We report here a 47-year-old woman with isolated adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) deficiency (IAD). She presented impaired renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (R-A-A) system and suppressed parathyroid hormone (PTH)-vitamin D system. She showed severe hyponatremia due to secondary adrenocortical insufficiency, which was deteriorated by hypoaldosteronism. She also showed hyperphosphatemia and relative hyperc...

The melanocortin system is a complex control center that regulates various physiological pathways, which include skin pigmentation, steroidogenesis, sexual function, sebaceous lipid production, energy and weight homeostasis, and food satiety. [1,2] This system consists of five G-protein coupled receptors (MC1R-MC5R), four known endogenous agonists, and two known endogenous antagonists. [2, 3] T...

1 Kimura Y, Ota K, Shoji M et al. Plasma vasopressin and atrial natriuretic hormone levels in hypopituitarism with and without hydrocortisone treatments: responses to an acute water load. Acta Endocrinol 1992; 126: 217-23. 2 Burke C. Adrenocortical insufficiency. Clin Endocrinol Metab 1985; 14 947-72. 3 Grinspoon SK, Biller BMK. Laboratory assessment of adrenal insufficiency. J Clin Endocrinol ...

Lesions of the neurohypophysis resulting in deficiency of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) produce the clinical syndrome of diabetes insipidus, provided the anterior pituitary is functionally intact. If the anterior lobe is destroyed, manifestations of diabetes insipidus may not appear (1-3). The administration of cortisone or adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) to patients with anterior pituitary insufficien...

It was shown previously that abnormal prohormone processing or inactive proconverting enzymes that are responsible for this processing cause profound obesity. Our laboratory demonstrated earlier that in the diet-induced obesity (DIO) state, the appetite-suppressing neuropeptide α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) is reduced, yet the mRNA of its precursor protein proopiomelanocortin (POMC) ...

Double pituitary adenomas are very rare and present up to 1 % of pituitary adenomas in unselected autopsy series and up to 2 % in large surgical series. We report a case of a 47-year-old man presented slight clinical features of acromegaly with 2 years duration. Endocrine evaluation confirmed active acromegaly and revealed adrenocorticotropin hormone-dependent hypercortisolemia. Preoperative ma...

This paper presents a neurophysiologic model of effective public service advertisements (PSAs) and reports two experiments that test the model. In Experiment 1, we show that after watching 16 PSAs participants who received oxytocin, compared to those given a placebo, donated to 57% more causes, donated 56% more money, and reported 17% greater concern for those in the ads. In Experiment 2, we me...

A 12.5-year-old girl with diabetes mellitus type 1 presented with stunted growth and an increase in body weight. Also, her blood-sugar levels were difficult to manage. An adrenocorticotropin-(ACTH)-independent form of Cushing's syndrome was diagnosed. During the dexamethasone-suppression test, a paradoxical increase in urinary-free cortisol excretion was observed, which is a clear indication of...