ACROMORFO study: gait analysis in a cohort of acromegalic patients.

Purpose: In acromegaly, skeletal complications resulted to be associated with low quality of life (QoL) and high risk of falls. The aim of the present study was to perform a quantitative assessment of movement through gait analysis technique in patients with acromegaly.

Study Population: Thirty-three acromegalic patients [9 with active disease (AD), 14 with controlled disease (CD) and 10 with disease remission (RD)] and 20 healthy subjects were enrolled for the study.

COVID-19 lockdown and the rate of central precocious puberty.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to compare the incidence of idiopathic central precocious puberty (CPP) in our highly specialized Endocrinological Center before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdown; we also aimed to identify any potential difference between girls with CPP from the two different time periods.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the auxological profile of 49 girls with idiopathic CPP: 30 with pre-lockdown onset and 19 with post-lockdown onset of the disease. We collected patients' characteristics (medical history, physical examination, baseline and dynamic hormonal assessment, bone age, pelvic ultrasound) and compared them between the two groups.

A Multicenter Cohort Study in Patients With Primary Empty Sella: Hormonal and Neuroradiological Features Over a Long Follow-Up.

Objective: primary empty sella (PES) represents a frequent finding, but data on hormonal alterations are heterogeneous, and its natural history is still unclear. Our aim was to evaluate the pituitary function of patients with PES over a long follow-up.

Design: multicenter retrospective cohort study enrolling patients referred between 1984-2020 to five Pituitary Units, with neuroradiological confirmed PES and a complete hormonal assessment.

Psychological complications in patients with acromegaly: relationships with sex, arthropathy, and quality of life.

Purpose: Current treatment of acromegaly restores a normal life expectancy in most cases. So, the study of persistent complications affecting patients' quality of life (QoL) is of paramount importance, especially motor disability and depression. In a large cohort of acromegalic patients we aimed at establishing the prevalence of depression, to look for clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with it, and to investigate the respective roles (and interactions) of depression and arthropathy in influencing QoL.

Vitamin D and COVID-19 severity and related mortality: a prospective study in Italy.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency has been suggested to favor a poorer outcome of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). We aimed to assess if 25-hydroxyvitamin-D (25OHD) levels are associated with interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels and with disease severity and mortality in COVID-19.

Methods: We prospectively studied 103 in-patients admitted to a Northern-Italian hospital (age 66.

Mortality in an Italian nursing home during COVID-19 pandemic: correlation with gender, age, ADL, vitamin D supplementation, and limitations of the diagnostic tests.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused an increased mortality in nursing homes due to its quick spread and the age-related high lethality.

Results: We observed a two-month mortality of 40%, compared to 6.4% in the previous year.

Arthropathy in acromegaly: a questionnaire-based estimation of motor disability and its relation with quality of life and work productivity.

Purpose: Arthropathy is a common and disabling complication of acromegaly. Since in this condition radiological findings rarely correspond to functional impairment, we elected to quantify in a large cohort of acromegalic patients: the degree of motor disability compared with data from general population, the impact of joint involvement on quality of life and work productivity, and to look for associated factors.

Methods: In 211 acromegalic patients, 131 with controlled disease and 80 with active disease, eight validated scales were used to evaluate the (i) prevalence and distribution of arthropathy, (ii) degree of motor disability and joint symptoms (VAS, AIMS symptoms and WOMAC), (iii) quality of life (AcroQoL and PASQ) and work capability (WPAI:GH) as consequences of joint complications.

A balanced reciprocal translocation t(10;15)(q22.3;q26.1) interrupting ACAN gene in a family with proportionate short stature.

Purpose: Few examples of the involvement of a single gene in idiopathic short stature have been described until now. Our aim was to identify the causative gene of proportionate short stature in a large family showing co-segregation of the phenotype with the reciprocal translocation t(10;15)(q22;q24).

Methods: FISH mapping was carried out with BACs and long-range PCR probes to identify the smallest genomic regions harboring the translocation breakpoints.

Characteristics of a nationwide cohort of patients presenting with isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH).

Objective: Isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) is a rare disorder with pubertal delay, normal (normoosmic-IHH, nIHH) or defective sense of smell (Kallmann syndrome, KS). Other reproductive and non-reproductive anomalies might be present although information on their frequency are scanty, particularly according to the age of presentation.

Design: Observational cohort study carried out between January 2008 and June 2016 within a national network of academic or general hospitals.

Acromegaly is associated with increased cancer risk: a survey in Italy.

It is debated if acromegalic patients have an increased risk to develop malignancies. The aim of the present study was to assess the standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of different types of cancer in acromegaly on a large series of acromegalic patients managed in the somatostatin analogs era. It was evaluated the incidence of cancer in an Italian nationwide multicenter cohort study of 1512 acromegalic patients, 624 men and 888 women, mean age at diagnosis 45 ± 13 years, followed up for a mean of 10 years (12573 person-years) in respect to the general Italian population.

25 Hydroxyvitamin D Deficiency and Its Relationship to Autoimmune Thyroid Disease in the Elderly.

Background: Low 25(OH) vitamin D levels have been associated with several autoimmune diseases and recently with autoimmune thyroiditis (AT). The aim of the study was to investigate the association of AT with low 25(OH) vitamin D levels in the elderly.

Methods: One hundred sixty-eight elderly subjects (mean age: 81.

Differential patterns of regional neuroadrenergic cardiovascular drive in acromegalic disease.

It has been shown that acromegaly is characterized by an autonomic imbalance and by marked sympathoinhibition. However, there is no information available as to whether adrenergic inhibition is confined to selected vascular districts or, rather, is generalized. We examined 17 newly diagnosed active acromegalic patients without hyperprolactinaemia, pituitary hormone deficiencies, obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiac hypertrophy and 14 healthy subjects matched for age, sex and body mass index.

Low circulating IGF-I bioactivity is associated with human longevity: findings in centenarians' offspring.

Unlabelled: Centenarians' offspring represent a suitable model to study age-dependent variables (e.g. IGF-I) potentially involved in the modulation of the lifespan.

Decreased adrenergic tone in acromegaly: evidence from direct recording of muscle sympathetic nerve activity.

Objective: Sympathovagal imbalance has been shown in acromegaly by indirect measurements of adrenergic tone. Data regarding direct measurement of sympathetic activity are lacking as yet. Aim of this study was to assess the adrenergic tone through direct recording of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in acromegalic patients.

Assessment of biochemical control of acromegaly during treatment with somatostatin analogues by oral glucose load and insulin-like growth factor I.

Background: The use of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in evaluating biochemical control in acromegalic patients on somatostatin analogues (SSA) has recently been questioned.

Aim: To gain further insights into this topic, we analyzed basal and nadir GH levels during OGTT in acromegalic patients on SSA.

Subjects And Methods: Basal IGF-I and GH values, as well as GH levels along the test, were analyzed in 115 standard OGTT performed in 33 acromegalic patients followed up between 1993 and 2009.

Von Willebrand factor and fibrinolytic parameters during the desmopressin test in patients with Cushing's disease.

What Is Already Known About This Subject: Desmopressin is a known haemostatic agent and is also being used, albeit at lower doses, during the diagnostic work-up of Cushing's syndrome, a condition characterized by excess cortisol concentrations and frequent thromboembolic events. No study has yet evaluated whether administration of desmopressin for diagnostic purposes induces significant, adverse changes in endothelial cell markers in these patients.

What This Study Adds: Administration of desmopressin to patients with Cushing's disease induces changes in endothelial cell markers comparable with those observed in obese and normal weight subjects.

Thyroid nodules in acromegaly: The role of elastography.

Introduction: Ultrasound elastography (US-E) is a helpful tool for the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. In acromegaly, multinodular goiter is a common occurrence while the prevalence of thyroid cancer is still matter of debate. Our aims were to evaluate thyroid nodules in acromegaly and to assess the accuracy of US-E in providing information on their nature (benign vs.

Developmental dysplasia of the hip: open reduction as a risk factor for substantial osteonecrosis.

Background: Kalamchi and MacEwen (K&M) described a four-group scheme for classifying osteonecrosis (ON) following treatment for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). However, the four groups can overlap in radiographic appearance, making assessment difficult.

Questions/purposes: We (1) describe a simplified K&M classification; (2) determined whether the simplified classification was reliable; and (3) assessed whether differences in the type of reduction or age at reduction resulted in different degrees of ON.

The diagnosis of GH deficiency in obese patients: a reappraisal with GHRH plus arginine testing after pharmacological blockade of lipolysis.

Background: The diagnosis of GH deficiency (GHD) in obese patients is complicated by the reduced GH secretion associated with overweight. A GH response to GHRH+arginine lower than 4.2 microg/l is currently considered indicative of GHD in obesity.

Fitness-related activities and medical claims related to hospital admissions - South Africa, 2006.

Introduction: We report on the effect of an incentive-based wellness program on medical claims and hospital admissions among members of a major health insurer. The focus of this investigation was specifically on fitness-related activities in this insured population.

Methods: Adult members of South Africa's largest private health insurer (n = 948,974) were grouped, a priori, on the basis of documented participation in fitness-related activities, including gym visits, into inactive (80%, equivalent to < or =3 gym visits/y), low active (7.

Elastosonographic evaluation of thyroid nodules in acromegaly.

Objective: Ultrasound-elastography (US-E) appears to be a helpful tool for the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. In acromegaly, the prevalence of thyroid cancer is still debated. The aims of this study were to evaluate thyroid nodules in acromegaly and to establish the accuracy of US-E in providing information on their nature, using cytological analysis as a reference.

Somatostatin analogs and gallstones: a retrospective survey on a large series of acromegalic patients.

Context: Development of gallstones (GS) is reported during the use of somatostatin analogs (SA) that are at present the mainstay for the medical treatment of acromegaly.

Objective: To review the prevalence and clinical and biochemical correlates of GS in acromegalic patients.

Design And Setting: Retrospective survey on hospital records in acromegalic patients followed up in the last 20 yr in tertiary referral centers.

Microbiological impressions of teeth, saliva and dietary fibre can predict caries activity.

Objectives: Mutans streptococci and Lactobacilli on impressions of teeth and caries tests were used to identify caries prone subjects.

Methods: Twenty-seven dental students were examined for caries initially and after 4 years. At the initial examination plaque index; saliva flow, buffering capacity and lysozyme; sucrose and fibre consumption; Lactobacilli and mutans streptococci in saliva and on alginate impressions were measured.