Gut microbiota and obesity: implications for fecal microbiota transplantation therapy

Yongbo Kang, Yue Cai

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Obesity is a major public health issue as it is causally associated with several chronic disorders, including type-2 diabetes, cerebrovascular disease (CVD), and cancer. In the United States and other countries worldwide, the obesity epidemic has drastically impacted the status of health of millions as well as healthcare costs. Aside from poor diet, hygiene, and genetics, there are many other factors thought to play an important role in the emergence of obesity …

Regulation of basal metabolic rate in uncomplicated pregnancy and in gestational diabetes mellitus

Eleftheria Taousani, Dimitra Savvaki, Efrosini Tsirou, Pavlos Poulakos, Gesthimani Mintziori, Menelaos Zafrakas, Basil C. Tarlatzis, Dimitrios Vavilis, Dimitrios G. Goulis

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Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is one of the major components of total energy expenditure (TEE). It is affected by various factors, such as body weight, body composition, age, race/ethnicity, gender, biochemical parameters, physical activity, and health status. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most common metabolic disorder during pregnancy and it increases the risk for health complications …

The adrenal gland microenvironment in health, disease and during regeneration

Waldemar Kanczkowski, Mariko Sue, Stefan R. Bornstein

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The adrenal gland is a key component of the stress system in the human body. Multiple direct and paracrine interactions between different cell types and their progenitors take place within the adrenal gland microenvironment. These unique interactions are supported by high vascularization and the adrenal cortex extracellular matrix. Alterations in the adrenal gland microenvironment are known to influence the progression of several pathological conditions, such as obesity and sepsis, and to be influenced …

Ketogenic diet and testosterone increase: Is the increased cholesterol intake responsible? To what extent and under what circumstances can there be benefits?

Heitor Oliveira Santos

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The new study by Jacob Wilson et al. demonstrated that a nutritional intervention based on the ketogenic diet (KD) in resistance-trained athletes of college age showed an increase of total testosterone compared to individuals who followed a Western diet (WD) protocol with the same resistance training. The total testosterone increase in the KD group …

Adiponectin levels may help assess the clinical repercussions of obesity irrespective of body mass index

Eirini Dermitzaki, Pavlina D. Avgoustinaki, Eirini C. Spyridaki, Panagiotis Simos, Niki Malliaraki, Maria Venihaki, Christos Tsatsanis, Andrew N. Margioris

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OBJECTIVE: Adiponectin is the major product of adipose tissue. The aim of this study was to associate adiponectin levels with adipose tissue and metabolic indices. DESIGN: Plasma samples of 274 non-diabetic volunteers were collected to evaluate for adiponectin, inflammatory markers, insulin and lipid parameters. Body fat composition was measured by DEXA. RESULTS: As expected, adiponectin levels correlated with body mass index (BMI) …

Maternal serum placental growth hormone, insulin-like growth factors and their binding proteins at 20 weeks’ gestation in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus

Shutan Liao, Mark H. Vickers, Rennae S. Taylor, Mhoyra Fraser, Lesley M.E. McCowan, Philip N. Baker, Jo K. Perry

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OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether maternal serum concentrations of placental growth hormone (GH-V), insulin-like growth factor (IGF) 1 and 2, and IGF binding proteins (IGFBP) 1 and 3 were altered in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHOD: In a nested case-control study, GDM cases (n=28) and matched controls (n=28) were selected from the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) biobank in Auckland, New Zealand …

Pegvisomant-primed growth hormone (GH) stimulation test is useful in identifying true GH deficient children

Giorgio Radetti, Heba H. Elsedfy, Randa Khalaf, Cristina Meazza, Sara Pagani, Mohamed El Kholy, Riccardo Albertini, Anna Maria De Stefano, Antonella Navarra, Annalisa De Silvestri, Mauro Bozzola

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OBJECTIVE: Provocative stimulation tests for growth hormone (GH) assessment have poor reproducibility and can often elicit false positive results in normal children. The aim of our study was to confirm the capability of pegvisomant as an enhancer of GH secretion in unmasking false-positive results in short children (height <-2.0 standard deviation score, SDS) undergoing GH testing ...

Serum fetuin-A levels are associated with serum triglycerides before and 6 months after bariatric surgery

Christos G. Verras, Georgios A. Christou, Yannis V. Simos, George D. Ayiomamitis, Andreas J. Melidonis, Dimitrios N. Kiortsis

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OBJECTIVE: The elucidation of the changes of fetuin-A in the context of bariatric surgery. DESIGN: Twenty obese patients (8 males, 12 females; body mass index = 42.5±3.4 kg/m2) were studied at baseline and 6 months after bariatric surgery. RESULTS: Serum fetuin-A levels did not differ with regard to the presence …

An insight into familial hypercholesterolemia in Greece: rationale and design of the Hellenic Familial Hypercholesterolemia Registry (HELLAS-FH)

Christos V. Rizos, Vasilios Athyros, Eleni Bilianou, George Chrousos, Anastasia Garoufi, Genovefa Kolovou, Vasilios Kotsis, Loukianos Rallidis, Emmanouel Skalidis, Ioannis Skoumas, Konstantinos Tziomalos, Evangelos N. Liberopoulos

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Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is the most common metabolic genetic disorder. It is estimated that around 13 million people worldwide have FH. At the same time, only 25% of FH patients have been diagnosed. Moreover, these patients are often undertreated. The true prevalence of FH in Greece is unknown, but it is estimated that there are at least 40,000 FH patients nationwide …

Identification of an AR mutation in Klinefelter syndrome during evaluation for penoscrotal hypospadias

Sezer Acar, Hale Tuhan, Elçin Bora, Korcan Demir, Hüseyin Onay, Derya Erçal, Ece Böber, Ayhan Abacı

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Genital anomalies, ranging from female genitalia to milder degrees of undervirilization, are rarely reported in Klinefelter syndrome, in which a male is classically expected to be born with male external genitalia. Though androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is one of the possible pathogenic mechanisms also in Klinefelter syndrome with genital anomalies, to date the AR gene has not been analyzed in any of the published cases of Klinefelter syndrome of the milder phenotype …