Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: In addition to the medication prescribed by their doctors, patients may recourse to natural medicine and take herbal medications without thinking about their potential side effects and interactions with other drugs.Case Report: A 39-year-old female, with personal history of iron deficiency anemia, regular menses but long-standing dysmenorrhea and polymenorrhea and reactive anxiety-depressive disorder, complained of frequent intermenstrual s...

Background: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycaemia as a result of defective insulin secretion, insulin action or a combination. Poor glycaemic control increases the risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications. For group two driving license holders with diabetes there are specific requirements set out by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. It is therefore hypothesised that this patient group is likely to aim for less tight glycae...

Introduction/Aim: New oral anticoagulant drugs such as the factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban are often preferred to the classic coumarins because they do not need frequent blood-test monitoring and have fever interactions with other drugs and foodstuffs. They are not, however, interaction free. Rivaroxaban is metabolized by oxidative degradation catalyzed by CYP3A4/5 and CYP2J2; it is also a substrate of the P-gp and ABCG2 efflux transporter proteins. CYP3A4 activity enhancers s...

The GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) visits, about which we have consulted the membership of the Society for Endocrinology and had positive feedback from many members, have now started. We have done four pilots in Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and York. The objectives are to try to introduce a quantitative approach to help demonstrate best practice. It will explore surgical outcome data and complication rates with regard to thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pituitary and neuro...

Background: The 2013 Scottish Diabetes Survey demonstrated that only 22% of individuals with type 1 diabetes have optimal glycaemic control, defined as a HbA1c <58 mmol/mol. The 2014 Diabetes Improvement Plan in Scotland prioritised, ‘improving the care and outcomes of all people living with type 1 diabetes’. Scotland’s Diabetes Education Advisory Group has now been established. Accordingly, the Fife Insulin and Food Education for Diabetes (FIFE Diabetes) st...

John Connell, MRC Blood Pressure Group, Glasgow, UK AbstractJohn Connell graduated in medicine from Glasgow in 1977. After initial training in endocrinology, he was appointed as a Clinical Scientist to the MRC Blood Pressure Unit, Western infirmary, Glasgow in 1983. He held an MRC Travelling Fellowship in the Howard Florey Institute for Experimental Physiology and Medicine from 1987, working with Professor John Coghlan...

Ginseng, a traditional herbal adaptogen, historically used in the Far East, has gained popularity in the West for its restorative properties.Ginsenosides, the active component of ginseng are known to exert a variety of actions by targeting ‘multireceptor systems’ both extracellular and intracellular. As a result many of its physiological effects remain unclear, particularly in humans. This study aims to investigate whether ginseng can influence...

John S Bevan, Department of Endocrinology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, UK. AbstractJohn S Bevan is senior Consultant Endocrinologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Honorary Professor of Endocrinology at Aberdeen University. He qualified MB ChB, with Honours, from Edinburgh University in 1978 and his clinical training in Medicine & Endocrinology took place in Edinburgh, Oxford and Ca...

Introduction: Catheterisation of the right adrenal vein when performing adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is challenging. The AVS Accuracy Kit (AAK) (Trust Medical, Kasai, Japan) enables point-of-care confirmation of accuracy of AVS by rapid cortisol assay. We investigated whether use of AAK during AVS would impact upon procedural success, number of venous samples taken, radiation dose and screening time.Methods: 0.5 ml of each venous blood sample was centrifu...

Introduction: Catheterisation of the right adrenal vein when performing adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is challenging. The AVS Accuracy Kit (AAK) (Trust Medical, Kasai, Japan) enables point-of-care confirmation of accuracy of AVS by rapid cortisol assay. We investigated whether use of AAK during AVS would impact upon procedural success, number of venous samples taken, radiation dose and screening time.Methods: 0.5 ml of each venous blood sample was centrifu...