Diagnostic accuracy of short-time inversion recovery sequence in Graves' Ophthalmopathy before and after prednisone treatment.

Introduction: In Graves' Ophthalmopathy, it is important to distinguish active inflammatory phase, responsive to immunosuppressive treatment, from fibrotic unresponsive inactive one. The purpose of this study is, first, to identify the relevant orbital magnetic resonance imaging signal intensities before treatment, so to classify patients according to their clinical activity score (CAS), discriminating inactive (CAS < 3) from active Graves' Ophthalmopathy (GO) (CAS > 3) subjects and, second, to follow post-steroid treatment disease.

Methods: An observational study was executed on 32 GO consecutive patients in different phases of disease, based on clinical and orbital Magnetic Resonance Imaging parameters, compared to 32 healthy volunteers.

Disease activity in Graves' ophthalmopathy: diagnosis with orbital MR imaging and correlation with clinical score.

In Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) it is important to distinguish acute inflammation at an early stage, responsive to immunosuppressive treatment, from inactive fibrotic end stage disease, unresponsive to the same treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify the most relevant signal intensities on orbital MR imaging with contrast administration both to classify patients according to their clinical activity score (defined by a cut-off value of 3) and to make a prediction of patient's CAS. Such threshold was considered as widely used in literature.

Total thyroidectomy, without prophylactic central lymph node dissection, in the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer. Clinical retrospective study on 221 cases.

Total thyroidectomy (TT) is the standard of care for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), but still there is no consensus about the role of routine use of prophylactic central lymph node dissection. The aim of this study was to analyze our results of TT without prophylactic central lymphadenectomy in the treatment of DTC. Clinical records, between January 1998 and December 2005, of 221 patients undergoing TT, without prophylactic central lymph node dissection, were retrospectively evaluated.

Decreased serum vascular endothelial growth factor-D levels in metastatic patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Objective: Vascular endothelial growth factor-D (VEGF-D) has been identified as one of the lymphangiogenic growth factors involved in metastatic diffusion. The aim of this study is to evaluate the serum VEGF-D levels in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer at different conditions of disease.

Design And Patients: We studied prospectively the VEGF-D plasma levels in 96 subjects affected by differentiated thyroid cancer.

Innate immune activity in plaque of patients with untreated and L-thyroxine-treated subclinical hypothyroidism.

Context: A strong association between subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) and atherosclerotic diseases, independent of the traditional risk factors, was noted.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the association between SCH and the inflammatory potential of atherosclerotic plaques as well as the role of L-T(4) replacement therapy (LTR) on regulation of plaque inflammation. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We examined the differences in macrophage content, proinflammatory cytokine infiltration, and oxidative stress between asymptomatic carotid plaques of patients with and without SCH and LTR.

Cytologic, flow cytometry, and molecular assessment of lymphoid infiltrate in fine-needle cytology samples of Hashimoto thyroiditis.

Background: The thyroidal lymphoid infiltrate (TLI) in Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) represents the substrate from which thyroid lymphoma may arise. The objective of the current study was to classify the TLI in HT by comparing the cytologic features with flow cytometry (FC) data and evaluating the kappa/lambda light chain ratio and its molecular assessment.

Methods: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed in 34 patients with HT with nodular or diffuse palpable enlargement of the gland.

Imbalance of the osteoprotegerin/RANKL ratio in bone marrow microenvironment after allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Bone loss is a common complication after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) plays a critical role in bone remodeling by neutralizing the effect of receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) on differentiation and activation of osteoclasts. We investigated OPG and RANKL in serum and marrow plasma in transplanted patients.

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors inhibit rat propylthiouracil-induced goiter by modulating the ras-MAPK pathway.

The aim of this study was to evaluate in vivo the antiproliferative effect of an inhibitor of isoprenoids metabolism, lovastatin, in an experimental model of propylthiouracil-induced goiter. In thyroid cells, thyrotropin (TSH)-induced proliferation requires active isoprenoid synthesis, and the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors have antiproliferative effects in vitro. Propylthiouracil treatment (PTU) of rats led to thyroid hypertrophy and hyperplasia by TSH-induced activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway.

Increased serum osteoprotegerin values in long-lived subjects: different effects of inflammation and bone metabolism.

Aim: To evaluate serum osteoprotegerin (OPG) concentrations in relation to age-dependent changes in serum markers of bone metabolism and systemic inflammation.

Methods: Two-hundred and eighty-three healthy subjects were evaluated for plasma estimated creatinine clearance (Cr-clearance), C-reactive protein (CRP), bone alkaline phosphatase, C-telopeptides of type-1 collagen (CrossLaps), nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) and OPG concentrations.

Results: In adult subjects (82 cases aged between 27 and 64 years) serum OPG concentrations were significantly and independently correlated with RANKL and Cr-clearance (R(2): 0.

Recombinant human TSH modulates in vivo C-telopeptides of type-1 collagen and bone alkaline phosphatase, but not osteoprotegerin production in postmenopausal women monitored for differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Unlabelled: In women monitored for thyroid carcinoma, short-term stimulation with rhTSH induced an acute decrease in serum C-telopeptides of type-1 collagen and an increase in serum BALP levels without any effect on OPG production. The inhibitory effect of TSH on bone resorption occurred only in postmenopausal women who showed low BMD and a high bone turnover rate as an effect of L-thyroxine suppressive therapy.

Introduction: It has been recently shown that thyrotropin (TSH) has an inhibitory activity on skeletal remodeling in in vitro conditions.

Effects of increased thyroxine dosage pre-conception on thyroid function during early pregnancy.

Objective: To compare the effects of pregnancy on the serum free thyroxine (FT4) levels in two cohorts of primary hypothyroid women treated with different levothyroxine (L-T4) doses before gestation.

Design And Method: Twenty-five women with compensated hypothyroidism of different aetiology (thyroidectomized and Hashimoto's thyroiditis) were enrolled in this prospective study. The women were receiving substitutive doses of L-T4 and were anticipating pregnancy.

High serum leptin in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Increased serum leptin has been described after various organ transplants, with a mechanism that is still unclear.

Methods: We measured serum leptin in 60 patients before and after allogeneic (allo) or autologous (auto) stem cell transplant (SCT) and in 60 healthy controls, matched for age and body mass index (BMI).

Results: Serum leptin was higher in patients after SCT than before and in controls.

Increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of rT(3) were evaluated in 21 euthyroid patients with overt Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 18 matched healthy controls. The assessment also included transthyretin and total T(3) and T(4) CSF concentrations. Despite normal circulating thyroid hormone levels, AD subjects showed significantly increased rT(3) levels and an increased rT(3) to T(4) ratio in the face of unchanged CSF total T(4) and transthyretin levels.

Grey-scale analysis allows a quantitative evaluation of thyroid echogenicity in the patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Objective: In the present study we have performed a grey-scale quantitative analysis of thyroid echogenicity in the patients affected by Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), obtaining a numerical estimate of the degree of hypoechogenicity associated with the appearance of thyroid dysfunction.

Materials And Methods: The study group included 89 patients with serum positivity for thyroglobulin (TgAb) and/or peroxidase (TPOAb) antibodies. Ultrasound (US) evaluation of thyroid gland and biochemical assay of serum thyrotropin (TSH), free-thyroxine (FT4) and free-triiodiothyronyne (FT3) were performed in all patients, and in 40 healthy subjects enrolled as control group.

Leptin as a marker of multiple sclerosis activity in patients treated with interferon-beta.

The role of leptin was investigated in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Control and MS patients showed comparable baseline serum leptin levels. During the first year of IFNbeta-1a treatment, leptin significantly decreased since 2 months after starting therapy in 11 patients who had no relapses.

Serum and follicular fluid cytokines in polycystic ovary syndrome during stimulated cycles.

Objective: To investigate the serum and intrafollicular tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 concentrations in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Methods: Thirty-one patients with PCOS undergoing IVF were studied. Thirty-nine normally ovulating women matched for age and body mass index and undergoing IVF for male infertility were the control group.

Type-1 response in peripheral CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Objective: In this study we performed single-cell analysis of the intracellular cytokine expression in peripheral CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes from patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) to investigate the type-1 response separately for the two lymphocyte sub-populations.

Design And Methods: Twenty-nine patients affected by HT and 20 healthy subjects, matched for sex and age, were enrolled. After the analysis of the lymphocyte sub-populations, the intracellular content of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in phorbolmyristate acetate (PMA)-stimulated CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes was assayed.

Iodized salt improves the effectiveness of L-thyroxine therapy after surgery for nontoxic goitre: a prospective and randomized study.

Objective: To investigate whether the addition of iodized salt to daily diet in thyroidectomized patients for nontoxic goitre could influence the effectiveness of nonsuppressive L-thyroxine (L-T4) therapy on thyroid remnant size, during 12 months' follow-up after thyroid surgery.

Design And Patients: A consecutive series of selected 139 patients (26 males, 113 females; median age 45 years, range 30-69 years) living in a moderate iodine-deficient area, and undergoing thyroid surgery for nontoxic multinodular goitre, was enrolled. Patients were assigned randomly to two different therapeutic regimens: 70 patients received L-T4 therapy alone (Gr.