Angelos Kyriacou, Karolina M. Stepien, Basil Issa
A 51-year old woman was admitted with multiple cerebral, pulmonary and intra-abdominal abscesses. The combination of apparent immunosuppression, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypokalaemia, osteoporotic fractures and bilateral shoulder avascular necrosis led to a clinical diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome (CS) …
Kalliopi Pazaitou-Panayiotou, Athina Kaprara, Maria Boudina, Eleni Georgiou, Apostolos Drimonitis, Ekaterini Raptou, Grammati Galaktidou, Iraklis Vainas
OBJECTIVE: To define clinical presentation, surgical complications, follow-up characteristics, and survival of 23 children and adolescents with thyroid carcinoma. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of data of 23 children and adolescents with thyroid carcinoma cared for in the Theagenion Cancer Hospital, Thessaloniki…
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 …
Massimo Rizzo, Alessandro Sindoni, Raffaele Talamo Rossi, Orsola Bonaffini, Stefania Panetta, Claudio Scisca, Giuseppe Altavilla, Lucia Denaro, Antonio Rosanò, Giovanna Saraceno, Francesco Trimarchi, Salvatore Benvenga
Kyriakos Ioannou
Diabetic nephropathy is defined as a microvascular complication of the kidneys induced by diabetes mellitus and is characterized by albuminuria and progressive loss of kidney function. However, neither albuminuria nor glomerular filtration rate decline are diabetic nephropathy-specific markers, thus the diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy greatly …
Gerasimos Krassas, Nikolaos Pontikides, Argyrios Dumas, Jan Frystyk, Jian-WenChen, Allan Flyvbjerg
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term somatostatin analogue (SM-a) treatment on serum levels of free (F) and total (T) insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, -II and IGF binding protein (IGFBP) – 1, -2 and -3 in euthyroid patients with active thyroid ophthalmopathy. For this purpose, we measured the above-mentioned parameters …
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 …
Vassiliki Pelekanou, George Notas, Efstathios N. Stathopoulos, Elias Castanas, Marilena Kampa
Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies and causes of death among men in western societies. It has thus attracted the interest of the scientific community, which has resulted in great improvements in survival rates in recent years. As early as the 1940s, Huggins and Hodges first demonstrated that prostate cancer is androgen dependent …
Kai I. Cheang, Paulina Essah, John E. Nestler
Current evidence suggests that insulin resistance contributes to the pathophysiologic features of the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The observation that insulin resistance is a central feature of PCOS leads to studies of the insulin signaling system in this disorder. This article reviews the possible role of putative insulin mediators, inositolphosphoglycans (IPG) mediators, in PCOS. We will focus on how IPGs mediate (a) hyperandrogenism and (b) insulin sensitivity in this disorder…
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 …
Dimitrios Anyfantakis, Emmanouil K. Symvoulakis, Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos, Dimitrios Tsetis, Elias Castanas, Sue Shea, Maria Venihaki, Christos Lionis
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at exploring to what extent psychosocial factors, such as religiosity/spirituality and sense of coherence, mediate the negative effects of stress on a variety of cardiometabolic indicators, i.e., hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, and atherosclerotic bio-clinical markers …
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 …
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 …
Grigorios Rombopoulos, Magdalini Hatzikou, Dimitra Latsou, John Yfantopoulos
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the impact of hypoglycemia on the Quality of Life (QoL) and its prevalence in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Greece. DESIGN: A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted in 6631 patients with T2DM …
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 …
Thomas R. Zoeller
Thyroid hormones (THs) are required for normal brain and somatic development and for the proper regulation of physiology in both children and adults. Thyroid function is controlled by the dynamic interrelationships between the hypothalamus, the pituitary and the thyroid. These dynamic relationships maintain circulating levels of THs …
Evangelia Tantalaki, Christina Piperi, Sarantis Livadas, Anastasios Kollias, Christos Adamopoulos, Aikaterini Koulouri, Charikleia Christakou, Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of dietary intervention on Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) intake on the hormonal and metabolic profile in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). METHODS: After baseline evaluation, 23 women with PCOS …
Gerasimos P. Sykiotis, Argyro Sgourou, Adamantia Papachatzopoulou, Kostas B. Markou, Venetsana Kyriazopoulou, Athanasios G. Papavassiliou, Apostolos G. Vagenakis, Neoklis A. Georgopoulos
Thyrotropin (TSH) is the prime regulator of thyroid cell growth and function and acts through the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) located on the surface membrane of thyrocytes. Somatic heterozygous mutations that cause TSHR activation in the absence of TSH have been found in toxic adenomas and in hot nodules of multinodular goiters…
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 …
Artemis Karkanaki, Dimitrios Vavilis, Alexandros Traianos, Ioannis Kalogiannidis, Dimitrios Panidis
Women present an estradiol-dependent cardiovascular risk profile. Based on various studies, it was considered that estrogen therapy (ET) in postmenopausal women could probably reduce the higher cardiovascular risk in this group. Assymetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenous methylated arginine which inhibits nitric oxide ..
Neoklis A. Georgopoulos, Efstathios Papadakis, Anastasia K. Armeni, Ilias Katsikis, Nikolaos D. Roupas, Dimitrios Panidis
OBJECTIVE: Τo evaluate the impact of elevated serum Δ4A levels on the hormonal and metabolic features of the different phenotypes of PCOS. DESIGN: 1276 women with PCOS according to the Rotterdam criteria were included …
Konstantinos A. Paschos, Efterpi Chouridou, Maria Koureta, Maria Lambropoulou, George Kolios, Ekaterini Chatzaki
The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system plays a crucial regulatory role in the adaptation to exogenous and endogenous stress stimuli, as well as homeostasis. Apart from the central nervous system (CNS), the members of this neuropeptide family extend their actions in the periphery …
Dimitra Metheniti, Sophia Sakka, Maria Dracopoulou, Alexandra Margeli, Ioannis Papassotiriou, Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein, George P. Chrousos, Panagiota Pervanidou
OBJECTIVE: Hypovitaminosis D has been associated with adult as well as childhood obesity. Retinol-binding-protein-4 (RBP-4) and Neutrophil Gelatinase-associated Lipocalin (NGAL) are altered in obese individuals. The aim of this study was to examine circulating 25-(OH) Vitamin D (25-(OH) D) concentrations …
Venkat N. Vangaveti, Catherine Rush, Linda Thomas, Roy R. Rasalam, Usman H. Malabu, Scott G. McCoombe, Richard L. Kennedy
OBJECTIVE: Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) is expressed in pre-adipocytes but its role is unknown. We investigated butyrate (a histone deacetylase inhibitor – HDACi) and other short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the regulation of SDF-1. We further investigated whether effects of SCFA were signalled through G protein-coupled receptors …
Stavroula A. Paschou, Konstantinos Tzioras, Vasiliki Trianti, Stavroula Lyra, Vasileios-Arsenios Lioutas, Andreas Seretis, Andromachi Vryonidou
BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE:This case highlights the fact that acute pituitary apoplexy may be misdiagnosed due to being confused with other entities exhibiting similar symptoms, such as meningitis or subarachnoid hemorrhage. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A patient in his late 30s presented with sudden and severe frontal headache …