Hepatosplenomegaly and pernicious anaemia

[No abstract available

Investigation of the skin characteristics in patients with severe GH deficiency and the effects of 6 months of GH replacement therapy: A randomized placebo controlled study

Objective: The presence of GH receptor in human skin and its appendages suggests a direct effect of GH on skin characteristics. The skin is usually thin and dry in patients with GH deficiency (GHD). Sheehan's syndrome classically refers to postpartum hypopituitarism and GH is one of the earliest pituitary hormones lost. While severe GHD is a well-established feature of Sheehan's Syndrome, skin characteristics and the effects of GH replacement therapy (GHRT) have been investigated neither in Sheehan's syndrome nor in other disorders of GHD. The aim of this study was to investigate the skin characteristics, including the sebum content, hydration (skin capacitance), transepidermal water loss (TEWL), pH and skin temperature, and particularly the effects of 6 months of GHRT on these parameters in GH deficient patients with Sheehan's syndrome. Patients and design: Sixteen severely GH deficient women with Sheehan's syndrome (48.1 ± 10.9 years), and 20 age and menopausal status similar women as control subjects were included. Ten patients received recombinant GH for 6 months (treatment group) and 6 patients received placebo (placebo group) during this period. Skin properties were measured at baseline and after 6 months of GHRT using noninvasive and well-established measuring methods. Results: At baseline the skin capacitance was significantly decreased on the forehead and forearm, and sebum content was significantly decreased on forehead in patients with Sheehan's syndrome compared to control subjects (P < 0.05). In the treatment group there was a significant increase in sebum content on forehead after 6 months of GHRT compared to the baseline value (P < 0.05). However there were no significant changes in other parameters including sebum content on the forearm, TEWL, Ph, skin capacitance and temperature of both the forearm and forehead. In the placebo group there were no changes in any of the evaluated parameters after 6 months of treatment compared to baseline values. Conclusions: The present study clearly shows that the sebum content on the forehead and skin hydration of the forehead and forearm are significantly decreased in GH deficient patients with Sheehan's syndrome. However 6 months of GHRT significantly increased only the sebum content on the forehead. These data suggest that GH and/or IGF-I may have a modulatory role on several skin characteristics. © 2006 The Authors

Atorvastatin, lipid peroxidation and total antioxidant status

The aim of this research is to evaluate plasma total cholesterol (TC), low dansity cholesterol (LDL-C), high dansity cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant status (TAS) concentrations before and after the six-week-therapy with atorvastatin

The effects of severe growth hormone deficiency on the skin of patients with Sheehan's syndrome

Background Growth hormone (GH) may play an important role in the content and appearance of the skin. Dry, thin and pale skin has been described in hypopituitarism. Sheehan's syndrome is characterized by anterior pituitary dysfunction due to postpartum pituitary necrosis and GH is one of the hormones lost first

Familial Mediterranean fever without cardinal symptoms and role of genetic screening

Familial mediterranean fever is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by paroxysmal episodes of fever and serosal inflammation. The classical presentation is fever and severe recurrent abdominal pain due to serositis that lasts for one to three days and the resolves spontaneously. Between the episodes patients are asymptomatic. Ninety-five percent of patients with familial mediterranean fever have painful episodes localized to the abdomen, which is usually the dominant manifestation of the disease. Herein, we present a case of 34-year-old man with incomplete abdominal pain episode of familial mediterranean fever limited to the epigastrum and had no cardinals symptoms of this disease. The diagnosis was made by genetic screening. Succesful treatment response was achieved by colchicine

Molecular skin changes in Cushing syndrome and the effects of treatment

Objective We investigated newly diagnosed patients with endogenous CS for molecular changes in skin by biopsy before and a year after treatment of CS. Patients and methods 26 Patients with CS and 23 healthy controls were included. All the patients were evaluated before and a year after treatment. Skin biopsies were obtained from abdominal region before and a year after treatment in patients with CS and once from healthy volunteers. Total RNA was isolated from the skin biopsy samples and the real-time PCR system was used to determine the expression levels of 23 genes in the skin biopsy. Results Skin expression levels of HAS 1, 2 and 3 mRNAs were lower and COL1A2, COL2A1, COL3A1 mRNAs were higher in patients with CS than in normal controls. MMP-9, TIMP-1 and elastin mRNA expression levels were similar in two groups. Skin IL-1 beta mRNA expression level was significantly higher in patients with CS. None of these parameters changed significantly 12 months after treatment. Patients with CS showed higher skin GH and HSD11B1 mRNA expressions and lower GHR and IGF-1R mRNA expression compared to control. Expression levels of IGF-1, GR and HSD11B2 mRNA were similar in two groups. None of these parameters changed significantly 12 months after treatment. Conclusion CS is associated with increased expression levels of skin COL1A2, COL2A1, COL3A1 mRNAs (which are correlated with increased expression level of skin GH mRNA). Decreased skin HAS may cause decreased synthesis of HA that contributes to thinning of skin in CS. Increased local inflammatory cytokine and HSD11B1 mRNAs may be related to the acne formation in CS. Treatment of CS was not able to reverse these changes and ongoing changes were detected after treatment