Growth hormone values after an oral glucose load do not add clinically useful information in patients with acromegaly on long-term somatostatin receptor ligand treatment.

The optimal method of assessing GH status in acromegalic patients receiving medical therapy with somatostatin analogs (SSA) has been matter of debate. The aim of the study has been to investigate whether OGTT may add information in patients with discordant random GH (GHr) and IGF values. Moreover, we evaluated the association of GH nadir with the prevalence of co-morbidities observed in acromegalic patients on SSA therapy.

Cortisol secretion, bone health, and bone loss: a cross-sectional and prospective study in normal non-osteoporotic women in the early postmenopausal period.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between cortisol secretion, bone health, and bone loss in a cohort of normal women in the early postmenopausal period.

Methods: We measured lumbar and hip bone mineral density (BMD) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and heel ultrasound parameters in 82 healthy, nonosteoporotic (lumbar T-score ≥-2.0) women (median age 52.

Prospective evaluation of mitotane toxicity in adrenocortical cancer patients treated adjuvantly.

Toxicity of adjuvant mitotane treatment is poorly known; thus, our aim was to assess prospectively the unwanted effects of adjuvant mitotane treatment and correlate the findings with mitotane concentrations. Seventeen consecutive patients who were treated with mitotane after radical resection of adrenocortical cancer (ACC) from 1999 to 2005 underwent physical examination, routine laboratory evaluation, monitoring of mitotane concentrations, and a hormonal work-up at baseline and every 3 months till ACC relapse or study end (December 2007). Mitotane toxicity was graded using NCI CTCAE criteria.

The combined low-dose dexamethasone suppression corticotropin-releasing hormone test as a tool to rule out Cushing's syndrome.

Objective: It remains to be evaluated whether the combined low-dose dexamethasone suppression corticotropin-releasing hormone test (LDDST-CRH test) may add to the diagnostic approach of patients suspected to have Cushing's syndrome (CS). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the LDDST-CRH test may have a place in the diagnostic strategy of CS.

Design: Prospective evaluation of a consecutive series of patients with suspected CS from 2004 to 2006.

AT1 receptor antagonist Candesartan in selected cirrhotic patients: effect on portal pressure and liver fibrosis markers.

Background/aims: The renin-angiotensin system plays an important role in hepatic fibrogenesis and in portal hypertension. To examine the long-term effects of Candesartan cilexetil, an angiotensin type 1 (AT1) receptor blocker, on portal-systemic haemodynamics and on liver fibrosis.

Methods: Forty-seven compensated Child A and Child B (8) cirrhotic patients were randomly assigned to receive Candesartan cilexetil, 8 mg/d (N.

High-dose glucocorticoids increase serum levels of soluble IL-6 receptor alpha and its ratio to soluble gp130: an additional mechanism for early increased bone resorption.

Objective: Glucocorticoids (GCs) at pharmacological doses stimulate bone resorption. Mechanisms of this action are unclear. The osteoclastogenic cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 acts through an oligomeric receptor consisting of two subunits, gp80 (or IL-6 receptor alpha, IL-6Ralpha) and gp130; both exist in membrane and soluble forms.

Immediate fall of bone formation and transient increase of bone resorption in the course of high-dose, short-term glucocorticoid therapy in young patients with multiple sclerosis.

Glucocorticoid (GC)-induced osteoporosis is the leading form of secondary osteoporosis. Bone loss can be rapid. However, longitudinal studies at the very beginning of treatment are scarce.

The corticotrophin-releasing hormone test is the most reliable noninvasive method to differentiate pituitary from ectopic ACTH secretion in Cushing's syndrome.

Objective: It has been reported previously that the paired interpretation of the corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) test and the 8-mg dexamethasone suppression test (HDDST) could have higher diagnostic power than any single test in the differential diagnosis of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome. This finding has not been confirmed thereafter in large series. The aim of the present study has been to assess the operating characteristics of either the CRH test or the overnight HDDST and also to evaluate the potential utility of combining the interpretation of both tests in the differential diagnosis of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome.