Gerasimos P. Sykiotis, Panagiotis A. Konstantinopoulos, Athanasios G. Papavassiliou
The biomedical sciences are currently in transition between the bloom of fundamental knowledge and the fruition of specialized clinical application.1 Following the success of the Human Genome Project, the roadmap is now in place for the description of physiology and illness in molecular terms…
Stelios Fountoulakis, Agathocles Tsatsoulis
Blood pressure (BP) is the outcome of the interaction of intravascular volume, cardiac output and peripheral resistance. Hypertension is defined as BP exceeding 139/89 mmHg, whereas “pre-hypertension” refers to systolic BP of 120 to 139 mmHg or a diastolic BP of 80 to 89 mmHg. Traditionally, hypertension has been subdivided into two forms: essential or primary and secondary…
Sofia K. Leka, Sofia Kitsiou-Tzeli, Ariadni Kalpini-Mavrou, Emmanuel Kanavakis
Since its discovery in 1997, knowledge about the SHOX gene (Short stature HOmeoboX-containing gene) has rapidly advanced. Although originally described as causing idiopathic short stature, SHOX mutations are also responsible for growth retardation in Lιri-Weill dyschondrosteosis, Langer mesomelic dysplasia and Turner syndrome…
Menelaos L. Batrinos
Over the past two decades a plethora of publications and clinical practice data have established that subclinical thyroid dysfunction is a common condition occurring much more frequently than the overt expression of thyroid disease. Subclinical hypothyroidism is considered to be the most common of these entities…
Krystallenia Alexandraki, Athanasios D. Protogerou, Theodoros G. Papaioannou, Christina Piperi, George Mastorakos, John Lekakis, Dimitrios Panidis, Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis
OBJECTIVE: During the last decade cardiovascular risk factors and endothelial dysfunction have been shown to be present early in life in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). The aim of the present study was a global assessment of abnormalities in the arterial bed of young women with PCOS by non-invasive, reproducible methods…
Eftychia Chala, Christos Manes, Helias Iliades, Georgios Skaragkas, Despina Mouratidou, Efthymios Kapantais
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate insulin values, insulin resistance, growth factors and cytokine levels in women suffering from breast cancer and the effect of chemotherapy on these parameters. DESIGN: In a prospective study, glucose and insulin values were determined in ten previously undiagnosed diabetic postmenopausal women with stage IV breast cancer (hepatic metastases excluded) during an oral glucose tolerance test …
Dimitris Loutradis, Konstantinos Stefanidis, Erasmia Kiapekou, Evangelia Zapanti, Chrisoula Panitsa-Faflia, Aristidis Antsaklis
BACKGROUND: Diethylstilboestrol (DES) exposure in-utero has been shown to have negative effects on pregnancy. DES-exposed women are at increased risk of early spontaneous pregnancy loss, ectopic gestation and infertility. DESIGN: A 34-year old woman with a 6-year history of primary infertility is presented. The patient underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment without success…
Jean-Pierre Tricot
A brief biographical note about the most honoured living scientist in Belgium, the physician, biochemist and Nobel Prize winner Christian de Duve, his research in the field of diabetes mellitus and how his revelation led to the discovery of lysosomes and to the prestigious Nobel Prize of 1974 in Physiology and Medicine is herein presented…