Endocrine Abstracts

Phthalates are man-made chemicals that are used in many different types of products. The main use is as plasticizers, but they can also be added to, for example, cosmetics, drug coatings, and perfumes. One of the most commonly used phthalates is di-butyl phthalate (DBP), which has been detected in both food and drinking water globally. Once ingested, DBP is rapidly metabolized to its main metabolite, mono-butyl phthalate (MBP), which is frequently detected in human plasma and ...

Chemical contaminants from human activity are omnipresent in the environment. A great number of common industrial compounds are detected in human blood and urine. Common chemicals such as bisphenols, phthalates and parabens that can interfere with endocrine signaling are classified as endocrine disruptive compounds (EDCs). The sex steroid hormonal signaling pathway is complex and sensitive to interference, as circulating concentrations of these hormones are low. Even miniscule...

A 59-year-old lady presented with significant weight gain, and a history of hypertension for investigation of possible Cushing’s syndrome. Her BMI was 29, with mainly central obesity. Initial tests revealed elevated untimed cortisol on two separate occasions, at 905 nmol/l and 893 respectively with detectable midnight cortisol, at 548 and 481. Of 24-hour urinary free cortisol (UFC) was also elevated on two separate occasions, at 931 nmol/24 h and 827 respectively. ACTH wa...

Cocaine and amphetamine regulated-transcript (CART) is highly expressed in the hypothalamus and was originally reported to be an endogenous satiety peptide. Intracerebroventricular injection of CART can result in motor abnormalities and recent studies have demonstrated increased food intake after intra-nuclear CART administration. To help clarify the situation CART was over-expressed in the hypothalamus using recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV-CART). Recombinant adeno-as...

Introduction: Perioperative mortality of patients who undergo heart valve surgery for carcinoid heart valve disease (CHVD) has been observed to be high (5–10%). We investigated whether peptide receptor radiotherapy (PRRT) with Lutetium-177 Dotatate can be used safely in patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN) and CHVD and if there is an associated survival advantage by reducing overall exposure of the valves to high doses of vasoactive peptides.<p class="abstext"...