Pavlina D. Avgoustinaki, Effrosyni Mitsopoulou, Gregorios Chlouverakis, Theoni Triantafillou, Maria Venihaki, Sofia Koukouli, Andrew N. Margioris
OBJECTIVE: Sex steroids affect human behavior. The aim of the present study was to determine the associations, if any, between the circulating levels of gonadal and adrenal sex steroids in the mid luteal phase (21st day of a normal menstrual cycle, MC) of young professional …
Valentine V. Fadeyev, Tatyana B. Morgunova, Galina A. Melnichenko, Ivan I. Dedov
Objective: The objective of this study was to compare various parameters in patients with hypothyroidism receiving either monotherapy with L-Thyroxine (L-T4) or combination therapy with L-T4 and L-Triiodothyronine (L-T3). Design: We conducted a randomized, controlled trial in 36 premenopausal women with hypothyroidism …
Sandra Pekic, Mirjana Doknic, Marina Djurovic, Svetozar Damjanovic, Milan Petakov1 Dragana Miljic, Carlos Dieguez, Felipe F Casanueva, Vera Popovic
The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of circulating cortisol levels on the somatotroph responsiveness to the most potent stimuli of growth hormone (GH) secretion, the GHRH+GHRP-6 test. We studied 12 patients with hypocortisolism (10 with Addison’s disease and 2 with isolated ACTH deficiency) before and after glucocorticoid (GC) replacement therapy and compared …
Markus Eszlinger, Kurt Werner Schmid, Ralf Paschke
The evaluation of patients with nodular thyroid disease is focused on two main aspects, namely the exclusion of thyroid malignancy and the exclusion of hyperthyroidism in regions with borderline iodine supply. However, the identification and preoperative typing of both the substantially less frequently occurring thyroid carcinomas …
Yogendra S. Rajawat, Ioannis Bossis
Autophagy (ATG) is the process of bulk degradation and recycling of long-lived proteins, macromolecular aggregates, and damaged intracellular organelles. Cellular homeostasis requires continuous removal of worn-out components and replacement …
Athina Markou, Kaity Tsigou, Dimitrios Papadogias, Kostas Kossyvakis, Kyriakos Vamvakidis, Theodora Kounadi, George Piaditis
We present a 39-year old female with a benign adrenal tumor characterized by autonomous secretion of cortisol, androgens, and aldosterone. The patient presented with a 4-year history of hypertension and severe hirsutism. Baseline investigations revealed elevated testosterone, androstendione, and 17OH progesterone with normal levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate…
Stefano Stagi, Cristina Manoni, Valentina Cirello, Danila Covelli, Sabrina Giglio, Francesco Chiarelli, Salvatore Seminara, Maurizio de Martino
The syndrome of resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) is characterized by elevated serum free thyroid hormones (FT4 and FT3) in the presence of unsuppressed TSH levels, reflecting resistance to the normal negative feedback mechanisms in the hypothalamus and pituitary …
Alessandro Sindoni, Fausto Famà, Maria Gioffre-Florio, Sergio Baldari
It was with great interest that we read the article titled “Neoadjuvant therapy for advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: an emerging treatment modality?” by I. Perysinakis et al published in the first issue of 2016 of the Journal …
Nikolaos D. Roupas, Irene Mamali, Spyros Maragkos, Lydia Leonidou, Anastasia K. Armeni, George K. Markantes, Athanasios Tsekouras, George C. Sakellaropoulos, Kostas B. Markou, Neoklis A. Georgopoulos
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of prolonged intensive aerobic exercise and acute energy deficit (180 km ultra-marathon race) on serum leptin, adiponectin, resistin and visfatin levels and their association and interaction with serum cortisol and insulin levels in highly trained ultra-endurance runners …
Maria Kalina, Barbara Kalina-Faska, Katarzyna Gruszczyńska, Jan Baron, Anita Cisowska, Karolina Morawiec, Paulina Biel-Lewandowska, Ewa Małecka-Tendera
BACKGROUND: Structural defects of the hypothalamic-pituitary area in MRI are suggested as being a more accurate marker of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) than laboratory assays. OBJECTIVE: To compare auxological characteristics in GHD children with normal pituitary (NP) function and with ectopic posterior pituitary (EPP) …
Antonio Picarelli, Marco Di Tola, Fabio Tabacco, Mariacatia Marino, Raffaele Borghini, Tania D’Amico, Carla Lubrano, Patrizia Gargiulo
OBJECTIVE: The management of obesity, apart from exercise, mainly involves a calorie restriction regimen. A pharmaceutical treatment is often used to improve patient compliance and diet effectiveness, although several side-effects have previously been described …
Ioanna Zografou, Christos Sampanis, Eugenia Gkaliagkousi, Fotios Iliadis, Athanasios Papageorgiou, Panagiotis Doukelis, Konstantinos Vogiatzis, Stella Douma
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor vildagliptin on high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and arterial stiffness (AS) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). DESIGN: Sixty-four drug-naive diabetic patients, with inadequate glycemic control …
Thalia Bei, Constantinos Tilkeridis, Stavros Garantziotis, Sosipatros A. Boikos, Konstantinos Kazakos, Constantinos Simopoulos, Constantine A. Stratakis
OBJECTIVE: We recently reported the association of the Sp1 site polymorphism of the COL1A1 gene with lumbar disk disease (LDD). In the present study we searched for a different polymorphism of the COL1A1 gene (which is usually not in linkage disequilibrium with the Sp1 site) in subjects with LDD…
Silvia Santos-Palacios, Antonio Brugos-Larumbe, Francisco Guillén-Grima, Ane Garmendia-Madariaga, Juan C. Galofré
OBJECTIVE: In the last few years a number of studies have found that metformin has a thyrotropin (TSH)-lowering effect in patients with type 2 diabetes (DM2) and that this effect disappears after discontinuation of the drug. Initial studies were carried out in hypothyroid patients on levothyroxine (LT4) treatment …
Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou, Costas Tsiamis, Spyros G. Marketos
In June of 2005 the term hormone completed a life span of one century. The word that Ernest Henry Starling included in one of his four lectures to the Royal Society of Physicians of London, given in June 1905, definitively established the permanent representation in terminology for the products secreted by the endocrine glands…
Snezana Polovina, Vera Popovic, Leonidas Duntas, Natasa Milic, Dragan Micic
OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between the elevated TSH and fracture risk in postmenopausal women with subclinical hypothyroidism for evaluation of individuals with a high risk for osteoporotic fractures. DESIGN: FRAX score calculation (10-year estimated risk for bone fracture) …
Atieh Amouzegar, Fereidoun Azizi
Objective: To assess variations of urinary iodine concentration (UIC) during a 4-week period among pregnant and non-pregnant women in an iodine-replete area. Design: Pregnant (in their first trimester of pregnancy) and non-pregnant women referred to two maternity hospitals in Tehran were consecutively recruited from September 2005 to March 2006 …
Angeliki Krikri, Vasileios Alexopoulos, Emmanouil Zoumakis, Paraskevas Katsaronis, Evangelos Balafas, Gregory Kouraklis, Panagiotis E. Karayannacos, George P. Chrousos, Gregory Skalkeas
OBJECTIVE: Minimally invasive operations, such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy and adrenalectomy, result in a more rapid recovery of normal function, less physiological disturbances and less stress to the organism than similar open operations. The purpose of this study was to determine the stress response associated …
Athina Markou, Justin Vale, Bhumita Vadgama, Marjori Walker, Stephen Franks
A 29-year old male and his wife presented with an 18 month history of primary infertility. History and initial investigations suggested no major female pathologic component but a semen analysis revealed azoospermia. There was no history of any sexual dysfunction and neither partner was receiving any medication …
Katherine E. Akester, Noel Somasundaram, Salvador Diaz-Cano, Ashley B. Grossman
Most clinicians assume that a thyroid mass which appears to be malignant is most likely a tumour arising from thyroid cells. We present a case where the thyroid malignancy was associated with a degree of systemic clinical and biochemical disturbance which suggested alternative diagnoses, and in which fine-needle aspiration revealed that the patient had a thyroid lymphoma …
Menalaos L. Batrinos
Many ancients held various beliefs about the supernatural virtues of certain numbers. In ancient Greece, the school of Pythagoras (590 BC) taught the doctrine of the numerical essence of natural events. In accordance with this theory, the number 7 was considered a sacred number and thus vital to human life…
George A. Kanakis, Dimitrios D. Goulis
Despite the variety of available female contraceptive methods, many pregnancies (~50%) are still undesired. Many men (>60%) want to participate equally with their partner in family planning; however, male contraceptive methods (MCMs) account for only 14% of those used worldwide and no pharmaceutical MCM is available so far …
Gulcin Akinci, Baris Akinci, Senol Coskun, Petek Bayindir, Zeliha Hekimsoy, Bilgin Ozmen
Objective: Childhood obesity is associated with impaired endothelial function, insulin resistance and inflammation. Being at risk for overweight has been defined as having a body mass index (BMI) between the 85th and 94th percentile for age and sex. In this study, we looked for features linked to cardiovascular risk in children who are at risk for overweight …
Gerasimos P. Sykiotis, George D. Kalliolias, Christos Terezis, Athanasios G. Papavassiliou
In the homeland of Hippocrates, the study of the history and philosophy of medicine is remarkably infrequent among medical practitioners. It is excluded from the curricula of the majority of medical schools and from the hobbies and pastimes of most physicians and medical students…
Natalia Lazopoulou, Eleana Gkioka, Ioanna Ntalla, Panagiota Pervanidou, Alexandra-Maria Magiakou, Eleftheria Roma-Giannikou, George P. Chrousos, Ioannis Papassotiriou, George Dedoussis, Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein
OBJECTIVE: Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) risk alleles of obesogenic genes, such as the fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) and the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) gene, have been described in both paediatrics and adult populations …