Endocrine Abstracts

Age-related cognitive decline in postmenopausal women is thought to be partially related to the loss of sex steroids. Like women, old female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) undergo menopause and show an associated decline in circulating estradiol levels. Similarly, they show an age-related decline in the release of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) from their adrenal glands. Because DHEA acts as a substrate for estradiol synthesis in the brain, it is plausible that DHEA sup...

Regulation of thyroid hormone (TH) levels in blood is controlled by feedback at the level of the pituitary and hypothalamus. It has been suggested that the set-point of either turning on or off the release of TSH and TRH, respectively is due to multiple factors including intrauterine exposure to TH. We have utilized the TH receptor (TR) β disrupted mouse (TRβ−/−) as model to study the effect of maternal levels of TH on newborn thyroid function. The ration...

Case history: 52 year old gentleman presented in 2013 with a 1 year history of abdominal pain. Imaging to screen for gallstones identified a large adrenal mass which was radiologically suspicious for adrenal carcinoma with probable inferior vena cava (IVC) involvement.Investigations: Overnight dexamethasone suppression test (ONDST) failed to suppress cortisol (324 nmol/l) with undetectable ACTH (<5 ng/l). Failure of suppression on low dose dexamethas...

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Endocrinopathy is common in patients with HIV and presents a distinct series of challenges. Polypharmacy is common (both of prescribed and non-prescribed drugs) with the potential for drug-drug interactions and endocrine adverse effects of longterm medication. Structural pathology is also commoner than in the general population with the potential for both tumours and atypical infections affecting endocrine organs. Altered binding proteins are common, particularly high SHBG, af...

The true prevalence of clinically significant endocrine disease in HIV is difficult to get a handle on as the literature is in many cases Declaration of interesting or insufficiently illuminating. There is clearly potential for endocrine dysfunction, via many mechanisms including directly due to HIV, due to atypical infections and the drugs used to treat them, side effects of both prescribed and non-prescribed medications and structural pathology. Probably the best described e...

A 28-year-old lady who was born with ambiguous genitalia. A decision was made to rear the patient as male, and was subsequently registered as a boy. Investigations demonstrated a chromosomal mosaic pattern 45XO/46XY fitting the category of mixed gonadal dysgenesis. Internal organs were more suggestive of a female type: uterus, vagina, and fallopian tubes, gonads were variable but typically an ovary on one side and a testis on the other. HCG test showed a brisk rise in serum te...

Stem cell therapy for haematological disorders is a longstanding successful procedure. Over the past few years it has been realised that stem cells originate from tissues other than bone marrow and it is generally accepted that these cells and products derived from them offer the possibility of new treatment for many diverse conditions. Currently the relative therapeutic benefits of stem cells obtained from embryos, fetal cord blood, bone marrow or other tissues have yet to be...

Introduction: Acromegaly with GH excess affects up to 20% of the patients with McCune–Albright syndrome (MAS). Surgical treatment for acromegaly in MAS is often difficult because of skull-base dysplasia. Somatostatin analogs are frequently only partially effective and GH receptor antagonist – pegvisomant is more potent in normalizing IGFI levels. Radiotherapy is controversial. Pregnancy in MAS patients is described in literature but no case of successful delivery in ...

Insulin allergy has become uncommon (<1%) with the wider use of human and analogue insulin in recent decades. We report a case of multiple analogue insulin allergy. A 71 year old woman with an eleven year history of Type 2 diabetes was referred to our Diabetes service. She had a BMI of 37.5 kg/m2. She was in tolerate of metformin. HbA1c was 12.4% on gliclazide and sitagliptine. She was commenced on Novomix 30. Within four days of therapy, she developed generalis...