Endokrynologia Polska 2010, tom 61, nr 4

Every year, presenting you with the fourth issue of our journal, we think of passing holiday. We wish that reading the “Polish Journal of Endocrinology” would facilitate you sometimes difficult transition from holiday time of jauntiness to reality...

Hair loss may accompany several endocrine disorders, including hypopituitarism, hypothyreosis, hyperthyreosis, hypoparathyroidism, diabetes mellitus, growth hormone deficiency, hyperprolactinaemia, polycystic ovary syndrome, SAHA syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Cushing syndrome, or virilising tumours [1, 2]...

Empty sella syndrome, documented for the first time in 1951 by Busch et al., is defined as a group of clinical symptoms developing as a result of herniation of the subarachnoid space within the sella, which is often associated with some degree of flattening of the pituitarygland [1–3]. There are two classical types of empty sella syndrome: primary and secondary...

Hypothalamic dysfunction, formerly known as hypothalamosis or diencephalosis, is a rarely diagnosed endocrine disorder which is a consequence of abnormal activity of the hypothalamus [1, 2]. The hypothalamus is one of the most crucial regions of the brain, whichcontrols hunger, thirst, body temperature, and circadian cycles and is considered a link between the nervous and endocrine systems [3–5]...

Insulin regulatory action involves the basic life processes of cells, tissues, and whole organisms. It is multifactorial, perfectly organized, and functionally integrated into successive biochemical steps and biological events governing intracellular regulation. The primary signal resulting from the association of the insulin molecule with the alfa subunit of its specific receptor is transducted by the whole system of mediating molecules and transcriptional factors to over 100 genes [1–3]...

Chromogranin A (CgA) is a 49-kDa hydrophilic glycoprotein composed of 439 aa. It is present in all normal and abnormal neuroendocrine cells [1, 2]. The CgA gene is located on the 14th chromosome. CgA is a major Ca²+ storage protein and can aggregate at high concentrations of calcium [3]. Chromogranin A belongs to the chromogranin/secretogranin family...

Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized epidemic and a common health problem worldwide [1]. Vitamin D status is very different among various countries, which is due to the difference in many factors including sunlight of latitude), dietary intake of vitamin D, and air pollution[2]...

Iodine is essential for thyroid hormone synthesis and, accordingly, is required for normal development, growth, and metabolism, and it is well known that both iodine deficiency and iodine excess affect neonatal thyroid function [1]. A lack of thyroid hormone for more than a few weeks during brain development in utero or during the first years of life may permanently harm brain function, and breastfed infants are reliant on adequate maternal dietary iodine intake [2]...

Therapy for type 2 diabetes has been focused on controlling fasting blood glucose (FBG) with oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD) and/or basal insulin [1]. As type 2 diabetes progresses, treatment strategies focusing on basal insulin combined with OADs are limited in theireffectiveness due to the lack of provision for prandial insulin requirements...

The number of type 2 diabetic patients is expected to increase to ~300 million by the year 2025, in comparison with 150 million diabetics in the year 2000 [1]. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), as a chronic disease, not only causes serious morbidity and mortality due to vascular complications but also imposes a heavy economic burden on countries [2]...