ACTA ENDOCRINOLOGICA (BUC)

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Apart from endocrine and reproductive disturbances, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) clusters several cardiovascular risk factors, mainly insulin resistance, obesity and dyslipidemia. In addition, androgen excess\r\nsignificantly contributes to enhanced vascular risk. Several mediators of endothelial dysfunction have been characterized lately in patients with PCOS, emerging as independent\r\npredictors of vascular abnormalities and potentially useful biomarkers of endothelial impairment in PCOS.

Cimicifuga racemosa (CR) is widely used in the treatment of menopausal symptoms, including hormone-related affective disorders in women. Mechanistic studies suggest that unlike hormone-replacement therapy, CR does not stimulate cancerous growth.\r\nObjective: to evaluate CR safety and the antidepressant-like effects compared to estrogen treatment.\r\nMaterials and Methods: we used the forced swimming test (FST) to address the hypotheses that CR alters behavior of ovariectomized (OVX) rats in the FST and the FST-induced expression of c-fos in the rat paraventricular nucleus (PVN). After the FST, all animals were perfused, and the brains were processed for c-fos immunocytochemistry; the plasma was processed for radioimmunoassay of plasma estrogen levels.\r\nResults: OVX group animals spent significantly (P<0.05) more time struggling than CR and E2 groups. The CR and E2 groups animals spent little time in struggle time decreased. CR and E2 groups animals spent significantly (P<0.05) more time swimming than OVX group animals.\r\nConclusion: CR was demonstrated to have antidepressant effect, and establishing the safety symptoms in women in whom hormone-replacement therapy is contraindicated.

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Background. Scintigraphy using 99mTcpertechnetate (TS) is the diagnostic test to differentiate thyroiditis following Graves’ disease (GD) from painless thyroiditis (PT). However, TS may be contraindicated or unavailable. Objective. We compared the diagnostic effectiveness of two TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) immunoassays in untreated PT, already confirmed by qualitative and quantitative(99m) Tc-pertechnetate thyroid uptake (TCTU). Method. TRAb assay and TS were performed in suspected PT patients. All 67 subjects (27 males) with confirmed diagnosis of PT based on qualitative (subjective) low uptake and quantitative uptake below 0.4% (Normal TcTU: 0.4-4%) . During the period of study, we used two 2nd generation TRAb assays. Result. Mean age, TSH, free T4 and TcTU were 40.5± 12.7 years, 0.066±0.089 mIU/L, 2.46±2.18 ng/mL and 0.188±0.0503% respectively. Fifteen (22.39%) of our PT patients were TRAb positive. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of TRAb in predicting thyroiditis were 81%, 75%, 78.2%, 83.6% and 74.4% in Assay 1. The same parameters were 74%, 64%, 71.2%, 76.8% and 62.7% respectively in TRAb Assay 2. However, ROC curve did not reveal any difference between the two assays. Conclusion. Negative TRAb value does not reliably distinguish PT from mild GD, in situations where TS is contraindicated or unavailable.

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Introduction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate YTB content performance on HbA1c and indirectly diabetes, an important pillar of it. Methods. The contents in YTB were searched by derivative keywords of HbA1c. The resulting contents were scored using DISCERN and GQS scales. The videos were evaluated by dividing them into four groups: medical doctors, patients, educational channels and other health care professionals, according to the characteristics of producers. Results. The videos included in the study had been watched approximately 25 million times until the article prepared. In examinations, medical doctors have higher scores than the other groups in two scales. The video scores were statistically correlated in DISCERN and GQS (r: 0.874, p<0.05). In the multiple regression analyzes, a statistically significant relationship was found between the DISCERN score and duration of the videos among video features (p<0.05). On the aspect of view counts and view ratios were similar within groups (p>0.05). Conclusions. YTB contents may be useful for diabetes patients with cautious research. Still, consumers must have prior knowledge of their intentions from reliable medical sources and should be meticulous about videos. In conclusion, eHealth literacy is being more crucial than before.