George Vlotides, Ayse Tanyeri, Matilde Spampatti, Kathrin Zitzmann, Michael Chourdakis, Gerald Spöttl, Julian Maurer, Svenja Nölting, Burkhard Göke, Christoph J. Auernhammer
Metformin is a widely used oral antidiabetic drug with good tolerability. Recent studies suggest that it also possesses adjuvant potent anticancer properties in a variety of tumors. Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of the gastro-entero-pancreatic system (GEP) comprise a heterogeneous group of tumors with increasing incidence …
Maria Alevizaki, Ilpo Huhtaniemi
The pituitary glycoprotein hormones thyrotrophin (thyroid-stimulating hormone, TSH), lutrophin (luteinising hormone, LH) and follitrophin (follicle-stimulating hormone, FSH), as well as the placental choriongonadotrophin (human chorionic gonadotrophin, hCG) are composed of a common α-subunit and a specific β-subunit, coupled by noncovalent interactions …
Jivka T. Ivanova, Polet B. Doukova, Mihail A. Boyanov, Plamen R. Popivanov
OBJECTIVE: the aim of this study was to search for a possible association of low bone mineral density (bMD) with the PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms of the estrogen receptor (Er) gene in bulgarian women. DESIGN: 400 bulgarian women participated in this study. bMD was mea-sured at the lumbar spine, femoral neck and at the distal forearm. two groups were identified …
George Carayanniotis
Increased iodide intake has been linked to the development of hypothyroidism and/or autoimmune thyroiditis in humans and animals, but the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. Increased ingestion of iodide is likely to have pleiotropic effects on either metabolic or immunological processes. Within the latter domain, recent interest has been focused on two areas …
Orsolya Nemes, Noemi Kovacs, Endre Czeiter, Peter Kenyeres, Zita Tarjanyi, Laszlo Bajnok, Andras Buki, Tamas Doczi, Emese Mezosi
OBJECTIVE: There is increasing awareness among physicians of the risks of traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced hypopituitarism. We have assessed the prevalence and risk factors of post-traumatic hypopituitarism by analyzing the TBI database of the University of Pecs …
George E. Christodoulakos, Irene V. Lambrinoudaki, Demetrios A. Rizos, Andreas Alexandrou, Apostolos V. Kountouris, George C. Creatsas
OBJECTIVE: The determinants of serum homocysteine in healthy postmenopausal women remain uncertain. The aim of this study was the assessment of the association of endogenous sex steroids with serum homocysteine levels in healthy postmenopausal women not on hormone therapy…
Gemma Sesmilo, Irene Halperin, Manuel Puig-Domingo
Brain injury (BI), both head trauma (TBI) and subarachnoid hemorrage (SAH), has consistently been recognized as an important cause of pituitary dysfunction.1 Different studies have estimated that 20-50% of patients who have suffered BI will develop some degree of hypopituitarism.1-9 The high incidence of BI ranks it as potentially the most important cause of hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction…
Foteini Economidou, Evangelia Douka, Marinella Tzanela, Serafeim Nanas, Anastasia Kotanidou
The metabolic support of the critically ill patient is a relatively new target of active research and little is as yet known about the effects of critical illness on metabolism. The nonthyroidal illness syndrome, also known as the low T3 syndrome or euthyroid sick syndrome, describes a condition characterized by abnormal thyroid function …
Gerasimos Krassas, Spyridon N. Karras, Nikolaos Pontikides
The most common thyroid diseases during pregnancy are hyper- and hypothyroidism and their variants including isolated hypothyroxinemia (hypo-T4), autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and different types of goiter. AITD represents the main cause of hypothyroidism during pregnancy ranging in prevalence between 5 and 20% …
Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis, Dimitrios Tsilakis, Stefanos Lazarides, Helen Kandarakis, Angeliki Bergele
“Altius, citius, fortius”: higher, faster, stronger. These words from ancient times still today express the endeavour of athletes to beat records and gain victory. This endeavour has never been easy and becomes harder every day as the records climb higher. Many athletes are thus tempted to use artificial substances that enhance power, stamina and body structure…
Barbara Jarzab, Daria Handkiewicz-Junak
Differentiated thyroid cancer (Dtc) is a rare disease, especially in children. Differences in the biology and clinical course of Dtc in children, when compared with adults, may be related both to pathogenesis as well as to clinical outcome of the disease. In childhood, the thyroid gland exhibits higher susceptibility to the carcinogenetic …
Vasiliki Skarpa, Eleni Κousta, Athanasia Tertipi, Konstantinos Anyfandakis, Marina Vakaki, Maria Dolianiti, Aspasia Fotinou, Asteroula Papathanasiou
OBSECTIVE: Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (AT) is the most common cause of thyroid disease in children. The aim of the study was to define the epidemiological clinical and laboratory characteristics of children and adolescents with AT. DESIGN: Various parameters including thyroid ultrasonography of 228 children and adolescents …
Spyridon N. Karras, Panagiotis Anagnostis, Andrea Petroczi, Cedric Annweiler, Declan P. Naughton, Dimitrios G. Goulis
Maternal hypovitaminosis D during pregnancy has been associated with a wide spectrum of adverse maternal and neonatal health outcomes, some manifesting stronger associations than others. Research in this field has entered the “era of systematic data evaluation” via the conducting of a series of meta-analyses in an attempt to synthesize …
Melpomeni Peppa, Helen Vlassara
Diabetes mellitus, especially type 2 diabetes, is increasing at an alarming rate and is considered as one of the main threats to human health in the 21st century, in both developed and developing nations.1
More than 150 million people currently have diabetes, and twice that number is at high risk of developing diabetes in the next 5-10 years …
Charilaos Stylianou, Assimina Galli-Tsinopoulou, Dimitrios Farmakiotis, Israel Rousso, Michael Karamouzis, George Koliakos, Sanda Nousia-Arvanitakis
OBJECTIVE: Ghrelin and leptin levels are influenced by body fat (BF%), pubertal stage and possibly insulin resistance (IR). The aim of our study was: 1) To compare fasting ghrelin and leptin levels between obese and non-obese, adolescents, 2) to investigate possible correlations of these hormones with BF %, as well as IR…
Olga Karapanou, Anastasios Papadimitriou
It has been more than 120 years since a committee of the Royal College of Physicians in London linked the paramount role of the thyroid gland to normal brain development.1 Currently, all developed countries and an increasing number of the developing ones have implemented the neonatal hypothyroidism screening test for early diagnosis …
Simon Chang, Anne Skakkebæk, Claus Højbjerg Gravholt
Klinefelter syndrome (KS), though described more than 70 years ago, still imposes significant diagnostic challenges. Based on data from epidemiological studies, KS is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Although the pathophysiology and etiology behind these observations are as yet not well understood …
Erasmia Kiapekou, Dimitris Loutradis, Peter Drakakis, Evangelia Zapanti, George Mastorakos, Aristidis Antsaklis
Objective: A number of hormones and growth factors have been reported to affect the in vitro maturation of oocytes. Their exact effects on follicular growth and oocyte maturation and the mechanisms involved are still unclear. In the present study, we have investigated the effects of Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) …
Zvi Laron
Primary or secondary IGF1 deficiency has been implicated in shortening of lifespan. This paper reviews available data on the influence of IGF1 deficiency on lifespan and longevity in animals and man…
Anthony C. Hackney, Ashley Kallman, Karen P. Hosick, Daniela A. Rubin, Claudio L. Battaglini
OBJECTIVE: To compare the thyroid hormonal responses to high-intensity interval exercise (IE) and steady-state endurance exercise (SEE) in highly trained males (n=15). DESIGN: The IE session consisted of repeated periods of 90-seconds treadmill running at 100-110% …
Iraklis Perysinakis, Chrysanthi Aggeli, Gregory Kaltsas, George N. Zografos
OBJECTIVE: Complete surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment of localized pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of these patients present with unresectable locally advanced tumors or massive metastatic disease. Recently, a new therapeutic approach for this subset of patients has emerged consisting of neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgical exploration in responders …
Salvatore Alesci, Ioannis Ilias, Emmanuil Souvatzoglou, Alan G. Harris, Philip W. Gold, Alejandro R. Ayala, George P. Chrousos
The standard intravenous short Synacthen® test (SSST) has long been accepted as one of the most reliable diagnostic tests of adrenocortical insufficiency. Intramuscular (i.m.) administration of ACTH obviates the need of venous cannulation and can be used as an alternative to the intravenous test …
Melpomeni Peppa, Jaime Uribarri, Helen Vlassara
Aging and related diseases are accompanied by increased Oxidative Stress (OS) and accumulation of Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs). One important component of AGEs accumulation with aging appears to be the sustained exposure to dietary AGE (dAGEs), which contributes to overloading of anti-AGE receptors and depletion of anti-oxidant reserves …
Victoria Salem, Thomas G. Hopkins, Heba El-Gayar, Sagen Zac-Varghese, Anthony P. Goldstone, Jeannie F. Todd, Waljit Dhillo, Benjamin C.T. Field, Niamh Martin, Emma Hatfield, Mandy Donaldson, Fausto Palazzo, Karim Meeran, James Jackson, Tricia Tan
CONTEXT: Adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is recommended in all patients with hyperaldosteronism to whom surgery would be offered if the results indicated unilateral hypersecretion. OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of AVS against radiological findings …
Laura Mihalache, Andreea Gherasim, Otilia Niță, Maria Christina Ungureanu, Sergiu Serghei Pădureanu, Radu Sebastian Gavril, Lidia Iuliana Arhire
Ghrelin is a gut peptide composed of 28 amino acids mostly secreted in the gastric fundus mucosa. It was isolated and described in 1999 by Kojima et al. and only three years later its specific receptor, GHSR1a, was also identified. Ghrelin, the endogenous ligand for the GH secretagogue receptor, is the only peripheral orexigenic hormone that activates the receptors to be found especially in the appetite center (hypothalamus and pituitary gland) …