Clinical endocrinology
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Clinical endocrinology · Feb 2003
Interactions between serum leptin, the insulin-like growth factor-I system, and sex, age, anthropometric and body composition variables in a healthy population randomly selected.
Leptin secretion is influenced by many factors and the GH/IGF axis plays an important role in the regulation of body composition, but the physiological interactions between leptin and the IGF-I system remain unknown. In this study we investigated the relationship between leptin, the IGF-I system, and sex, age, anthropometric and body composition variables in a group of healthy adults randomly selected. ⋯ In this well-characterized population of controls randomly selected without chronic disease or drug administration and with biochemically confirmed euthyroidism, we found that both men and women had a significant correlation between leptin levels and the IGF-I system, and anthropometric and body composition variables, but that leptin did not regulate the IGF-I system, and that the IGF-I system did not regulate leptin synthesis and secretion.
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Clinical endocrinology · Dec 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialGlucocorticoids as prophylaxis against acute mountain sickness.
Acute mountain sickness (AMS) characterized by presence of symptoms including headache, nausea, excessive fatigue, loss of appetite, irritability and insomnia is a major impediment to work performance in human subjects who are rapidly inducted to high altitude (HA) during the initial phase of induction. The present study aims at to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactic administration of low dose glucocorticoids in prevention of AMS in normal healthy men who are inducted to HA by air. ⋯ These observations suggest that administration of low-dose glucocorticoids can curtail acute mountain sickness significantly without influencing the normal adreno cortical response to hypoxia.
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Clinical endocrinology · Oct 2002
Influence of antihypertensive medication on aldosterone and renin concentration in the differential diagnosis of essential hypertension and primary aldosteronism.
Antihypertensive drugs influence the neurohumoral cardiovascular system and the concentration of hormones involved in blood pressure regulation. Little is known, however, about the extent to which various antihypertensive drugs influence cardiovascular hormone concentrations and thus disturb the differential diagnosis of hypertension in clinical practice. In this study we compare the impact of different antihypertensive medicaments on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with essential hypertension who are screened for primary aldosteronism. ⋯ Beta-blockers and aldosterone antagonists have the strongest impact on the renin-angiotensin system. The decrease in renin concentration by beta-blockers leads to an increase in the ratio of aldosterone to renin, and thus to false-positive results in patients with essential hypertension. Calcium channel blockers, and probably also ACE inhibitors and AT1 receptor antagonists alone or in combination, may be continued during screening for primary aldosteronism by determination of renin and aldosterone concentration.