Endocrine Abstracts

The two main subtypes of pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP), PHP-Ia and -Ib, are caused by mutations in GNAS exons 1–13 and methylation defects in the imprinted GNAS cluster, respectively. PHP-Ia patients show Albright hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO) and resistance toward PTH and additional hormones, while PHP-Ib patients do not have AHO and hormone resistance is limited to PTH and TSH. Recently, methylation defects have been detected in 5 patients with PHP-Ia, indicating a m...

Objective: Recent publications showing unexpectedly early breast development in American girls created debate worldwide. However, secular trend analyses are often limited by poor data comparability among studies done by different researchers in different time periods and populations. Here, we present new European data, systematically collected from the same region and by one research group at the beginning and end of the recent 15 year period.Methods: Tw...

Introduction: Three peptides, acylated ghrelin (AG), unacylated ghrelin (UAG) and obestatin are derived from a common prohormone, preproghrelin by posttranslational processing, originating from endocrine cells in the stomach. Circulating ghrelin levels are decreased in obese subjects and increased by fasting and in patients with anorexia nervosa, but the physiological role of the three peptides is poorly understood in particular in childhood.Aim: In orde...

Background: Klinefelter’s syndrome (KS) is a genetic condition affecting men with the potential to severely reduce their testosterone levels and affect their physical appearance. Being a syndrome there are a variety of different symptoms which individuals may experience to a great or lesser extent. While much research has been directed at understanding the cognitive impact of KS much less research has been undertaken considering the psycho-social impact of living with the...

Background: In elderly men, fracture risk is independently associated with higher serum sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels1. Previously, we observed lower free estradiol (E2) and higher SHBG levels in a three-generational family study of men with idiopathic osteoporosis2.Objective: To investigate associations between serum SHBG levels and cortical bone size at age of peak bone mass.Design: S...

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element and is important for maintaining health and preventing disease. Se exhibits its biological function as the 21st proteinogenic amino acid selenocysteine (Sec). Different cis and trans acting factors are necessary for incorporation of Sec into proteins. Se can be transported and stored as Sec in selenoprotein P (SePP), a liver-derived protein which contains up to 10 Sec residues per protein in humans. Thus, SePP functions...