Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Diabetes increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease irrespective of glycaemic control. Cortisol and growth hormone (GH) abnormalities have been found in these patients and have been proposed as possible mechanisms for this increased risk.Regular exercise, through an unknown mechanism, can modify cardiovascular risk and so prevent or delay the progression of coronary heart disease. In this study we assessed whether an exercise program would a...

Hyperthyroidism is diagnosed in pregnancy in about 0.1 - 0.4% of patients. Graves' disease is the commonest cause of thyrotoxicosis in pregnant women. The natural course of Graves' disease in pregnancy is characterised by an exacerbation of symptoms in the first trimester and during the post partum period. Symptoms usually tend to improve in the second half of pregnancy.We describe a patient who was diagnosed with Graves' disease in the third trimester of pregnancy. A 32 y...

A role for local corticosteroid metabolism by 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11b-HSD1) has been proposed in bone and adipose tissue physiology. In vivo, 11b-HSD1 predominantly converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol and enzyme activity is critically dependent on substrate concentration. To examine 11b-HSD1 activity in vivo we have analysed the relationship between serum cortisone and markers of bone turnover, BMD and adipose tissue mass in a c...

Increased activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in men of low birthweight may be an important link between early life events and adult metabolic syndrome. In animal models females are more sensitive to HPA axis programming by manipulations in utero, but whether gender influences susceptibility in humans is unknown.We studied 106 women aged 67-78 y, from Hertfordshire UK, in whom birthweight was recorded. None had pituitary or adrenal disease or were rec...