[Posthumous homage to Marc Linquette. Passing away of a former president of the French Society of Endocrinology].
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Endocrinology↗
Biomedical subjects
P Fossati
Publications and source records attributed to P Fossati.
[Long-term course of hypothalamo-hypophyseal histiocytosis X].
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Adult↗
Corticotropin releasing factor stimulation test in obsessive compulsive disorder.
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Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
Pituitary microadenomas: experience with Gd-DOTA-enhanced MR imaging at 0.5 Telsa.
PURPOSE: We report our experience with magnetic resonance imaging at 0.5 Tesla in the radiological diagnosis of pituitary adenomas. METHODS: Over 2 years we performed a prospective study in 38 patients with pituitary microadenomas to assess the potential additional benefit of gadolinium in the detection of small intrasellar lesions. The protocol included three coronal T1-weighted sequences: precontrast, early postcontrast (obtained less than 2 min after injection) and late postcontrast (obtained 5 min after injection). For each sequence lesions were classified according to their visibility into three categories: definite lesion, probable lesion or absent lesion. RESULTS: Lesions were classified as well-defined in 55% of patients on the precontrast study, 89.5% on the early postcontrast study and 60.5% on the late postcontrast study. Of nine microadenomas not detected on the precontrast scans, all were clearly seen on the early post contrast scans; only four were well-defined on the late postcontrast study. Only one lesion was not seen on the early postcontrast study but was well-defined on precontrast study as a spontaneous high-intensity focal area: it was a hemorrhagic microadenoma. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the early postcontrast study is the most useful sequence for the detection of microadenomas. Precontrast image is necessary to detect hemorrhagic lesions; the late postcontrast sequence has a low additional diagnostic yield and seems unnecessary unless the other sequences are inconclusive.
Adenoma↗
Explicit memory, procedural learning and lexical priming in Alzheimer's disease.
Different aspects of memory functions were studied in two groups of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in normal elderly controls. The tests included: explicit memory tests with free and cued recall, and recognition measures; learning of a motor skill; learning of a perceptual skill with verbal material; a priming task with the word stem completion paradigm. The data confirmed that, besides severe impairment for all measures of explicit memory, AD patients were able to learn and retain normally a motor skill in the rotor pursuit task, even across a long retention interval. Moreover, sparing of procedural learning was not restricted to motor tasks, since patients learned normally a mirror-reading task, demonstrating (a) rapid acquisition of the procedure, and (b) acquisition of item-specific information for repeated words. This last effect is accounted for in terms of repetition priming effects rather than of explicit memory strategies, since patients had also normal repetition effect in the word stem completion paradigm.
Aged↗
Ovarian stromal hypertrophy in hyperandrogenic women.
OBJECTIVE: By using vaginal endosonography, ovarian stromal hypertrophy has been shown to be a strong diagnostic feature of polycystic ovarian syndrome and related states. However, this sign is difficult to quantify and to correlate with other findings because of its subjectivity. We have evaluated the use of computer assisted analysis of ultrasound scans to provide more objective measurements of ovarian structure and size. DESIGN: We used a computer assisted method for the reading of ultrasound scans. It allowed selective calculation of the stromal area by subtraction of the cyst area from the total ovarian area on a longitudinal ovarian section. PATIENTS: A consecutive series of 57 patients with hyperandrogenism (group 1), 17 patients with hypothalamic anovulation (group 2) and 20 normal women (group 3). RESULTS: By computerized measure, 75% patients from group 1 had a bilateral stromal area above the mean +2 SD (700 mm2) of women from group 3. All patients from group 2 were below this threshold. Serum LH level was above the normal range in 45% patients from group 1. The stromal area correlated positively with the serum delta 4-androstenedione (r = 0.47, P < 0.005) and 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (r = 0.39, P < 0.005) levels, exclusively in group 1. It did not correlate with the basal serum testosterone, LH or insulin levels. The cyst area did not correlate with any hormonal parameter. CONCLUSION: Ovarian stromal hypertrophy is a frequent and specific feature of hyperandrogenism. It correlates with the ovarian androgenic dysfunction. Its presence is not always linked with elevated serum immunoreactive LH levels. Further data are needed to elucidate the role of insulin and ovarian growth factors.
17-alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone↗
Association of Lhermitte-Duclos and Cowden disease: report of a new case and review of the literature.
Lhermitte-Duclos disease is a rare entity, and its pathological features are unique. Pathological findings are characteristic of the disease, with global hypertrophy of the cerebellum, coarse gyri, and the typical "inverted cortex" pattern. Several associated lesions were noted in many patients with Lhermitte-Duclos disease. It is only recently that an association between Lhermitte-Duclos disease and Cowden disease was reported. Cowden disease, or multiple hamartomas syndrome, is a familial disease associating breast cancer, cutaneomucous tricholemmomas, and various other tumoural and dysplasic conditions. A new case of Lhermitte-Duclos disease associated with Cowden disease is reported. A review of the literature found 72 cases of Lhermitte-Duclos disease; 26 had conditions suggesting Cowden disease and seven were definite cases of Cowden disease. The association of Lhermitte-Duclos disease and Cowden disease is probably underestimated. Cowden disease represents a new form of phakomatosis; Lhermitte-Duclos disease may occur as a sporadic disease, or as part of familial Cowden disease. The possibility of preneoplastic states in Cowden syndrome stresses the importance of a thorough screening when Lhermitte-Duclos disease is diagnosed.
Adult↗
A step forward in enzymatic measurement of creatinine.
We describe an improved enzymatic ultraviolet absorbance method for assaying creatinine in serum, plasma, and urine. Creatinine is hydrolyzed by creatinine iminohydrolase (EC 3.5.4.21) to ammonia and N-methylhydantoin. The ammonia produced combines with 2-oxoglutarate and NADPH in the presence of glutamate dehydrogenase to yield glutamate and NADP+. The consumption of NADPH, measured by a two-point fixed-time assay, is proportional to the amount of creatinine in the sample. The assay is carried out in two steps: The first step eliminates background absorbance in hyperlipemic samples and endogenous ammonia through a "clearing system" and an isocitrate dehydrogenase-based "ammonia scavenger system"; the second step starts creatinine measurement. The method affords a simple, rapid, and sensitive assay with good precision and extended linearity; it employs working solutions stable at least 4 months. Test results compare closely with those of the isotope dilution-mass spectrometry Definitive Method, the HPLC procedure, and the fuller's earth method. The proposed method is not subject to interference from several metabolites or from the 72 drugs tested. Because it is easily automated, the method is suitable for routine work in clinical laboratories.
Aminohydrolases↗
[Endocrine and metabolic consequences of massive obesity].
Massive obesity is always accompanied by insulin resistance with hyperinsulinaemia in proportion to the amount of visceral fat, which has repercussions on oxidative and non-oxidative glucose metabolism. The increase of free fatty acids in direct relation to the adipocytic mass reduces the hepatic insulin uptake; it increases the suprahepatic glucose flow and the production of very low density lipoproteins. The adipose tissue exerts a feminizing effect in men and a masculinizing effect in women. Women have disorders of ovulation and hirsutism, with increase of free testosterone and elevation of luteotropic hormone levels. Men have hypoandrism due to excessive aromatization of androgens and oestrogens. The adipose tissue accelerates the turnover of cortisol and facilitates cortisone production, which stimulates ACTH secretion and maintains stimulation of the adrenal cortex. Hyperinsulinism and resistance to insulin also intervene in hormonal regulation. They elevate the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) which inhibits the production of growth hormone and reduces its plasma half-life; hyperinsulinism and IGF-1 facilitate ovarian androgen production; hypothalamic disturbances occur by diminution of sensitivity to hypoglycaemia, and there are abnormalities in monoaminergic and serotoninergic control. Bone tissue density is preserved for a long time, as it is in proportion to the fatty mass and to the oestrogen and IGF-1 levels, but it may be gradually reduced by secondary hyperparathyroidism. Thyroid function and thyrotropic regulations are unaffected.
Endocrine System Diseases↗
Interrelationship between ultrasonography and biology in the diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome.
In order to compare the diagnostic significance of hormonal and ultrasonic criteria of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the presence or the absence of ultrasonographic and hormonal features of PCOS were recorded in a heterogeneous population of 90 women presenting with hyperandrogenism and/or menstrual disorders. On clinical and hormonal grounds exclusively, these patients could be separated into five diagnostic subgroups: presumed cases of PCOS (n = 21), idiopathic hirsutism (IH) (n = 26), hypothalamic anovulation (HA) (n = 11), hyperprolactinemia (HPRL) (n = 9), and miscellaneous or undetermined diagnosis (n = 23). By the means of a computed automatic classification of patients (cluster analysis) using five hormonal and ultrasonic criteria of PCOS, four homogeneous clusters of patients were obtained. Cluster #1 (25 patients) had the most characteristic profile of PCOS. It included 15 cases of PCOS and 7 cases of IH. Cluster #4 (47 patients) had the less characteristic profile of PCOS. It included the majority of patients with HA and HPRL and the half of the patients with IH. Cluster #2 included only two hyperandrogenic patients, who were massively obese and in whom ultrasonography may have failed to detect PCOS. Cluster #3 (16 patients) included patients from each diagnostic group, who were gathered together because ultrasonographic and hormonal features were, respectively, present and absent in nearly all of them. With the same analysis, the criteria of PCOS could be graded according to their grouping potential. The presence of an abnormal ovarian stroma by ultrasonography appeared as the most potent criterion. Elevated serum testosterone and androstenedione levels and the polyfollicular pattern of ovaries gave intermediate results, while elevated basal LH level was a much weaker grouping parameter. In conclusion, the automatic classification of patients by cluster analysis using both hormonal and ultrasonographic criteria revealed that the classical diagnostic classification, relying upon hormonal data exclusively, may arbitrarily separate patients having the same disease; and that ultrasonography affords pertinent information that should help provide a better diagnostic definition of PCOS.
Adolescent↗
[Cholesterol: consensus and controversies, what is the trend in 1993?].
Anatomopathological, biological and epidemiological studies suggest that raised cholesterol concentrations are associated with heightened risk for coronary heart disease. Preventive measures have been recommended by consensus conferences (prudent diet and cholesterol lowering drugs) for a "desirable" level of plasma total cholesterol, i.e.: 1.80 g/l before thirty years and 2 g after thirty years. The debates about the advantage of plasma cholesterol lowering have boosted many controversies after the completion of randomized primary and secondary prevention trials analyses. It was showed an increase in total mortality and a no reduction in fatal coronary events. A series of papers have tried to discourage physicians from identifying subjects with high risk. One has to continue to detect subjects with familial hypercholesterolemia and to treat them following the recommendations of consensus conferences. In the other cases, one has to attach value to HDL-cholesterol and plasma triglyceride levels, especially in patients with hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, hypertension and visceral obesity. As lipid oxidation products toxicity, protective diets, as the traditional mediterranean diet containing antioxidant components are important too. Relationships between lipoprotein status and hypercoagulability remains to be investigated to identify predictive factors better than cholesterol for atherothrombosis diseases in subjects at risk.
Adult↗
[Searching for prolactin microadenoma: scanner or MRI?].
Thirty three hyperprolactinemic women, aged 16-46 years, have been investigated by pituitary CT and MRI scans, searching for a microadenoma. The MRI scan with Gadolinium injection (MRI G+) appeared more efficient than the CT scan to detect a picture highly suggestive of a microprolactinoma (30/33 positive scans vs 21/33, respectively, p = 0.06). However, when the CT scan was performed optimaly (i.e. thin cuts, sequential imaging after iode injection, no artefact), its diagnostic potenty was close to the one of MRI G+, missing only 17.6% of lesions. All these were less than 5 mm in diameter. The indirect signs of microadenoma (focal convexity of the superior surface of pituitary, tilting of pituitary stalk, focal sella floor erosion or destruction) had a minimal value. Their sensitivity was 66.6% and 63.3 for convexity, and 63.3 and 46.6% for tilting of pituitary stalk, by MRI and CT scans, respectively. Therefore, they did not afford any help in our experience. Considering the cost and the limited accessibility of MRI, at least in our country, we advise to use CT scan as the primary morphologic means to detect a microadenoma.
Adolescent↗
[Insulin resistance and polycystic ovary syndrome].
The causes and consequences of the insulin resistance that accompanies the polycystic ovary Syndrome (PCOS) are still controversial. The hyperandrogenism does not appear any more as a causal factor but on the contrary is likely to be a consequence, via the ovarian effects of hyperinsulinism. These are still not clearly understood in their molecular aspects, but their reality is undoubtful in view of some clinical studies which showed an improvement following by the reduction of hyperinsulinism. Therefore, the aetiopathogenic role of the insulin resistance in PCOS becomes more and more obvious but it cannot be split from the likely implication of the intra-ovarian growth factors, and more especially the IGF 1 which could act synergistically with it. Moreover, the presence of LH seems to be still a pre-requisite to the ovarian action of insulin. The therapeutical incidences of these hypothesis are obvious and should improve in the next future the medical management of PCOS.
Androgens↗
Kinetic colorimetric assay of lipase in serum.
We describe a kinetic colorimetric method for assaying lipase (EC 3.1.1.3) activity in serum by using a natural long-chain fatty acid 1,2-diglyceride. In the presence of colipase, deoxycholate, and calcium ions, pancreatic lipase hydrolyzes the clear substrate solution to produce a 2-monoglyceride, which in turn releases glycerol by the action of a 2-monoglyceride lipase. Glycerol is then assayed by a sequence of enzymatic actions (glycerol kinase, glycerol phosphate oxidase, and peroxidase) that produce a violet quinone monoimine dye with peak absorption at 550 nm. The method features zero-order reaction kinetics, provides a simple and rapid assay with an extended dynamic range, is specific and precise, gives results that correlate well (r greater than or equal to 0.99) with those of methods in which emulsified triolein is the substrate, and lends itself readily to automation. For all these reasons, the method seems highly suitable for routine use in clinical laboratories.
Calcium↗
Polycystic ovarian disease: contribution of vaginal endosonography and reassessment of ultrasonic diagnosis.
OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the superiority of vaginal ultrasonography (US) on the abdominal US for the diagnosis of polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD). DESIGN: The US pattern of ovaries was prospectively investigated by abdominal US and, whenever possible, by vaginal US. SETTING: Primary care, institutional. PATIENTS: One hundred forty-four women in whom PCOD was suspected on endocrine grounds and 62 other patients presenting with primary hyperprolactinemia (n = 23) or hypothalamic anovulation (n = 39). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Vaginal US allowed a better analysis of the ovarian stroma. RESULTS: The external ovarian features of PCOD were observed by both routes in less than one third of the 144 patients with PCOD. The internal ovarian features of PCOD were much more frequently observed by vaginal US than by abdominal US (polycystic pattern: 66.7% versus 38.1%, P less than 0.05; increased ovarian stroma: 57.1% versus 4.8%, P less than 0.001). In the 62 patients without PCOD, US features of PCOD were observed in less than 10% of them, except for the uterine width/ovarian length ratio less than 1 and the polycystic pattern (abdominal US: 17% and 34%; vaginal US: 11% and 50%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: An increased ovarian stroma seems to be the most sensitive and specific US sign of PCOD, providing that it can be investigated by vaginal US.
Abdomen↗
Heterozygous hypobetalipoproteinemia with fasting chylomicronemia.
We describe a disorder in which low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B are in low concentration (0.47 mmol/L and 0.28 g/L, respectively) and chylomicrons are still present in plasma after an 18-h fast. The d less than 1.006 fraction was isolated by flotation ultracentrifugation and the apolipoproteins were analyzed by electrophoresis, immunoblotting with anti-apolipoprotein B-100 antiserum, and isoelectric focusing. In the d less than 1.006 fraction of the fasting serum, we found an apolipoprotein B form with the same apparent molecular mass as apolipoprotein B-48 and similar in amount to apolipoprotein B-100 (respective percentages, 46% and 54%). The monosialylated form of the apolipoprotein C-III was severely decreased. After an oral fat load, the repartition of the two species of apolipoprotein B did not change greatly (respective percentages, 60% and 40%), and the concentration of serum triglyceride increased only from 1.20 to 1.65 mmol/L.
Adult↗
[Gonadotropic adenoma. Clinical and hormonal characteristics].
The main clinical and hormonal features of gonadotropin secreting adenomas (GSA) are reviewed through the literature and our personal data. There is still no agreement about their definition and frequency. The most classical clinical presentation is that of men aged 50 years or more, bearing a large pituitary adenoma, the only biological expression of which is a moderately elevated serum FSH level. Female cases are less recognised and are underestimated because the serum LH and/or FSH elevated levels are not informative in menopausal women. The assay of the alpha subunit may help in these cases. In premenopausal women, few of them having been described so far, the GSA may be revealed by an amenorrhea-galactorrhea syndrome with a mild hyperprolactinaemia which may result from different mechanisms. The absence of gonadal hyperactivity, and, conversely, the frequent hypogonadism associated with GSA lead the clinician to raise some questions: are all GSA able to secret gonadotropins? How is the bioactivity of the LH and/or FSH secreted by GSA? How reliable are the radioimmunoassays routinely used for measurement of LH and FSH in patient's serum? Furthermore, therapeutical management of GSA is still impaired by the lack of documented medical treatments which could control their growth and prevent their recurrence.
Adenoma↗