We evaluated the reproducibility of plasma hormone levels over time in 79 healthy postmenopausal women, ages 51-69 years at baseline, who were not using postmenopausal hormones. Three blood samples were collected between 1989 and 1992 from each of these women. We assessed plasma levels of estradiol, free estradiol, percentage of free estradiol, bioavailable estradiol, percentage of bioavailable...

Evidence suggests that adult cancer risk of hormonally related tumors may be influenced by the in utero environment, and most speculation on the biological mechanism has focused on the hormonal component. Epidemiological studies investigating the biological nature of pregnancy and maternal factors associated with offspring's cancer risk have relied on maternal hormone measurements. The degree t...

Patients treated for primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) are at risk of steroid over-replacement, which may affect their skeleton. The study was aimed to investigate the effect of steroid substitution on serum osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-beta ligand (RANKL) levels in relation to bone mineral density (BMD) in PAI. Eighty patients (mean age 47.2±14.5 years, mean...

}lomogenates of testes from human fetuses of 12-16 weeks gestation were incubated in vitro with pregnenolone-4-14C and pregnenolone-7-3Hsulfate. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and pregnenediol sulfate, each bearin~ the tritium label only, were identified in the conjugated fraction. Progesterone, 17~-hydroxyprogesterone, 17a-hydroxypregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione and testos...

OBJECTIVE This study aims to assess cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels in post-menopausal women with FMS and correlate it with pain threshold and tolerance, depression and quality of life. METHODS We conducted a cross sectional observational study of 17 women with FMS (FMS group), and 19 healthy volunteers (CT group). Algometry, the Beck Depression Index (BDI) and Fib...

A case of adrenal-like tumor of the left ovary with peripheral and ovarian venous sex steroid levels is reported. High levels of androstenedione and testosterone together with normal levels of dehydroepiandrosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate from the left ovarian vein infer a tumor derivation from transformation of the ovarian stromal cells.