Psychological and metabolic stress: A recipe for accelerated cellular aging?

Elissa S. Epel

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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 …

Adiponectin: Regulation of its production and its role in human diseases

Adeeb Shehzad, Waqas Iqbal, Omer Shehzad, Young Sup Lee

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Adiponectin is a white and brown adipose tissue hormone, also known as gelatin-binding protein-28 (GBP28), AdipoQ, adipocyte complement-related protein (ACRP30), or apM1. Adiponectin circulates in the bloodstream in trimeric, hexameric, and high-molecular-mass species, while different forms of adiponectin …

Growth without growth hormone (GH): A case report

Polyzois Makras, Dimitris Papadogias, Grigoris Kaltsas, Nikolaos Kaklas, Georgios Piaditis

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Growth without growth hormone (GH) has occasionally been described in patients with organic pituitary pathology, and even more rarely in patients with idiopathic pituitary hormone deficiency. The mechanism of growth without GH remains a mystery. We describe a 17-year old male who grew 38.5 cm in height over a 7-year period, despite the fact that he had established panhypopituitarism…

Insulin resistance, growth factors and cytokine levels in overweight women with breast cancer before and after chemotherapy

Eftychia Chala, Christos Manes, Helias Iliades, Georgios Skaragkas, Despina Mouratidou, Efthymios Kapantais

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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 …

Ghrelin and the enteroinsular axis in healthy men

Dragan Micic, Leonidas Duntas, Goran Cvijovic, Aleksandra Kendereski, Mirjana Sumarac-Dumanovic, Peter Jehle, Svetlana Zoric, Danica Pejkovic, Mary Lague, Carlos Dieguez, Felipe Casanueva

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OBJECTIVE: Ghrelin, a potent stimulator of GH secretion, also acts as an orexigenic hormone. Plasma ghrelin levels rise before meals with postprandial reduction, suggesting that circulating levels of enteroinsular hormones might influence ghrelin secretion. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ghrelin on enteroinsular hormones in healthy men…

Severe resistant hypoglycemia in a patient with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor on sunitinib treatment

Athanasios Fountas, Stelios Tigas, Zoe Giotaki, Dimitrios Petrakis, George Pentheroudakis, Agathocles Tsatsoulis

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OBJECTIVE: Sunitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the therapy of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs), metastatic renal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. We describe a patient with PNET who presented with severe hypoglycemia following sunitinib administration …

Hyperinsulinemia during oral glucose tolerance test and high normal serum cortisol are associated with increased secretion of calcitonin in normal subjects

Antonis Polymeris, Peter D. Papapetrou, Fotini Papandroulaki, Stavroula Thanou

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OBJECTIVE: Previous studies showed that insulin stimulated directly calcitonin (Ct) secretion in the pig thyroid, while dexamethasone stimulated the production of Ct and Ct mRNA in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cell lines. The objective of this study was to investigate if hyperinsulinemia during the oral glucose tolerance test …

Rosiglitazone-induced anasarca without heart failure: capillary leakage?

Selcuk Dagdelen, Mevlut Kurt, Kadriye Aydιn, Miyase Bayraktar

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Severity of thiazolidinedione (Rosiglitazone)-induced fluid retention is linked almost exclusively to cardiac decompensation. We here report a 68-year old female with type 2 diabetes mellitus, in whom a life-threatening (anasarca type) acute pulmonary edema, induced by rosiglitazone plus insulin therapy …