Endocrine Abstracts

Case history: A 67-year-old lady was referred to an endocrinologist for autoimmune hypothyroidism diagnosed in 2004. A treatment combination of levothyroxine and liothyronine was used. She had a history of recurrent metastatic ER-positive HER-2 negative lobular breast cancer with liver and bony metastatic involvement. She commenced with Letrozole (aromatase inhibitor) and Palbociclib (CDK inhibitor), later Fulvestrant (antioestrogen) and Crizotinib (tyrosine kinase inhibitor)....

Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) is a neuropeptide mainly synthesised in the hypothalamus, known to exert a stimulatory effect on the synthesis and release of growth hormone (GH) from the pituitary via the activation of specific receptors. New data indicate that GHRH is also produced in both extrahypothalamic brain areas and in peripheral tissues. GHRH-receptor splice variants (SVs) have been found in several peripheral normal and neoplastic human tissues and mediate ef...

Introduction: Physicians in our hospital notified the laboratory staff of a number of patients at the outpatient clinic with increased free T4 (fT4) concentrations without (complete) suppression of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). This phenomenon appeared to occur more frequently following implementation of a new automated fT4 immunoassay. The discordance between fT4 and TSH concentrations may be explained by analytical issues (not further explained here), incorrect referenc...

Testosterone (T) is excreted in urine as water soluble glucuronidated and sulphatated conjugates. The ability to glucuronidate T and other steroids depends on a number of different glucuronidases (UGT) of which UGT2B17 is essential. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of UGT2B17 genotypes on urinary excretion of androgen metabolites in pubertal boys.Study design: A clinical study of 116 healthy boys aged 8 to 19 years. UGT2B17</i...

Objectives: Free thyroxine (fT4) measurements are performed to detect thyroid disorders and monitor treatment. FT4 is measured using automated immunoassays (IAs) which face established analytical challenges due to low serum concentrations in the picomolar range and the precarious equilibrium between free and bound T4 (to thyroid-binding globulin (TBG) and (pre-)albumin). Furthermore, IAs are known to be affected by the composition of the serum sample (matrix-effects), which ca...

Background: Lactic acidosis is a common finding in critically ill patients. In patients with poorly controlled diabetes for a prolonged period of time, Glycogenic hepatopathy (GH), can cause lactic acidosis which is a rare condition that develops due to excessive accumulation of glycogen in the hepatocytes.Cases: Two cases with poorly controlled diabetes and glycogenic hepatopathy are presented. First patient was a 28 year old female with 20 year history...

Objective: To determine prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).Study Design: Cross sectional study. Non probability consecutive sampling was done.Sample Size: The estimated sample size was 84 women with 95% confidence level and confidence limit of ±5%.Setting: Outpatient departments of Medicine and Gynaecology & Obstetrics at a tertiary care hospital of...

Background: Hypoglycemia is an important side effect in pharmacotherapy of patients with diabetes mellitus. Medical organizations have tried to define hypoglycemia in clinical practice and RCTs with scientific statements and guidelines.Objective: To explore the method of reporting hypoglycemia conducted on SGLT-2 inhibitor RCTs.Methods: A systematic review using PubMed to find data on RCTs conducted for SGLT-2 inhibitors, limited t...

Purpose: The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) to improve fitness and increase muscle mass is widespread among athletes. Information regarding self-administered AAS used to enhance athletic performance or improve physical appearance is sparse and poorly documented in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and motivation of AAS use and knowledge of its adverse effects among fitness centres visitors in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia....

Introduction: PCOS-related hormonal and metabolic alterations seem to persist later in life. The aim was to investigate age-related hormonal and metabolic parameters in PCOS and in healthy women in order to determine cut-off values predicting PCOS.Subjects and methods: PCOS women and 230 healthy controls were divided accordingly: 18–24, 25–29, 30–34, 35–39, 40–44, 45–49 and >50 years. A particular interest was to analyze...