The diagnostic prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) shows boys to be more affected than girls. Due to this reason, there is a lack of research including and observing ASD girls. Present study was aimed to detect hormones of steroidogenesis pathway in prepubertal girls (n = 16) diagnosed with ASD and sex and age matched neurotypical controls (CTRL, n = 16).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Newly diagnosed people with multiple sclerosis frequently report fatigue, pain, depression and anxiety. Preventative programmes may be beneficial, but there is limited evidence of their effectiveness, especially long-term follow-up.
Methods: The programme consisted of 6-month face to face intervention (an introductory workshop, psychology-led group sessions and individual physical therapy) followed by 6-month self-guided therapy.
Vitamin D is no longer considered an agent only affecting calcium phosphate metabolism. A number of studies over the past few years have demonstrated its role in immunomodulation and its influence on the development and functioning of the brain and nervous system. In the current epidemiological crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the immunoprotective role of vitamin D has been discussed by some authors regarding whether it contributes to protection against this serious disease or whether its use does not play a role.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aging of human populations, including those in Europe, is an indisputable fact. The challenge for the future is not simply prolonging human life at any cost or by any means but rather extending self-sufficiency and quality of life. Even in the most advanced societies, the eternal questions remain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitamin D is a micronutrient with pleiotropic effects in humans. Due to sedentary lifestyles and increasing time spent indoors, a growing body of research is revealing that vitamin D deficiency is a global problem. Despite the routine measurement of vitamin D in clinical laboratories and many years of efforts, methods of vitamin D analysis have yet to be standardized and are burdened with significant difficulties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFolia Parasitol (Praha)
February 2021
Numerous recent studies show that vitamin D deficiency potentiates various chronic physical and psychiatric disorders and diseases. It has been shown that a similar range of disorders is also associated with latent infection with Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908). For instance, among cancer, diabetes and schizophrenia patients, we find a higher prevalence of both toxoplasmosis and vitamin D deficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife (Basel)
October 2020
Unlabelled: Background Only few studies have monitored the potential of physical activity training and physical therapy to modulate the reaction of the endocrine system. In this study, the effect of neuroproprioceptive facilitation and inhibition physical therapy on clinical outcomes and neuroactive steroids production in people with multiple sclerosis was evaluated. Moreover, we were interested in the factors that influence the treatment effect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) remains unknown, but associations between prenatal hormonal changes and ASD risk were found. The consequences of these changes on the steroidogenesis during a postnatal development are not yet well known. The aim of this study was to analyze the steroid metabolic pathway in prepubertal ASD and neurotypical boys.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbout 1-2% of European population are redheaded, meaning they synthesize more pheomelanin than eumelanin, the main melanin pigment in humans. Several mutations could be responsible for this phenotype. It has been suggested that corresponding mutations spread in Europe due to a founder effect shaped either by a relaxation of selection for dark, UV-protective phenotypes or by sexual selection in favour of rare phenotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpa treatment can effectively reestablish mood balance in patients with psychiatric disorders. In light of the adrenal gland's role as a crossroad of psychosomatic medicine, this study evaluated changes in 88 circulating steroids and their relationships with a consolidation of somatic, psychosomatic and psychiatric components from a modified N-5 neurotic questionnaire in 46 postmenopausal 50+ women with anxiety-depressive complaints. The patients underwent a standardized one-month intervention therapy with physical activity and an optimized daily regimen in a spa in the Czech Republic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Early morning shifts have a negative effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess the extent of occupational stress in early shift workers of the car industry by using salivary cortisol as an objective marker during a workday and on a day off.
Methods: For this cross-sectional epidemiological type of study, a survey included 55 suitable volunteers from the car industry.
Objective: Anxiety and mood disorders (AMD) are the most frequent mental disorders in the human population. They have recently shown increasing prevalence, and commonly disrupt personal and working lives. The aim of our study was to analyze the spectrum of circulating steroids in order to discover differences that could potentially be markers of affective depression or anxiety, and identify which steroids could be a predictive component for these diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression and anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in women. Although several studies have reported altered circulating steroids accompanying various mental disturbances, knowledge about alterations in the peripheral steroid pattern in such pathologies is incomplete. Therefore, we attempted to add to this knowledge using the simultaneous quantification of circulating steroids by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in groups of premenopausal women in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (22 women with depression, 17 with anxiety disorders, 17 healthy controls).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In the testis, steroid hormones play an important role in spermatogenesis, the production of semen, and the maintenance of secondary sex characteristics and libido. They may also play a role as a target for substances called endocrine disruptors (EDs). As yet, however, no complex study has been conducted evaluating the relationships between EDs and the steroid spectrum in the plasma and seminal plasma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA possible effect of mini-invasive heart intervention on a response of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal stress axis and conversion of cortisone to cortisol were studied. We have analysed two stress markers levels (cortisol, cortisone) and cortisol/cortisone ratio in 25 sows using minimally invasive heart catheterisation as the stress factor. The values of studied parameters were assessed in four periods of the experiment: (1) the baseline level on the day before intervention, (2) after the introduction of anaesthesia, (3) after conducting tissue stimulation or ablation, and (4) after the end of the catheterisation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBisphenol A (BPA) is a widely known endocrine disruptor with estrogenic, antiestrogenic or antiandrogenic properties. BPA could interfere with estrogen metabolism as well with receptor-mediated estrogen actions. Both environmental BPA and estrogens may be traced in body fluids, of which, besides the blood plasma, the seminal fluid is of particular interest regarding their possible interactions in the testis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHormones exert many actions in the brain, and brain cells are also hormonally active. To reach their targets in brain structures, hormones must overcome the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB is a unique device selecting desired/undesired molecules to reach or leave the brain, and it is composed of endothelial cells forming the brain vasculature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a treatable neurological syndrome developing in the elderly. It is characterized by balance impairment, urinary incontinence and dementia development caused by disorders in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation. The diagnosis can be easily mistaken for other neurodegenerative diseases, which are often accompanied by inflammation and the production of cytokines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNumerous chemicals in the environment have the ability to interact with the endocrine system. These compounds are called endocrine disruptors (EDs). Exposure to EDs represents one of the hypotheses for decreasing fertility, the increased risk of numerous cancers and obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: It's indicated negative-perceived stress could induce worse health status and change of cortisol secretion.
Objectives: To assess salivary cortisol levels in two occupations with a high psychosocial workload, but different features, teachers and firefighters.
Methods: The study population consisted of 142 school teachers and 136 firefighters.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol
January 2013
Metabolomic studies represent a promising tool for early diagnosis of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to find differences in the steroid spectrum in patients and controls, and to assess the diagnosis of schizophrenia by building a predictive model based on steroid data. Thirty-nine serum steroids (22 neuroactive steroids and their metabolites and 17 polar conjugates) representing steroid metabolome were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in 22 drug-naive (first episode) schizophrenia patients (13 men and 9 women) before and after six-month treatment with atypical antipsychotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDietary supplements used by women during menopause are usually based on plant extracts containing isoflavonoids, daidzein and genistein. Genistein is a known inhibitor of many enzymes, including thyroid peroxidase (TPO). In the thyroid follicle, genistein acts as its alternate substrate for the formation of genistein iodinated derivatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbstract Hydrocephalus is the result of an imbalance between the formation and drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), characterized by an elevation of the CSF pressure within the brain. A primary method of its treatment is the surgical insertion of a shunt. The patient's condition is usually improved and he or she attends the hospital for periodic controls, at which CSF can be easily and repeatedly collected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cortisol, along with other hormones of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, belongs to one of the main factors influencing psychological and pathognomic factors, intelligence, and memory.
Methods: The aim of our study was to review a large battery of psychological, performance, IQ and memory tests as to their relation with cortisol, testosterone and estrogen levels in groups of 100 men and 93 women who attended the Central Military Hospital in Prague for regular entrance psychological examinations for military personnel.
Results: In men, we detected positive correlations between cortisol and emotional lability, and negative correlations with impulsivity, while in women hypochondria and psychopathology were negatively correlated, and aggression measured with the Meili selective memory test had a positive relation to cortisol level.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to confirm the immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory changes in the immunologic profile after two months of the facilitation physiotherapy in patients with multiple sclerosis; and to determine whether the changes in the immunologic profile correlate with the changes in dehydroepiandrosterone, the brain microstructure and clinical functions.
Design & Setting: A group of 12 patients with multiple sclerosis was examined twice: at the beginning and 2 months later after the patients had undergone the facilitation therapy. Standardized tests evaluating chosen clinical functions (balance, righting, equilibrium and protective reactions, tremor, dysdiadochokinesis, dysmetry, fine hand function and walking), immune parameters (parameters of the humoral and cellular immunity), dehydroepiandrosterone and diffusion tensor imaging (the fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity) were measured.