) due to a mutation in the GHRH receptor gene from Itabaianinha Brazil have increased insulin sensitivity, normal life expectancy, and an extended healthspan, i.e., the period of life free from disabilities. We hypothesize that their prolonged healthspan is accompanied by a delayed cognitive decline in senescence. To test this hypothesis, we have administered the Literacy Independent Cognitive Assessment (LICA) to 15 IGHD individuals aged over 50 years and 15 controls matched by age, sex, years of education, and percentage of illiteracy...

The main objective of this manuscript is to provide a comprehensive review of continuous glucose monitoring use in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes from the CONCEPTT study including sub-analyses. Literature search was accessed through MEDLINE (1966 - September 2023) using the key terms: CONCEPTT, pregnancy, women, type 1 diabetes, and continuous glucose monitor with imitations set to distinguish human subjects written in English. A total of 17 publications including one main clinical trial and 15 sub-analyses have been published to date regarding the use of CGM in pregnant women with T1D which were conducted by a research group identified as the CONCEPTT Collaborative Group...

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited treatment options. Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a promising drug target; PLK1 inhibitors (PLK1i) have been investigated in solid cancers and are more effective in TP53-mutated cases. We evaluated PLK1 expression in ACC samples and the efficacy of two PLK1i in ACC cell lines with different genetic backgrounds. PLK1 protein expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry in tissue samples and correlated with clinical data. The efficacy of Rigosertib (RGS), targeting RAS/PI3K, CDKs and PLKs, and Poloxin (Pol), specifically targeting the PLK1 polo-box domain, was tested in TP53-mutated NCI-H295R, MUC-1, and CU-ACC2 cells and in TP53-wild-type CU-ACC1...

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic and prognostic value of the leucine-rich-alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) gene in thyroid cancer remains unclear. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, we conducted a bioinformatics analysis to determine the role of LRG1 in thyroid cancer. METHODS: Data from 512 patients with thyroid cancer and 59 normal individuals were collected from TCGA database. The Kruskal-Wallis test and logistic analysis were used to examine the relationship between LRG1 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics...

PURPOSE: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency has been known to be associated with the risk and mortality of several cancers. However, the role of 25(OH)D in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remains controversial. This study aimed to investigate the association between 25(OH)D and clinicopathologic features of PTC. METHODS: Patients who underwent thyroidectomy were retrospectively reviewed. Serum 25(OH)D levels were measured within a week prior to surgery...

This study aimed to investigate the role of mitochondrial-related protein Mfn2 in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and its impact on oocyte development. The pathological features of PCOS model mice were confirmed by HE staining and immunohistochemistry. The expression of Mfn2 and mitochondrial-related proteins in PCOS oocytes and granulosa cells was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. Mitochondrial quantity was measured by mito-tracker staining, and the structure of Mitochondria-associated ER membranes (MAMs) was observed by transmission electron microscopy...

OBJECTIVE: Sex steroids exert important biological functions within the central nervous system (CNS), but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The contribution of circulating sex steroids to the levels in CNS tissue and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been sparsely investigated in human and with inconclusive results. This could partly be due to lack of sensitive validated assays. To address this, we validated a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS/MS) assay for quantification of sex steroid hormones/precursors in CSF...

AIM: Hyperglucagonaemia contributes to the pathophysiology in type 2 diabetes, but the mechanisms behind the inappropriate glucagon secretion are not fully understood. Glucagon and amino acids are regulated in a feedback loop referred to as the liver-α cell axis. Individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) appear to be glucagon resistant, disrupting the liver-α cell axis resulting in hyperglucagonaemia and hyperaminoacidaemia. We investigated the associations between circulating glucagon, amino acids, and liver fat content in a cohort of individuals with type 2 diabetes...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of preoperative calcium and activated vitamin D3 supplementation on post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia and hypo-parathyroid hormone-emia (hypo-PTHemia). METHODS: A total of 209 patients were randomly divided into control group (CG) and experimental group (EG). Oral calcium and activated vitamin D3 supplementation were preoperatively administered to EG, whereas a placebo was administered to CG. Data on serum calcium, phosphorus, and PTH concentrations before operation, on postoperative day 1 (POPD1), at postoperative week 3 (POPW3), and the length of postoperative hospitalization were collected...

OBJECTIVE: Measurements utilizing commercially available sets of reagents for determination of steroid hormone profiles by liquid chromatography-tandem-mass-spectrometry (LC MS/MS) become increasingly important for routine laboratories. However, method specific publications of reference intervals obtained from sufficiently large studies are often missing. METHODS: After validation of performance characteristics, a widely available kit for steroid analysis by LC MS/MS was used to measure concentrations of 15 endogenous steroids (aldosterone, cortisol, cortisone, corticosterone, 11 deoxycortisol, 21 deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, estradiol, testosterone, androstenedione, dihydrotestosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, 17 hydroxyprogesterone, 11 deoxycorticosterone, progesterone) in more than 500 blood samples from a population based study...

The incidence of ovarian cancer has been epidemiologically related to female reproductive events and hormone replacement therapy after menopause. This highlights the importance of evaluating the role of sexual steroid hormones in ovarian cancer by the expression of enzymes related to steroid hormone biosynthesis in the tumor cells. This study was aimed to evaluate the presence of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD17B1), aromatase and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in the tumor cells and their association with the overall survival in 111 patients diagnosed with primary ovary tumors...

BACKGROUND: Updated epidemiological data of neuroendocrine tumors are currently lacking. Thus, we performed epidemiological and survival analyses on a large cohort of patients with neuroendocrine tumors and developed a new nomogram to predict survival. METHODS: This population-based study examined 112,256 patients with neuroendocrine tumors between 2000 and 2018 using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results. RESULTS: The age-adjusted incidence per 100,000 persons of neuroendocrine tumors increased from 4...

OBJECTIVE: The inflammatory microenvironment has been implicated in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Inflammatory stimuli induce the release of components of neutrophils into extracellular space, leading to formation of a neutrophil extracellular trap (NET), which can stimulate growth and progression of cancer. Generation of activated factor XII and thrombin is also involved in cancer progression. This study attempted to determine whether the level of circulating markers of NET, activated factor XII, and endogenous thrombin potential may be useful for detecting recurrence of DTC...

OBJECTIVE: The European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions (EuRRECa, eurreb.eu) includes an e-reporting registry (e-REC) used to perform surveillance of conditions within the European Reference Network (ERN) for rare endocrine conditions (Endo-ERN). The aim of this study was to report the experience of e-REC over the 3.5 years since its launch in 2018. METHODS: Electronic reporting capturing new encounters of Endo-ERN conditions was performed monthly through a bespoke platform by clinicians registered to participate in e-REC from July 2018 to December 2021...

Aims Aging, obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) form a metabolic disease continuum that has a continuously increasing prevalence. Lipidomics explains the complex interactions between lipid metabolism and metabolic diseases. We aimed to systematically investigate the plasma lipidome changes induced by newly diagnosed impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and T2DM in overweight/obese elderly individuals and to identify potential biomarkers to differentiate between the IGT, T2DM, and control groups. Methods Plasma samples from 148 overweight/obese elderly individuals, including 52 patients with IGT, 47 patients with T2DM, and 49 euglycemic controls, were analyzed using a high-coverage non-targeted absolute quantitative lipidomics approach...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

We applied 24-hour Holter monitoring to analyze the characteristics of arrhythmias and heart rate variability in Chinese patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) and compared them with age-, sex-, and blood pressure-matched primary hypertension (PH) patients. A total of 216 PA patients and 261 PH patients were enrolled. The nonstudy data were balanced using propensity score matching (PSM), and the risk variables for developing arrhythmias were then analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Before PSM, the proportion of PA patients with combined atrial premature beats and prolonged QT interval was higher than the corresponding proportion in the PH group...

OBJECTIVE: an improvement in iodine status in Veneto region has been documented in the last decade. We aimed at estimating the incidence of hyperthyroidism in the Veneto region (Italy) over the period 2013-2022. METHODS: retrospective population-based study conducted in Veneto (4.9 million people) using the population registry, an administrative health database. Between 2012 and 2022, hyperthyroidism incidence was defined thank to a healthcare co-payment exemption for hyperthyroidism or any hospital diagnosis of hyperthyroidism...