Endocrine Abstracts

Tissue kallikrein is a serine protease involved in the generation of kinins in kidneys, colon, salivary glands, pancreas and blood vessels which have vasodilator roles and influence ion transport. Abnormal renal synthesis and urinary excretion of tissue kallikrein have been linked to diabetes and hypertension. This study’s objective was to produce mAbs against native forms of prokallikrein and active kallikrein in order to study the expression of tissue kallikrein in diff...

Since July 2005 our centre has offered an e-mail enquiry service to General Practitioners. This service was established for two reasons, firstly to create a more efficient way of dealing with clinical enquiries from primary care and secondly with a long term objective to reduce GP referral rates. The service is manned by Endocrine/Diabetes Specialist Registrars and is part of their training commitment. Compared to telephone calls it gives the registrar more chance to think thr...

CDGP is a common growth disorder, often dominantly inherited. Genetic association is thus very likely. There are many possible candidates but none are yet linked to CDGP. We assessed the possible contribution of L, LR genes (mutations in each cause very delayed or absent puberty), CART (mediates the effect of L on GnRH pulse generation), and GPR54 (a hypothalamic G-protein coupled receptor, which is mutated in familial hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism) genes.<p class="abstex...

Background: From 1999 to the end of June 2005, 186 patients (26 men) with truly asymptomatic pHPT based on the NIH 1990 criteria were included at 11 centres in Scandinavia. The mean age at inclusion was 63.2±7.8 (S.D.) years. After informed consent the patients were randomised to operation (93) or medical observation (94), in order to investigate the effect of operation on Quality of Life and co-morbidity. At present, 159 patients are ongoing, 3 dead, and 2...

Factors influencing gender during early development, i.e., the feeling to be male or female, are prenatal hormones and compounds that change the levels of these hormones, such as anticonvulsants. While an influence of genetic factors must be present, an influence of postnatal social factors has not been established. In rodents, masculinization of the brain in development is due to oestrogens that are formed by aromatization of testosterone. In sexual differentiation of the hum...

Introduction: Post-prandial hyerinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia (PPHH) or dumping is a recognized complication of various gastric surgeries. There are very few paediatric case reports to confirm PPHH post esophageal repair. We here report two cases who presented with dumping syndrome after a variable time period post esophageal atresia repair and response to medications.Case 1: A 6 month old female diagnosed with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, born at 38+3 weeks b...

3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) is a recently discovered fast-acting thyroid hormone derivative. To date, the physiological effects of endogenousT1AM remain elusive, although there is increasing interest in its physiological function and pharmaceutical potential due to the role it plays in lipid and glucose metabolism (1.2).The present study monitored the effect of weeklong, daily, low dose T1AM administration on weight and metabolism in spontaneously...

Background: Hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS) is a life-threatening condition that can be the initial presentation of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This condition is characterized by severe hyperglycaemia, a high serum osmolality and dehydration without accumulation of ketoacids. We report two patients who presented with mixed features of HHS and DKA.Case 1: An 11-year-old Afro-Caribbean boy with severe developmental delay presented with a 4-week histo...

Objective: Most hypothyroid patients require an optimal dose of 1.6–1.8 μg/body weight (kg) of L-thyroxine to restore a normal TSH. Poor response to treatment can be due to malabsorption, drugs interaction and poor compliance. We conducted a test to determine the likely cause of persistent hypothyroidism in a coeliac patient despite taking supraphysiological doses of L-thyroxine (>1000 μg OD).Case...

Introduction: Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a rare cause of primary amenorrhea (1,2). We report a 16-year-old girl with normal secondary sexual characteristics, but no menses due to an autoimmune POI and associated with autoimmune gastritis. This is the first report of such constellation in an adolescent – both conditions separately already being rare in the pediatric population.Case presentation: A 16-year-old girl was referred to our de...