Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The best lateralization method to ascertain cure after surgery in unilateral primary aldosteronism (PA) is debated. Risk of persistent of PA in those with non-classical adrenal histopathology remains poorly characterized.Objective: We examined the value of anatomical compared with functional subtyping and the significance of immunohistochemical analysis of CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 for the outcome and histopathological diagnosis of primary aldoster...

Background: The cure of unilateral primary aldosteronism (PA) after adrenalectomy can result in complete, partial or absent biochemical and clinical improvement1. Histological findings from HE samples are of little assistance in determining if adenoma or hyperplastic adrenal tissue is hormonally overactive. Our aim in the present study was to compare immunohistochemical (IHC) CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 staining in adrenal slices to histological diagnosis based on H&E s...

BackgroundAldosterone excess causes volume retention and cardiovascular damage. We evaluated the long-term haemodynamic changes in patients with targeted treatment of primary aldosteronism (PA) (n = 40) in comparison with essential hypertension (EH) (n = 40) and untreated normotensive controls (n = 40).MethodsPA patients were subjected to adrenal vein sampling and allocated to adren...

Introduction: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an inducible enzyme in prostaglandin synthesis, plays a major role in the pathogenesis of sporadic colorectal carcinoma (CRC). COX-2 inhibitors reduce the mortality from sporadic CRC. Acromegaly is associated with an increased risk of CRC, with a preponderance of right sided disease, but COX-2 protein is reduced or absent in acromegalic normal and malignant colonic mucosa. The mechanisms responsible for this are unknown.Aims: (i) To ...

Introduction and aim: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion via insulin pump is the most efficient way of imitating physiological insulin secretion, and it also provides better management of diabetes, lower rate of hypoglicemic episodes, better quality of life and prevention of long-term complications of diabetes mellitus. Aim of the research was to determine effects of subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy on parameters of glycoregulation during the two years trial.<p ...

Background: Infants born small for gestational age (SGA) usually show catch-up growth during the first few years of post-natal life. However, some infants remain small and little is known about the factors governing their growth failure. IGF-I receptor mutations account for a minority of cases therefore we have initiated an assessment of signalling molecules downstream of the receptor.Method: Skin biopsies were obtained with local ethics approval from he...

Somatostatin (SST) and cortistatin (CORT) are two highly related neuropeptides involved in the regulation of several endocrine secretions. In particular, SST and CORT are two primary negative regulators of GH secretion. Consequently, SST or CORT knockout (KO) mice exhibit elevated GH levels; however, this does not lead to increased IGF-I levels or somatic growth, which has been suggested that could be due to a compensatory mechanism between both peptides. In order to test this...

Introduction: Using discriminant analysis, a method based on two growth hormone (GH) dependent markers, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and pro-collagen type III N-terminal peptide (P-III-P) has been devised to detect exogenously administered GH. It is believed that GH is a popular substance of abuse amongst adolescent athletes. As previous studies on the detection of GH abuse involved predominantly adult athletes, it is necessary to validate the method in adolescent athl...

Many PhD graduates will pursue a postdoctoral training position, most commonly in an academic laboratory. What can you expect from this period in your career? Do you need to go abroad to do a postdoc? What could/should you do to benefit the most of this time? And how can you use your time as a postdoc to help you with your career path once you leave?I recall being very excited about beginning my postdoc and leaving the ‘PhD nest’. I trained and...

Neuroprotection defines a set of homeostatic, self-repair mechanisms that probably evolved for the specially demanding conditions imposed by brain function. Among these, intercellular messengers such as the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), that appeared very early during phylogeny, apparently play a prominent role despite their peripheral origin. In contrast to the heterogeneity seen in primitive organisms where at least 30 different IGF-like peptides are described, in mamm...