Polyzois Makras, Socrates E. Papapoulos
Hypercalcaemia results from the failure of renal calcium excretion to compensate increased influx of calcium into the circulation from the intestine, the kidneys and the skeleton. Hypercalcaemia is a common metabolic abnormality of varying severity …
Elissa S. Epel
Chronic stress can affect human health through a myriad of behavioral and biochemical pathways. Τhis review focuses on some key hormonal and metabolic pathways that appear important today. In modern society, we are faced with excessive psychological stress, as well as an epidemic of overeating, and the two together appear to have synergistic effects …
Panagiotis Anagnostis, Asterios Karagiannis, Konstantinos Tziomalos, Anna I. Kakafika, Vasilios G. Athyros, Dimitri P. Mikhailidis
The widespread application of abdominal imaging procedures has resulted in an increased frequency of clinically silent adrenal masses. Adrenal incidentaloma (AI) is a term applied to an accidentally discovered adrenal mass on imaging performed for the investigation of an unrelated complaint …
Amos Pines
A dramatic change has occurred over the past decade with regard to the use of hormones during the postmenopausal period. In the 90’s, the belief in the USA being that there was reason to recommend hormone therapy (HT) for the prevention of coronary artery disease, the guidelines of the American College of Physicians in 1992 were as follows …
Peter D. Papapetrou
The adverse events of the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates are reviewed. Oral bisphosphonates (alendronate, risedronate and ibandronate), mainly used for the treatment of osteoporosis, have been associated with adverse events from the upper gastrointestinal tract …
Friedhelm Raue, Karin Frank-Raue
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is an autosomal dominant tumour syndrome caused by germline activating mutations of the RET proto-oncogene. It has a strong penetrance of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and can be associated with bilateral pheochromocytoma and primary hyperparathyroidism (MEN2A) within a single patient or family…
Christopher Reiners
There is no evidence that natural radiation (cosmic radiation or from natural radioiosotopes) increases the risk for thyroid diseases. Moreover, while it has been proven that exposure to external medical radiation or to external and internal radiation by atomic bomb explosions leads to an increased risk for thyroid cancer …
Grigorios Kotronoulas, Antonios Stamatakis, Fotini Stylianopoulou
Sleep is an essential ubiquitous biological process, a periodical state of quiescence in which there is minimal processing of sensory information and no interaction with conspecifics or the environment. Despite relevant research on sleep structure and testing of numerous endogenous sleep-affecting chemicals, questions as to the precise mechanisms …
Leonidas H. Duntas, Christos Doumas
Several studies have revealed an increased incidence of thyroid cancer in volcanic areas around the world. Hawaii and the Philippines on the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where the greatest number of volcanoes are located at convergent plate boundaries, are among the regions with the highest incidence of thyroid carcinoma worldwide. Iceland is another region also rich in volcanoes …
Karel Pacak, Graeme Eisenhofer, Ioannis Ilias
Pheochromocytomas/paragangliomas(PHEOs/PGLs) are rare but treacherous catecholamine-producing tumors which, if overlooked or improperly treated, will almost invariably prove fatal. Patients with MEN2 PHEOs have a high incidence of paroxysmal attacks …
Zoran Erlic, Hartmut P.H. Neumann
Pheochromocytomas and Paragangliomas (PGL) form the group of paraganglial tumours which can occur in any paraganglia from the skull base to the pelvic floor. The terminology is not uniform. While the World Health Organization (WHO) applies pheochromocytoma exclusively to adrenal tumours, many clinicians use the term pheochromocytoma also for extra-adrenal abdominal and thoracic tumours, since by tradition …
Smyth Peter, Cloughley George, Clarke Cathy, Smith Derek, Burbridge Emma
The purpose of this review is to discuss the various means by which iodine ingestion through dietary intake or therapeutic administration can influence the pathogenesis, prevalence, presentation or outcome of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). The relationship between iodine nutrition and DTC pathogenesis is complex …
Spyros Karras, Themistoklis Tzotzas, Gerasimos E. Krassas
Antithyroid drugs (ATD) are widely used by endocrinologists all over the world for the treatment of Graves’ disease (GD) in the general population and in lactating thyrotoxic mothers.1,2 Traditionally, these agents produce minor side effects (rash, fever, urticaria) in 5-10% of the treated patients …
Bessie E. Spiliotis, Theodore K. Alexandrides, Christoforos Karystianos, Pavlos Vassilakos, Zvi Zadik, Nikoleta M. Nikolakopoulou, George Nikiforidis, Nicholas G Beratis
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the IGF-I generation test (IGF-I gen) as a possible indirect test of Growth Hormone (GH) secretory status. METHODS: Sixty-five GH deficient (GHD 1 and 2) and 86 control children were studied …
Themistoklis N. Spyridopoulos, Eleni Th. Petridou, Nick Dessypris, Agapios Terzidis, Alkistis Skalkidou, Charalambos Deliveliotis, George P. Chrousos and the Obesity and Cancer Oncology Group*
OBJECTIVE: Leptin is primarily produced in adipose tissue and appears to play a modulatory role between metabolism and immunity. Given that obesity, a state of chronic inflammation, is an established risk factor for Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC), we investigated the association between plasma leptin levels and RCC risk …
Frangiskos Economou, Xenofon Xyrafis, Sarantis Livadas, Ioannis I. Androulakis, Georgia Argyrakopoulou, Charikleia D.Christakou, Eleni Kandaraki, Eleni Palioura, Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis
OBJECTIVE: To investigate liver enzymes in a cohort of women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and controls divided according to body mass index (BMI) and their association with features of the syndrome. DESIGN: Eighty-three PCOS women and 64 healthy women were studied. Patients and controls were subdivided into two groups …
Menelaos L. Batrinos
It is now well established that hyperprolactinaemia is not rare and in the majority of cases is caused by a pituitary tumor, a prolactinoma. However, despite a plethora of relevant publications there are still certain questions that have not been adequately addressed: 1. What is the upper normal level of serum prolactin beyond which the condition should be characterized as hyperprolactinaemia …
Ioannis Karamouzis, Dimitrios Grekas, Michael Karamouzis, Konstantinos Kallaras, Vassiliki Stergiou-Michailidou, Evangelia Kouidi, Asterios Deligiannis, Norma Vavatsi-Christaki
OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in the levels of vasoactive eicosanoid hormone-like substances PGE2, PGI2 and TXA2 in hemodialysis (HD)patients who were following a long-term physical training program …
Mansour Siavash, Ammar Hassanzadeh Keshteli, Mahin Hashemipour, Masoud Amini
OBJECTIVE: Iodine Deficiency (ID) was for years considered a contributing factor for endemic goiter in Iran. The present study was conducted to assess the goiter prevalence and iodine status in schoolchildren of Isfahan 16 years after the initiation of salt iodization in Iran …
Ghollam-Reza Moshtaghi-Kashanian, Fakhrolmulok Razavi
OBJECTIVE: Recently published animal studies indicate that leptin and ghrelin play a role in puberty initiation and progress as well as in reproduction. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relation of these two hormones to the pubertal maturity and fertility status in patients with β-thalassemia …
Nectaria Xita, Leandros Lazaros, Ioannis Georgiou, Agathocles Tsatsoulis
OBJECTIVE: Insulin resistance is a key factor in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Peroxisome proliferator-activated-receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) has been implicated in insulin resistance and adiposity. The aim of the study was to investigate the possible involvement of the Pro12Ala polymorphism …
Andreas Kiriakopoulos, Christos Varounis, Dimitrios Tsakayannis, Dimitrios Linos
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy (LSG) as a definitive procedure for morbidly obese patients. Design: This constitutes a prospective study carried out in a tertiary care private hospital and included 15 morbidly obese patients who underwent LSG …
Maria Hassapidou, Sousana K. Papadopoulou, Athanasios Frossinis, Ioannis Kaklamanos, Themistoklis Tzotzas
OBJECTIVE: To investigate sociodemographic, ethnic and dietary factors associated with the development of childhood obesity. DESIGN: 276 children, aged 8-12 years, randomly selected from seven schools in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, participated in the study. 13% of the children were immigrants from neighboring Balkan countries and ex-Soviet Union countries …
Luca Foppiani, Vincenzo Secondo, Anselmo Arlandini, Paolo Quilici, Manlio Cabria, Patrizia Del Monte
Thyroid lymphoma is a rare disease which occurs mainly in elderly females. Most patients with thyroid lymphoma have Chronic Lymphocytic Thyroiditis (CLT), suggesting a role of chronic antigen stimulation in the development of the disease. We present two cases of thyroid Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) diagnosed after surgery …
Andrew Collier, Sujoy Ghosh, Mario Hair, Iqbal Malik, Jim McGarvie
OBJECTIVE: Radioiodine therapy is the most commonly used therapy for patients with Graves’ disease (GD) in the United Kingdom. It is considered safe, effective and relatively inexpensive. The aim of our study was to examine the outcome of 131Iodine therapy in patients with GD when two different activities of 131Iodine were used …