Journal of Endocrinology Research

Cortisol Response in Breast Cancer: The Role of Physical Activity and Exercise

Margarida Marinho — 2022-09-13

Chronic stress is a consistent sense of feeling pressured and overwhelmedfor a long period of time and it has been defined as a maladaptive state thatis associated with altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Thehyperactivity of the HPA axis is commonly assessed by cortisol levels.Physical activity (PA) and exercise have been demonstrated to regulatecortisol patterns in different healthy study populations, but also in BCpatients and survivors. The PA and exercise are related but have distinctconcepts that are commonly misused. Nowadays, the regular practice of PAand exercise has been widely recognized as one main strategy to managechronic stress and its related markers, like cortisol, remains elusive. In thepresent review, the authors focused on the evidence of the PA and exerciseon cortisol patterns of BC patients and survivors.

Histopathological Characteristics of Folliculo-stellate Cells in Pituitary Glands of Wild Type, Obese and High-fat Diet Induced Mice

José Filipe Melo — 2022-03-04

The anterior pituitary gland regulates growth, metabolism, and reproduction by secreting hormones. Folliculo-stellate cells (FSC) are non-endocrine cells located among hormone-producing cells in the anterior pituitary glands, but little is known about the exact roles of those cells. Although, with their net organization, they seem to have an important role in the hormonal cells regulation and maintenance. In this work, the first ever made in this area, 33 pituitaries of three groups of mice (18 wild type [WT], 11 genetically obese [OB] and 4 under a high fat diet [HFD]) were studied in order to determine if there was any relation between the number of FSC and alterations of the basal metabolism in each group of mice. For that, immunohistochemical staining using the S-100 protein was used and also the Image-J software, to calculate the percentage of FSC present in each sample. The authors found that, although there wasn’t any significant difference between WT and OB mice, the group of HFD mice tend to have substantially higher percentage of FSC than the mice from other groups. This might suggest some yet unknown link between diet, precisely with a high-fat diet, and the presentation of FSC in the anterior pituitary.

Do Endocrinopathies Differ in Most Prevalent Hemoglobinopathy of Middle East: Beta-thalassemia?

Salma Ahi — 2022-08-08

Repeated blood transfusions in thalassemia patients is followed by endocrinopathies as diabetes, hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, hypoparathyroidism, and disorders in calcium and vitamin D homeostasis. The aimof this study was to evaluate the association of beta-thalassemia patientsendocrinopathies and osteoporosis. Serum level of some factors related tothe function of gonads, thyroid, adrenal, and pancreas along with serumlevels of calcium, phosphate, albumin, vitamin D, and iron were measured.Bone marrow density was tested via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry(DXA densitometry). In this study, 56 patients with major thalassemia wereinvestigated. Paraclinical analysis indicated osteopenia in 17 (30.4%) andosteoporosis in 39 patients (69.6%) in addition to other types of endocrinedisorders, such as hypogonadism in 29 (51.8%), hypothyroidism in 13(23.2%), hypoparathyroidism in 1 (1.8%), hypocortisolism in 2 (3.6%), anddiabetes in 9 (16.1%) patients. Endocrinopathies had no significant relationship with osteoporosis and osteopenia in men. However, hypogonadismhad a significant relationship with osteoporosis and osteopenia in womenwith thalassemia. Estradiol level was lower in women with osteoporosisin comparison with women with osteopenia. Ferritin levels had neitherassociation with osteoporosis nor with LH levels (P>0.05). Secondary hypogonadism disorders are the main causes of osteoporosis and osteopeniain female beta-thalassemia patients.

Evaluating the Effect of Irisin on Obesity-Concerning Physical Activity

Onur Oral — 2022-08-31

Background: The study aims to investigate and evaluate the impactof irisin on physical activity and obesity. Materials and Methods: Inthe search for scientific literature related to this review the US NationalLibrary of Medicine (PubMed) used MEDLINE and SportDiscus dataand the terms "irisin", "physical activity", and "obesity", were used. Therelevant literature has also taken its source from the research of relevantarticles from reference lists derived from data studies. Results: Irisin, anemerging myokine in the scientific community, has received high attentionas a potential contributor to obesity. This hormone is also associated withphysical activity. Conclusions: Irisin was recently identified as a myokineknown to respond to physical activity. Adequate recognition of thishormone may play an active role in the prevention and treatment of obesity.