Polyzois Makras, Georgios Toloumis, Dimitrios Papadogias, Gregory A. Kaltsas, Michael Besser
Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a physically and psychologically disabling disease associated with high morbidity resulting from inappropriate elevation of circulating free cortisol levels. The main features of CS are disturbance of the normal circadian rhythm of cortisol secretion, impairment of the normal feedback of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis …
Constantin Polychronakos
For the past several decades, the standard diagnostic and clinical research tool in endocrinology has been the hormone assay. The enormous surge in the development and use of molecular and cell biology technologies in the past two decades has advanced our understanding of hormone synthesis, secretion, regulation and action at the cellular level but had a relatively modest impact on the exploration of hormonal physiology …
Athina Markou, Theodora Duka, Gordana M. Prelevic
Cognitive decline is well recognized during ageing but is often accelerated in women after menopause. Studies have shown that there are significant gender differences in brain ageing with significantly greater changes in brain structure, function and metabolism between females and males. Estrogens exert protective effects on neuronal cells in culture but the exact underlying …
Martin O. Savage, Helen L. Storr, Ashley B. Grossman, Gerasimos E. Krassas
Although paediatric Cushing’s disease is rare, it is associated with severe morbidity in childhood and presents a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for the paediatric endocrinologist. Growth failure remains an important feature of paediatric Cushing’s disease, both at diagnosis and after successful treatment. However, the development of specific diagnostic tests and important therapeutic advances has contributed …
Amos Pines
A dramatic change has occurred over the past decade with regard to the use of hormones during the postmenopausal period. In the 90’s, the belief in the USA being that there was reason to recommend hormone therapy (HT) for the prevention of coronary artery disease, the guidelines of the American College of Physicians in 1992 were as follows …
Eleni Kousta, George Tolis, Stephen Franks
The diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have recently been revised. The polycystic ovarian morphology has been introduced as part of the criteria and an international consensus has been achieved providing the basis for future research and collaboration. It is now accepted that polycystic ovary syndrome has important long-term health implications …
Gonzalo Díaz Soto, Irene Halperin, Mattia Squarcia, Francisco Lomeña, Manuel Puig Domingo
In recent years thyroid imaging has marked exponential progress, considerably changing the approach to diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, follow-up and evaluation of high prevalence thyroid diseases such as goitre, thyroid nodules and primary thyroid cancer. What is more, this notable technical advance has proven its ability to effectively confront such complex challenges …
Catherine Dacou-Voutetakis
The case presented by Petzold et al in this issue1 highlights certain critical aspects of management of the child and adolescent with endocrine problems which are both of theoretical and practical interest. First, the discrepancy between the hormonal profile and the clinical manifestations …
Panagiotis Anagnostis, Asterios Karagiannis, Konstantinos Tziomalos, Anna I. Kakafika, Vasilios G. Athyros, Dimitri P. Mikhailidis
The widespread application of abdominal imaging procedures has resulted in an increased frequency of clinically silent adrenal masses. Adrenal incidentaloma (AI) is a term applied to an accidentally discovered adrenal mass on imaging performed for the investigation of an unrelated complaint …
Stergios A. Polyzos, Marina Kita, Avraam Avramidis
Thyroid nodules are common in clinical practice. They may be solitary within a “normal” thyroid gland or dominant within a multinodular goiter. The incidence of thyroid nodules has been on the rise in recent decades, mainly due to the wider use of neck imaging. Therefore, the incidental finding of a thyroid nodule in an asymptomatic patient is not rare…
Nicholas J Sarlis, Loukas Gourgiotis
Thyroid cancer (TC) is the commonest endocrine malignancy. In the overwhelming majority of cases, thyroid carcinomas are well-differentiated malignancies that respond favorably to treatment; however, this outcome cannot be absolutely guaranteed. The absence of large prospective randomized clinical trials in TC—due to its low incidence and protracted clinical course in cases with persistent/recurrent metastatic disease—results in considerable debates regarding the optimal treatment and follow-up regimens in this malignancy…
Catherine Dacou-Voutetakis
The realization that the environment exerts a favorable or unfavorable effect on the human organism is not new. In the remote past, not only physicians but philosophers (e.g. Plato, Aristotle) as well wrote about the adverse effects of a maltreated environment, while Theophrastus (a student of Plato and Aristotle) is considered the father of ecology …
Gerasimos P. Sykiotis, Athanasios G. Papavassiliou
Nuclear receptors are ligand-regulated transcription factors that evolved from an ancestral orphan receptor into a highly diverse family present throughout the entire animal kingdom. They encompass receptors for steroid and non-steroid hormones, vitamins and metabolic intermediates. These receptors signal through endocrine, paracrine, autocrine and intracrine networks …
Dragan Micic, Goran Cvijovic, Vladimir Trajkovic, Leonidas H. Duntas, Snezana Polovina
Metformin is considered, in conjunction with lifestyle modification, as a first-line treatment modality for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Recently, several clinical studies have reported reduced incidence of neoplastic diseases in DM type 2 patients treated with metformin, as compared to diet or other antidiabetic agents …
George Mastorakos, Maria Pavlatou, Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis, George P. Chrousos
Exercise represents a physical stress that challenges homeostasis. In response to this stressor, autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis are known to react and to participate in the maintenance of homeostasis. This includes elevation of cortisol and cathecholamines in plasma. However, sustained physical conditioning in highly trained athletes is associated…
Athanasios N. Tsartsalis, Charalambos Dokos, Georgia D. Kaiafa, Dimitris N. Tsartsalis, Antonios Kattamis, Apostolos I. Hatzitolios, Christos G. Savopoulos
Osteoporosis is a major health problem affecting both men and women. Statins, besides their action as lipid-lowering agents, seem to have additional pleiotropic properties, among them a beneficial effect on bone mineral density. The entirety of experimental and the majority of clinical studies …
Panagiotis Nomikos, Rudolf Fahlbusch, Michael Buchfelder
Despite recent and ongoing advances in the pharmacological and radiotherapeutic management of pituitary tumors, surgery remains the therapy of choice for the vast majority of these lesions. Both transsphenoidal and transcranial microsurgery of pituitary adenomas and of other sella lesions are well established, safe and highly efficient therapeutic procedures…
Polyzois Makras, Socrates E. Papapoulos
Hypercalcaemia results from the failure of renal calcium excretion to compensate increased influx of calcium into the circulation from the intestine, the kidneys and the skeleton. Hypercalcaemia is a common metabolic abnormality of varying severity …
Richard Fleming
Insulin resistance is an important “upstream” driver for reproductive and metabolic abnormalities in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). This theoretical background is now supported by substantial evidence for treating women with PCOS with insulin sensitising agents such as metformin or the thiazolidinediones…
Leonard Wartofsky
Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy with more deaths annually than all other endocrine cancers combined. Medical centers in many parts of the world have noted an increasing frequency of cases of thyroid cancer. The general impression has been that if there is a rising frequency, it was likely due to some environmental cause …
Ioannis Kyrou, Constantine Tsigos
Chronic stress represents a prolonged state of dyshomeostasis caused by intense and frequently imposed stressors. Obesity constitutes a chronic dysmetabolic state, leading progressively to a spectrum of metabolic complications, such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Α growing body of evidence supports the existence of significant interactions between stress and obesity …
Vera Popovic, Felipe F. Casanueva
Recent data suggest that in addition to leptin’s role in conveying signals of the amount of energy stores to the central nervous system, this adipocyte secreted hormone interacts with the endocrine system to provide critical information about the size of fat stores, acting as a permissive factor that allows the triggering of energy demanding situations …
Adeeb Shehzad, Waqas Iqbal, Omer Shehzad, Young Sup Lee
Adiponectin is a white and brown adipose tissue hormone, also known as gelatin-binding protein-28 (GBP28), AdipoQ, adipocyte complement-related protein (ACRP30), or apM1. Adiponectin circulates in the bloodstream in trimeric, hexameric, and high-molecular-mass species, while different forms of adiponectin …
HORMONES 2007, 6(3):173-193 Paraskevi Moutsatsou Department of Biological Chemistry, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece Download PDF Abstract The classical phytoestrogens, so far known, constitute a group of plant-derived compounds which include mainly isoflavones, lignans, coumestanes, stilbenes and the flavonoids quercetin and kaempherol. The discovery of many more novel estrogen-like compounds in the Read More
Antonis Polymeris
Obesity both in adults and children has emerged as a worldwide epidemic. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of a number of comorbidities including type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea …