Endocrine Abstracts

Renal functions in a mouse model of Cushing’s Syndrome have been characterised by analysing RNA expression complemented by immunohistochemistry studies. A microarray of kidneys from mice infused with ACTH for two weeks identified gene transcripts that were up-regulated (70) and down-regulated (49) more than two-fold. Four separate clusters of closely correlated genes (r> 0.97; P< 0.001) were investigated in more detail. One down-regulated cluster included histocom...

Context: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a common cause of secondary hypertension, and some PA adrenal tumors co-secrete glucocorticoids, causing subclinical or overt Cushing syndrome (CS). We recently reported correlations between hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and serum and urinary levels of cortisol in patients with CS.Objective: To determine correlations of segmental hair cortisol and biochemical markers of a referred cohort of patients for the eval...

Introduction: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Guidelines recommend a confirmatory test in the majority of suspected cases: oral sodium loading, saline infusion test (SIT), captopril challenge test (CCT), or fludrocortisone suppression test. The SIT and CCT are most commonly used in clinical practice to study autonomous aldosterone secretion.Objectives and Methods: We compared the CCT’s diagnosis perform...

Patients on long term prednisolone therapy have suppression of their hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The short synacthen test (SST) is routinely employed to assess the viability of the HPA axis. However, as this test examines only adrenal function it may fail to identify those patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency. The overnight metyrapone test (OMT) may be a better test as it examines the whole HPA axis.We have compared the responses t...

Plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) to active renin concentration (ARC) ratio (ARR) is an established screening tool for primary aldosteronism. Previously we provided reliable cut-offs measuring PAC by a radioimmunoassay (RIA; Byk&DiaSorin) und ARC by an established immunoluminometric assay (Nichols Institute Diagnostics). Since the latter one is not longer available, we aimed to establish cut-offs for currently available assays.One hundred seven ...

Background: Childhood obesity is the single most pressing public health emergency of the 21st century. The prevalence has increased at alarming rates and globally over 41 million children under 5 years of age are classified as overweight/obese. Overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese as adults and develop multi-morbidities including type 2 diabetes, cancer, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cardiovascular disease at an earlier age. The ava...

A 37 year-old gentleman presented following an episode of dizziness while at work operating a fork-lift truck. There was no collapse or associated symptoms. He had been diagnosed with autoimmune hypothyroidism two months previously; commenced levothyroxine, currently at a dose of 75 micrograms daily; and lost ten kilograms in weight. On examination there were no signs of hypoadrenalism aside from a significant postural drop in blood pressure (lying 1...

A 37 year-old gentleman presented following an episode of dizziness while at work operating a fork-lift truck. There was no collapse or associated symptoms. He had been diagnosed with autoimmune hypothyroidism two months previously; commenced levothyroxine, currently at a dose of 75 micrograms daily; and lost ten kilograms in weight. On examination there were no signs of hypoadrenalism aside from a significant postural drop in blood pressure (lying 1...

Background: Pituitary abscess is rare but a serious intrasellar infection. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of the sellar masses due to its high morbidity and mortality rates. Despite recent advances in radiological investigations, it remains a challenge to make a definitive diagnosis preoperatively [1]. We present a case of pituitary abscess who presented with pan hypopituitarism and central diabetes insipidus.Case presen...

The pathophysiology of human neurodevelopment entails complex interactions between individual genetic backgrounds and environmental exposures. Endocrine Disruptive Chemicals (EDCs), a heterogeneous class of compounds widely present in our environment, can interfere with human endocrine system and the effects of this exposure on the developing brain can cause adverse neurodevelopmental effects. As opposed to previous works focusing on single compounds, we studied an EDC mixture...