Prevalence of post-partum thyroiditis in Liguria (Italy): an observational study.

BACKGROUND: Post-partum thyroiditis (PPT) is an autoimmune disorder occurring within the first year following delivery. A variable prevalence has been reported in different surveys. We prospectively evaluated PPT prevalence and outcome in a cohort of pregnant women living in a well-defined geographic area. AIM: A subset from a group of healthy women consecutively evaluated for thyroid function and thyroid autoimmunity during pregnancy, referring to the same obstetric unit, were followed up at 4-6 months and 1 yr after delivery. MATERIALS/SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Follow-up for PPT was performed in 258 pregnant women. Control data were obtained in a comparable group of healthy non-pregnant women. Free T3 (fT3), free T4 (fT4), TSH thyroglobulin/thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies (TgAb/TPOAb), and urinary iodine excretion were measured. RESULTS: Autoantibody positivity was observed in 9.3% of pregnant, similar to control women. Forty-three out of 59 autoantibody-positive women were followed up; 23 showed PPT at the first control, 18 had hypothyroidism at 1 yr (5 had not shown PPT at the first control). Among 215 out of 584 autoantibody-negative women followed up, 27 developed PPT (15 of them without thyroid autoantibodies); 16 developed thyroid autoantibodies without PPT. After 1 yr, 9 women had hypothyroidism: only 1 of them was autoantibody-negative at the former control. Urinary iodine was increased in several pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: An overall PPT prevalence of about 18% may be estimated. PPT was also observed in autoantibody- negative women. Differences with other surveys may be related to both study protocol and characteristics of the population studied.

Therapeutic Strategies and Clinical Outcome in Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma: A Multicenter Observational Study.

PURPOSE: Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (MPTC) has an excellent prognosis. We aimed to evaluate the evolution of therapeutic strategies over time and the clinical outcome of MPTC. METHODS: In this retrospective multicenter observational study in a northwest Italian region, patients with intrathyroidal, unifocal tumor ≤1 cm in size, incidentally found at histology or preoperative cytology diagnosis, were included. Exclusion criteria were a previous head-and-neck irradiation and/or node metastases. RESULTS: From 1985 to 2012, 437 patients had an MPTC diagnosis, which was incidental in 85% and preoperative in 15%. Patients with a preoperative diagnosis were younger at the time of diagnosis (47.6 ± 12.7 years, p < 0.01) and had a larger tumor (7.0 ± 2.5 mm, p < 0.0001) than patients with an incidental diagnosis (age 52 ± 13.5 years, size 4.4 ± 2.8 mm), but there were no differences in clinical outcome between both groups. We observed a significant (p < 0.001) reduction in radioiodine remnant ablation during the years. TSH levels were: <0.1 mIU/l in 27.5%, 0.1-0.5 mlU/l in 33.7%, 0.5-2.5 mlU/l in 32.6%, 2.5-4.2 mlU/l in 3.9%, and >4.2 mlU/l in 2.3% of patients. Six patients (1.37%) had nodal recurrence; 5 of them were cured after therapy. MPTC-linked mortality was null. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed the favorable clinical outcome of MPTC. Despite the reduction in radioiodine ablation, overtreatment of MPTC is still observed.

[The neuroendocrine aspects of chronic alcoholism: the effect of alcohol intake and its withdrawal]. / Aspetti neuroendocrini dell'etilismo cronico: effetto dell'assunzione di alcool e della sua sospensione.

Neuroendocrine dysfunctions, in part similar to those found in depression, are present in chronic alcoholism. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of chronic alcohol intake on cortisol secretion in basal conditions, after dexamethasone (DXT) suppression or corticotropin (ACTH) stimulation in 10 alcoholic men, during active drinking and after two weeks of alcohol withdrawal. The 24-hour, day- and night-time urinary cortisol and melatonin levels, and the effects of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) on thyrotropin (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) secretions were studied in the same subjects. The data were correlated to the scores obtained by the Hamilton Rating Scale for depression and compared to those found in healthy subjects. Increased cortisol levels and the lack of DXT suppression of cortisol secretion are considered to be alcohol-dependent inasmuch as they disappear in most patients after alcohol withdrawal. The cortisol response to ACTH 1-24 infusion measured before and after alcohol withdrawal was similar in the patients we studied; moreover no significant difference was found between patients and controls. The increment of urine free cortisol levels in active alcoholics was not statistically significant. Urine cortisol levels became similar to those of the control subjects after alcohol withdrawal. The increased diurnal values of urine melatonin and the inversion of the physiological ratio between nocturnal and diurnal levels observed during alcohol intake became normal upon alcohol withdrawal. The TSH and PRL responses after the administration of 50 or 200 micrograms TRH were higher in alcoholics than in controls, while a blunted response is known to occur in depression.

Urine melatonin in alcoholic patients: a marker of alcohol abuse?

Ethanol is known to alter central neurotransmission and endocrine functions. Urine melatonin was studied in 10 male chronic alcoholic patients, before and after two weeks of controlled alcohol abstinence, and in sex and age matched healthy controls. In both groups, 24-hour urines were collected in two fractions corresponding to day- (D) (08:00-20:00) and night- (N) (20:00-08:00) time. Urine melatonin was assayed by RIA after methylene chloride extraction. Twenty-four hour urine melatonin levels were calculated adding up D and N values. In patients during alcohol intake, the 24-hour urine melatonin levels were significantly higher than in controls (p = 0.004, Student's t test). A disruption of the physiological ratio between N and D values was also observed, since the higher melatonin levels occurred in the D fraction. In drinking alcoholics, melatonin D values were significantly higher than the D values found in controls (p less than 0.01, Student's t test) and in the same patients after alcohol withdrawal (p less than 0.05). The N/D ratio approximated 1 during alcohol intake and became larger than 1 after alcohol withdrawal, as in the controls. The melatonin data were correlated with the suppressive effects of dexamethasone (DXT) on cortisol secretion evaluated both during alcohol intake and during abstinence. After alcohol withdrawal, the two (out of 10) patients, who remained unresponsive to the DXT suppression test, showed high D melatonin values and a low N/D ratio. These preliminary data indicate that in chronic alcoholism the pattern of urinary "melatonin- like immunoreactivity" is altered.

Cluster headache in the male: sex steroid pattern and gonadotropic response to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone.

Serum testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, delta 4-androstendione and 17 beta-estradiol, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and gonadotropic response to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) were studied in 34 male subjects with episodic or chronic cluster headache (CH). The sex steroid free fractions and those bound to SHBG and albumin were determined by a simulatory computerized method based on the mass action law. Individual steroid values were dispersed over a wide range in CH patients. Total, free and carrier protein-bound testosterone levels were significantly diminished only in chronic CH, where luteinizing hormone (LH) peak values after intravenous administration of LHRH were also decreased. Basal and peak follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were significantly increased in episodic and in chronic CH groups, in comparison to healthy controls.

Lowered circannual urinary melatonin concentrations in episodic cluster headache.

The circannual secretion of melatonin in 14 Swedish and 15 Italian patients suffering from episodic cluster headache was compared with 14 Swedish and 15 Italian healthy controls matched for sex and age. Overnight samples of urine were collected once a month from 8 to 14 months and kept at -20 degrees C until analysed with RIA. The melatonin concentrations in nocturnal urine were permanently low in cluster headache and there was no consistent change of the melatonin concentration in relation to cluster periods occurring during the study. There was no definitive circannual or infraannual rhythmicity of melatonin in patients or controls. Multiple analysis of variance with repeated measurements showed a significant effect of disease (p < 0.05), but not of time. Sex, geographical location, age, and smoking also had significant effects (p < 0.001) on the melatonin concentrations. Lower melatonin levels in cluster headache patients than in controls may in part be related to a larger number of smokers in the patient group. The relation between tobacco use and melatonin should be further studied.

TSH circadian secretions in aged men and effect of phosphatidylserine treatment.

In 20 euthyroid aged men (from 65 to 85 years of age) no significant circadian periodicity of thyrotropin (TSH) secretion has been shown by the population mean cosinor method. At the end of a period of 30 days of hospitalization the cosinor evaluation of TSH secretion showed a restored highly significant (p less than 0.001) circadian rhythmicity in phosphatidylserine (PS) (400 mg/daily) treated group (10 aged subjects). By contrast, hospitalization seems to further deteriorate the periodicity of the hormone secretion in 10 placebo-treated subjects.

Cholinergic modulation of growth hormone-releasing hormone effects on growth hormone secretion in dementia.

An impairment of cholinergic and somatostatinergic neurotransmission have been reported in dementia. Both acetylcholine and somatostatin are involved in the regulation of growth hormone (GH) secretion. The effects of GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) 1-44 on GH release have been studied before and after the pretreatment with pyridostigmine or pirenzepine in subjects with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, multi-infarct dementia and mixed dementia. The data have been compared with those obtained in an age-matched healthy control group. The GH response to GHRH is similar in the patients and in the controls, though the peak occurrence is significantly delayed in dementia. The cholinesterase inhibitor pyridostigmine enhances significantly the GH response to GHRH in both groups. The responses obtained in demented subjects are significantly larger than those found in the controls. Pirenzepine, a muscarinic receptor blocker, inhibits the GHRH effect on GH secretion in both groups. The findings may be interpreted in terms of an underlying impairment of the hypothalamic cholinergic neurotransmission, with an acetylcholine receptor supersensitivity that becomes apparent when the cholinergic tonus is enhanced by the inhibition of cholinesterase by pyridostigmine. No significant differences, due to the type of dementia, have been observed.

Thyrotropin and prolactin responses to different doses of thyrotropin-releasing hormone in depression.

The effects of low doses of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH, 50 and 200 micrograms) on thyrotropin (TSH) and prolactin levels have been studied in depressed women and compared with the depressive condition and with the results of the dexamethasone suppression test (DST). TRH administration elicited blunted hormonal responses that were not correlated either with the age of the patients or with DST results. Different effects were observed in subgroups of depressive patients classified according to DSM III and ICD. No correlation was found between hormone responses and the scores of Hamilton Rating Scale and Montgomery Depression Scale. The effects of 50 micrograms on TSH were significant and inversely correlated with Anxiety Rating Scale scores. No dose-response effect was apparent of prolactin and TSH in depressed patients, suggesting an impaired function of pituitary TRH receptors.

Thyroid-stimulating hormone and prolactin responses to thyrotropin-releasing hormone in common migraine.

Intravenous administration of 50 micrograms or 200 micrograms thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) to men with common migraine elicited blunted prolactin (PRL) responses, when compared with healthy controls. The thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) response was enhanced after 50 micrograms TRH in the migraineurs, but not after 200 micrograms. The physiologic TSH dose-response relationship was abolished in migraine sufferers. The data may be interpreted in the light of dopaminergic and noradrenergic supersensitivity, for PRL and TSH, respectively. The TSH response in migraine differs from the one that occurs in depression.