Endocrine Abstracts

Hirsutism, excessive terminal hair growth in a male-like pattern as a marker of hyperandrogenism, affects 5–10% of reproductive-age women worldwide. The frequency of hirsutism seems to decrease in Asians and the lower cut-off modified hirsutism score is suggested. We performed the study to estimate the frequency, bio-metabolic characteristics, correlates and determinants of hirsutism in reproductive aged Korean women. A total of 2682 female volunteers of reproductive age ...

Aims: Meteorin-like (Metrnl) was recently identified as a novel adipomyokine induced by exercise and cold exposure. Metrnl improves glucose tolerance, increases systemic energy expenditure, induces white adipose browning, and promotes anti-inflammatory gene programs in obese/diabetic mice. However, the relationship of Metrnl with diabetes and cardiometabolic risk variables in humans has not been explored.Methods: In 800 subjects (400 patients with type 2...

The measurement of androgens is critical for the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) but it has been difficult based on poor specificity and sensitivity of assays in the female range. The direct total androgen activity can be measured with dihydrotestosterone equivalent concentration (DEQ) using chemically activated luciferase gene expression (CALUX) bioassays. The aim of the study is to determine whether DEQ levels can be the index for hyperandrogenemia to be requir...

Carotid intima–media thickness (IMT) has been shown an independent predictive marker of coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiovascular disease in many studies. We investigated the usefulness of carotid IMT as a screening test for CAD in Korean diabetic patients. We conducted retrospective study and found the type 2 diabetic patients without cardiovascular disease history who underwent carotid ultrasonography (US) and stress echocardiography (SE) from June 2006 to Decemb...

Background/Objectives: Although it has been well-established that menopause causes a shift in body fat, thereby eliciting metabolic disturbances in women, there has been no study conducted yet to examine the best obesity parameters to predict the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in this population. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) for screening NAFLD accordin...

The prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is generally estimated at 5–7% in women of reproductive age. But studies regarding the prevalence of PCOS have largely been confined to non-Asians. We aimed to estimate prevalence and phenotype of PCOS in Korean women. Cross sectional study was done between November 2008 and May 2009. A questionnaire based on menstrual history and clinical manifestations of hyperandrogenism was utilized to find out ‘probable cases&#1...

Somatostatin analogues (SSA) are widely used for the treatment of patients with acromegaly, and the responses are variable. We investigated the possible predictive factors of the response to SSA therapy in Korean acromegalic patients. Twenty-eight patients were retrospectively analysed, who were treated by surgery and adjunctively SSA. Somatostatin suppression tests (SST, hourly GH measurements for 3 h following 100 μg somatostatin injection) were done before SSAs were gi...

Background: Given the possible association between dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor and risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR), we examined whether DPP-4 inhibitors are beneficial or harmful for DR compared with other glucose-lowering agents.Methods: From a Korean population-based cohort, we identified 67,743 adults with type 2 diabetes treated with oral glucose-lowering agents between 2008 and 2013. Matching (1:1) was done for comparative groups: eve...

Introduction: The mortality rate from cardiovascular disease (CVD) among young adults has declined less than that in the older population, raising concerns about the increasing prevalence of obesity-related conditions including hypercholesterolemia in the younger population. We investigated the age-standardized mean levels of serum cholesterols and the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rates of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia based on age.Methods: N...

Recently, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitor, a major anti-hyperglycaemic agent, has received substantial attention as a possible therapeutic target for inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. However, the direct molecular mechanisms through which DPP-IV inhibitor mediates anti-inflammatory effects in vascular endothelial cells have not been clarified. The effects of the DPP-IV inhibitor, gemigliptin, were analysed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVE...