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

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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 …

Congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia caused by a frame-shift mutation in the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein gene

Anastasios Papadimitriou, Ioanna Fountzoula, Georgia Tzortzatou, Himangshu S. Bose

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We present a female patient who, at the age of 35 days, presented with adrenal insufficiency with salt loss. Clinical and endocrinological investigation (low to normal levels of all adrenal steroids and raised ACTH) and imaging studies suggested congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia …

Cancer in the thyroid is not always thyroid cancer

Katherine E. Akester, Noel Somasundaram, Salvador Diaz-Cano, Ashley B. Grossman

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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 …

Macroprolactinemia in a young man and review of the literature

Evangeline Vassilatou, Panayiotis Schinochoritis, Stamatina Marioli, Ioanna Tzavara

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A 21-year old man, complaining of headaches and fatigue, with a negative past medical history and a normal clinical examination, underwent a hormonal investigation which revealed hyper-prolactinemia and intact pituitary-gonadal axis. Drug-induced hyperprolactinemia was excluded …

Insulin resistance in pheochromocytoma improves more by surgical rather than by medical treatment

Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis, Evangelia Zapanti, Maria-Helen Peridis, Panayiotis Ntavos, George Mastorakos

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Pheochromocytoma, a neuroendocrine tumor, is often associated with hyperglycemia. To investigate the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms, five patients (3 women and 2 men, aged 49±2.5, mean±SD) with benign adrenal pheochromocytoma were studied with an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and the euglycaemic clamp technique …

Macroprolactinemia. Is treatment necessary?

Irene V. Lambrinoudaki, Olga D. Daskalaki, Stathis A. Thomopoulos, Panayiotis Schinochoritis, Argyris B. Argyropoulos

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A 26-year old symptom-free woman was admitted to our Clinic for evaluation of hyperprolactinemia. The patient, who had normal menstrual cycles, was found accidentally to have a cystic adnexal mass and was placed on oral contraceptives (OC) for 3 months. During the first OC-cycle a bilateral breast nipple discharge was noticed and an elevated serum prolactin (PRL) was detected (2.7 nmol/l) …

Tracing the origin of the term “gene”

Theano D. Kontopoulou, Spyros G. Marketos

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A century has passed (1902 – 2002) since the Danish botanist and geneticist Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen established the scientific term “gene”. The centenary of this biological term coincides with the 50th anniversary of the unraveling of the structure of DNA, the basic molecule of heredity …

Persistent hyperinsulinemic neonatal hypoglycemia caused by focal nesidioblastosis. Preoperative diagnosis by pancreatic venous sampling

Maria Maniati-Christidis, Fotini Psychou, Claire Nihoul-Fekete

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A female infant with persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia is described. Persistent euglycemia could not be achieved by diazoxide, somatostatin and frequent, low protein feeds. Preoperative localization of focal insulin hypersecretion by percutaneous pancreatic venous sampling allowed excision of only a small pancreatic portion which was followed by normalization of blood glucose levels …

The Hippocratic Spirit

George K. Daikos

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The Hippocratic medical school (the medical school of Kos) was not an isolated phenomenon but the evolution and consequence of previous ideas and practices derived from many older sources. Hippocratic medicine1-3 replaced the theurgical and hieratic medicine, succeeding to and evolving from the medicine of the Minoan civilization of Crete …

Baubo: a Case of Ambiguous Genitalia in the Eleusinian Mysteries

Neoklis A. Georgopoulos, George A. Vagenakis, Apostolos L. Pierris

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In an Orphic account of the constitutive mythology of the Eleusinian Mysteries, there occurs the relation of a remarkable tale of sacred obscenity. The Baubo affair is pivotal for a more in-depth understanding of the symbolism involved in the most awesome mysteric cult of the ancient Greek world …