OBJECTIVES The central aim of the present study was to examine differences in the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis between 29 burned-out, 33 work-engaged, and 26 healthy reference managers, as identified with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. METHODS All of the managers were employed in a large Dutch telecommunicati...

DHEA, together with DHEAS, is the most abundant steroid in the blood of young adult humans. Levels in humans decline with age and during certain types of illness or stress. We have found that DHEA(S) can prevent or reduce the neurotoxic actions in the hippocampus of the glutamate agonists N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) both in vitro and in vivo or alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazoleprop...

INTRODUCTION Large superficial tears frequently develop during minor trauma to the fragile skin of older men and women. These tears are more common in chronically ill or malnourished patients, can develop during attempted assisted transfer of weak patients, and were recently reported to have been treated annually in 1.5 3 10 MediCare patients during their care in an acute or long-term medical c...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Sex steroids, such as estrogens, are known to influence endothelial function by their vasodilator action. The aim of this study was to study the relation of puberty and sex steroids with endothelial function using peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT). METHODS In 89 healthy school boys and girls, we determined height, weight, waist circumference, percent body fat, BMI, BMI z-sco...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether tentative prognostic models for intensive care unit survival of multiple trauma patients could be improved by including endocrine parameters. DESIGN Prospective study. PATIENTS Eighty-three male and 11 female multiple trauma patients. MEASUREMENTS Upon admission, severity of trauma was assessed with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACH...

OBJECTIVE To explain why adrenal androgens rise with increasing adiposity during childhood, the role of body mass index (BMI), leptin and IGF-I was studied. We also tested whether these parameters contribute to inducing premature adrenarche (PA). DESIGN In a cross-sectional study, 26 prepubertal obese children were compared with a group of 26 prepubertal children of normal weight, and 30 chil...

BACKGROUND The protective effect of physical activity on breast cancer risk might be mediated by sex hormone levels. In this study, we examined the association between usual physical activity and plasma levels of estrogens, androgens, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in postmenopausal women. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study among 806...

Neurosteroids are important neuroactive substrates with demonstrated involvement in several neurophysiological and disease processes. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with dysregulation of the catecholaminergic and serotonergic systems, however its relationship to irregularities or changes in neurosteroid levels remains unknown. We examined the relationship be...

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate (DHEAS) are anabolic prehormones involved in the synthesis of testosterone. Both have been shown to exert neuroprotective effects during stress. In this randomized, controlled, double-blind field study, we examined the effects of a 12-day DHEA regimen on stress indices in military men undergoing survival training. Forty-eight men were randomized to...

Epidemiological evidence implicates dietary isoflavone intake as protective against prostate disease. A putative mechanism is attenuated circulating androgen levels in male populations consuming an isoflavone rich diet. We investigated this hypothesis by collecting plasma from 60 Japanese and 60 New Zealand males aged between 21 and 31 years each consuming their traditional diets. We measured p...