In this issue, Savage et al., summarize and discuss their data and those of the literature on the growth management of pediatric patients with Cushing’s disease. Endogenous Cushing’s syndrome is rare in all ages and children and adolescents represent about 10 percent of the total …
Volume 2 (2003)
Adrenal Incidentalomas or Adrenalomas: The NIH state-of-the-science conference statement
Editorial
In this issue of Hormones, Dr. Dimitrios Linos has written a comprehensive review on adrenal incidentalomas, for which he proposes the more economical term “adrenalomas”. The management of these incidentally discovered, common masses has many controversies stemming from the fact that a minute proportion of them can be malignant …
Macroprolactinemia: an unnoticeable factor
Hyperprolactinemia most commonly results from physiologic or pathologic conditions that cause hypersecretion of PRL by lactotroph cells. Physiologic causes include pregnancy and lactation while pathologic hyperprolactinemia may result from a lactotroph adenoma or from several readily identifiable causes that may interfere with normal dopamine inhibition of PRL secretion. However, in some patients whose serum PRL …
Adrenal Incidentaloma (Adrenaloma)
Dimitrios A. Linos
The management of adrenalomas should include the following: 1. A detailed history and physical examination to detect subtle evidence of hormonal hypersecretion or the possibility of metastatic carcinoma…
Pituitary Hyperplasia
Mubarak Al-Gahtany, Eva Horvath, Kalman Kovacs
Pituitary hyperplasia is rare, difficult to diagnose and sometimes controversial. The hyperplasia could be physiologic which is usually reversible, or pathologic which varies in presentation from incidental to tumor like lesion with and without hormonal disturbance. Any pituitary cell is capable of undergoing hyperplasia in the presence of the right stimuli …
Genetic Testing in Clinical Endocrinology
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 …
Growth and growth hormone secretion in paediatric Cushing’s disease
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 …
Prediction and prevention of type 2 diabetes
Konstantinos Makrilakis, Nikolaos Katsilambros
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the most costly and burdensome chronic diseases of our time and a condition that is increasing in epidemic proportions worldwide. Its complications are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and a tremendous economic burden to the society. Effective prevention programs are therefore urgently needed…
The treacherous use of thyroxine preparations. Stability of thyroxine preparations
Demetrios A. Koutras
Endocrinologists not infrequently confront the problem of inconsistent blood values of thyroxine among patients receiving L-thyroxine preparations. The question is how universal this problem is …
Genetics and Hormones in Testicular Descent*
Marko Kaleva and Jorma Toppari
Testicular descent is an essential part of normal male sexual development. Any anomaly that disrupts normal testicular descent will be clinically evident as cryptorchidism. Several factors, such as Hoxa-10, epidermal growth factor (EGF), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and hormones, especially androgens and insulin-like factor 3
Magnetization transfer imaging of the pituitary gland
Maria I. Argyropoulou, Dimitrios Nikiforos Kiortsis
Magnetization transfer (MT) techniques provide tissue contrast which depends mainly on the concentration of macromolecules. The magnetization transfer phenomenon is determined by the restricted macromolecular protons and is quantified by the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR). Since many macromolecular structures are implicated in the secretory activity of the pituitary gland …
Doping: a challenge to the endocrinologist. A reappraisal in view of the Olympic Games of 2004
Leonidas H Duntas, Constantinos Parisis
The aim of this review is to provide an update on drug abuse by athletes, their mode of action and the technical difficulties of detection. The most common doping agents are the anabolic steroids (AS), testosterone derivatives modified to take advantage of the anabolic rather than the androgenic properties of the hormone…
Relative Iron “Overload” in Offspring of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A New Component in the Conundrum of Insulin Resistance Syndrome?
Agathoklis Psyrogiannis, Venetsana Kyriazopoulou, Argiris Symeonidis, Michalis Leotsinidis, Apostolos G. Vagenakis
There are a few reports suggesting that subtle disturbances of iron metabolism are frequently found in patients with type 2 diabetes (DM2), but it is not known if these disturbances precede or accompany the diabetic state. We investigated the serum iron indices in 41 offspring of DM2 parents (group I) with normal glucose tolerance …
GH deficiency in adults
Dimitrios S Papadogias, Polyzois Makras, Gregory A Kaltsas, John P Monson
Until the last decade, the diagnosis of GH deficiency (GHD) in adults was only considered as a marker of hypothalamo-pituitary disease. GHD in adults is now recognized as a specific clinical syndrome associated with a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors such as altered body composition with increased body fat, insulin resistance, adverse lipid profile, reduced physical performance …
The influence of exercise on growth hormone and testosterone in prepubertal and early-pubertal boys
Charilaos Tsolakis, Paraskevi Xekouki, Socratis Kaloupsis, Dimitrios Karas, Dimosthenis Messinis, George Vagenas, Athanasios Dessypris
The purpose of this study was two fold a) to determine the levels of hormonal parameters which are related to growth and sexual maturation (T, SHBG, FAI, GH) in 66 pre-pubertal and early-pubertal boys (11-13 years old) who systematically engage in individual and team sports activities of endurance, strength, speed and skill, respectively …
Body composition in asymptomatic HIV-infected men: cross-sectional and prospective assessment
Marios C Lazanas, Irene V Lambrinoudaki, Gerasimos A Douskas, Georgios A Tsekes, Maria N Chini, Evangelos K Georgiou
Data on body composition changes in HIV infected patients is sparse and controversial. The aim of this study was to assess body composition in asymptomatic HIV-infected men with normal body weight in comparison to healthy HIV-negative control men and to investigate possible body composition changes …
The use of recombinant human thyrotropin (Thyrogen) in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer
Leonidas H. Duntas, Nikolaos Tsakalakos, Brigitte Grab-Duntas, Maria Kalarritou, Elli Papadodima
The introduction of human recombinant thyrotropin (rhTSH/Thyrogen) into the diagnosis of thyroid cancer has substantially ameliorated the patient’s quality of life through the avoidance of debilitating hypothyroidism. With the aim of updating the use of Thyrogen, we report 7 cases which were treated with Thyrogen for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes …
The-2548G/A polymorphism in the human leptin gene promoter region is associated with plasma free leptin levels; interaction with adiposity and gender in healthy subjects
Nikos Yiannakouris, Labros Melistas, Mary Yannakoulia, Keisha Mungal, Christos S. Mantzoros
A common -2548G/A promoter variant of the human leptin gene has recently been shown to be associated with variations in circulating leptin levels but available data are still conflicting. The aim of this study was to explore potential associations between the -2548G/A polymorphism and adiposity-related variables, plasma total leptin levels …
Transient Congenital Hypothyroidism due to maternal autoimmune thyroid disease
Chryssanthi Mengreli, Maria Maniati-Christidi, Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein, Panagiotis Girginoudis, Apostolos G. Vagenakis, Catherine Dacou-Voutetakis
The neonatal screening program for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in Greece shows an overall incidence of the disease of 1:2321. The cases with permanent CH have an incidence of 1:2542, whereas the transient forms of CH account for 8.7% of all cases diagnosed as CH. Transplacental passage of maternal thyrotropin receptor-blocking antibodies is a rare cause of transient CH …
Self-reported prevalence of obesity among 20,329 adults from large territories of Greece, Serbia and Turkey
Gerasimos E Krassas, Fahrettin Kelestimur, Dragan Micic,Themistoklis Tzotzas, Theodoros Konstandinidis, MariaBougoulia, Christos Tsametis, Ramiz Colak, Jagoda Jorga, Zivka Kostic, Mirjana Pavlovic. The Balkan Group for the Study of Obesity
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of overweight, obesity and body mass index (BMI) distribution in people living in large territories of Greece, Serbia and Turkey. A cross-sectional multi-national epidemiological survey was designed on the basis of self-reported information on height and weight …
Stature of early Europeans
Michael Hermanussen
The ancestors of modern Europeans arrived in Europe at least 40,000 years before present. Pre-glacial maximum Upper Palaeolithic males (before 16,000 BC) were tall and slim (mean height 179 cm, estimated average body weight 67 kg), while the females were comparably small and robust (mean height 158 cm, estimated average body weight 54 kg) …
Effect of Restoration of Euthyroidism on Peripheral Blood Cells and Erythropoietin in Women with Subclinical Hypothyroidism
Mirjam Christ-Crain, Christian Meier, Peter Huber, Henryk Zulewski, Jean-Jacques Staub, Beat Müller
Background: In overt hypothyroidism (OH) anemia is common, while less frequently basophilia has been described. In subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH), however, data on the distribution of peripheral blood cells are lacking. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of L-T4 replacement therapy on peripheral blood elements in female patients with SCH before and after restoration …
Laron syndrome. First report from Greece
Assimina Galli-Tsinopoulou, Sanda Nousia-Arvanitakis, Ioannis Tsinopoulos, Christos Bechlivanides, Orit Shevah, Zvi Laron
Laron-type dwarfism is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by deletions or mutations of the growth hormone receptor gene. It is characterized by high circulating levels of growth hormone (GH) and low levels of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Patients are refractory to both endogenous and exogenous GH, and present severe growth retardation and obesity …
Hypoglycaemia secondary to the secretion of pro-insulin like growth factor ii by a metastatic neuroendocrine tumour with sarcomatous differentiation
Mia Morgan, Alexandra Nanzer, Cecilia Camacho-Hubner, Gregory A. Kaltsas, John P. Monson
A patient presented with frequent episodes of spontaneous hypoglycaemia due to a disseminated neuroendocrine tumour with sarcomatous differentiation, secreting incompletely processed pro-insulin-like growth factor II (pro-IGF-II). Although the combination of GH and glucocorticoid therapy initially controlled the hypoglycaemia …
The role of Hemochromatosis C282Y and H63D mutations in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Greece
Ioannis G Habeos, Agathoklis Psyrogiannis, Venetsana Kyriazopoulou, A Psilopanagiotou, Athanasios G Papavassiliou, Apostolos G Vagenakis
Several authors have suggested a positive association between diabetes type 2 (DM2) and the C282Y and H63D mutations of the hereditary hemochromatosis gene but others have disputed it. There are also papers reporting an increased iron load in diabetes type 2 and a possible association with the pathogenesis of the disease …