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Previous clinical studies have suggested a positive correlation between serum insulin-like growth factor components and bone mass in both men and women with or without osteoporosis. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between the skeletal levels of insulin-like growth factors and transforming growth factor-b1 and bone mineral density in a group of men and postmenopausal women in whom osteoporosis was diagnosed previously. Bone matrix extraction was achieved by passive dialysis against tetrasodium EDTA-guanidine-HCL. IGF's were quantified by radioimmunoassay. TGF-b1 was assessed by a specific enzyme-linked immunoassay. No correlation between BMD and the concentration of IGF-I, IGF-II and TGF-b1 in bone matrix was detected in either men or postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. In addition, circulating growth factors levels failed to be associated with the concentration of IGF-I, IGF-II and TGF-b1 in the skeleton. Thus, our study provides no evidence for a major role of bone matrix IGF's or TGF-b1 as determinants of bone mass in men or postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

Background and aims: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) represents a secondary cause of osteoporosis. Our aim was to determine bone mineral density (BMD) changes in a group of young Romanian adults with T1DM and to analyze the factors related to this disease that could have had an impact on bone mass. Material and Methods: Fifty-two young patients with T1DM were compared to 37 healthy volunteers matched for body mass index (BMI). All subjects had their BMD measured at the hip and lumbar spine. Results: We found no statistically significant differences in BMD between T1DM patients and controls (p=0.618 for lumbar spine, p=0.974 for femoral neck and p=0.883 for total hip). Multiple linear regression models detected BMI (p =0.043), smoking (p=0.001) and milk intake (p=0.004 for lumbar spine) as significant BMD determinants. In contrast, no associations were found between BMD and metabolic control, daily insulin dose or presence of diabetic retinopathy and/or neuropathy. Long diabetes duration was negatively associated with BMD in femoral neck (p=0.012). Conclusions: Although we couldn't find differences between BMD in T1DM patients and controls, the link between diabetes duration and BMD that we found suggests that even young patients with long standing T1DM should have their BMD measured [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adiposity is more and more incriminated as a risk factor for bone health, but studies do not allow a consensus regarding the relative influence of lean and fat mass on bone density. Our cross-sectional study aimed towards ascertaining their probable different and weight-independent effect. Body composition and bone mineral density was assessed in 244 healthy men aged 20-87, using dual X-ray absorptiometry. All clinical risk factors were recorded. Principal Component Analysis, MANOVA, and MANCOVA multivariate tests were used to detect independent predictors of BMD and collinearity patterns between variables. Weight, height, absolute lean mass, and absolute fat mass were collinear interchangeable variables. An eight-model multiple multivariate analysis identified weight, combined or not to the proportion of fat mass, to best explain the variation of bone mineral density in each of five bone areas measured. Clinical factors constantly associated to bone mass were also the patients' age and their history of fractures. Physical activity and thiazide diuretics treatment were inconstantly associated to bone density. We concluded that body composition achieves its effect on bone density in close relation to body weight, but also individually. Fat tissue proportion is an independent negative predictor of bone density, while lean tissue proportion is a positive one. Multicollinearity of variables allows us to rely only upon some anthropometric parameters, ignoring others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Klinefelter syndrome is the most known disorder of the sex chromosomes with a frequency of 1/600 male newborns. The authors present a rare case of Klinefelter syndrome (mozaicism) with multiple dysfunctions, Biermer anemia, unilateral renal agenesis and also they discuss the pathogenesis of these diseases, connected with Klinefelter syndrome. They emphasize the rarity of this type of Klinefelter syndrome (46XY/47XXY) associated with multiples somatic anomalies and endocrine complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several attempts to establish the role of QUS in clinical practice, issues such as definition of osteoporosis based on QUS, screening strategy and therapy efficacy for patients identified by QUS as having high risk of fracture remain a matter of debate. The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic agreement between two QUS techniques (heel QUS and proximal phalanges QUS) and DXA in an unselected population of Romanian women aged 24-80 years, as well as to offer cut-off levels for QUS to distinct between women with or without osteoporosis identified by DXA. In women measured by both DXA and calcaneus QUS (c-QUS), bone mineral density (BMD) moderately correlated with stiffness index (SI) (L1-L4: r=+0.51, p<0.001; femoral neck: r=+0.53, p<0.001; hip: r=+0.57, p<0.001), while in women examined by both DXA and phalanx QUS (ph-QUS), BMD was positively related to amplitude-dependent speed of sound (Ad-SoS) (L1-L4: r=+0.47, p<0.001; femoral neck: r=+0.50, p<0.001; hip: r=+0.38, p<0.001) and ultrasound bone profile index (UBPI) (L1-L4: r=+0.44, p<0.001; femoral neck: r=+0.50, p<0.001; hip: r=+0.38, p<0.001). At a T-score cutoff level of -2.5SD, the high specificity but low sensitivity suggests a low false positive rate of c-QUS as a diagnostic test; still, several patients with the disease may not be correctly diagnosed. At the same cut-off level, ph-QUS showed higher sensitivity and lower specificity. Diagnostic agreement between DXA and QUS was poor, with k-scores ranging from 0.33 to 0.39 for c-QUS and from 0.14 to 0.29 for ph-QUS, respectively. Lowering c-QUS T-score cutoff for lumbar spine osteoporosis screening to -1.5SD and ph-QUS T-score cut-off to -1.9SD, respectively, improved sensitivity and had a minor effect on diagnostic agreement. Regardless of the evaluated site, neither c-QUS nor ph-QUS does represent an adequate predictor of BMD in Romanian women. Changing the diagnostic T-score threshold from -2.5 SD to -1.5 SD and -1.9 SD in subjects examined by c-QUS or ph-QUS, respectively, is followed by improved sensitivity and diagnostic agreement in the identification of patients with vertebral osteoporosis. Cut-off values may allow QUS to be used as a screening tool for spine and femur osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]