Endocrine Abstracts

Severe hyperthyroidism, along with several other endocrinopathies, is well recognised as a cause of myopathy. This myopathic clinical picture varies from mild myasthenia to profound muscular weakness. We present the case of a 61 year old female (Ms SM), with learning difficulties, who presented with a short history of reduced mobility and anorexia. She was noted to have hypernatraemia and acute kidney injury on admission, secondary to poor oral intake and new ons...

Severe hyperthyroidism, along with several other endocrinopathies, is well recognised as a cause of myopathy. This myopathic clinical picture varies from mild myasthenia to profound muscular weakness. We present the case of a 61 year old female (Ms SM), with learning difficulties, who presented with a short history of reduced mobility and anorexia. She was noted to have hypernatraemia and acute kidney injury on admission, secondary to poor oral intake and new ons...

Objective: Personal continuous glucose monitoring (pCGM) with interstitial fluid glucose sensing is rapidly becoming the standard of care for real-time, intensive insulin therapy of diabetes. We report our experience of glycemic control in patients in an academic setting using minimally invasive pCGM with continuous s.c. insulin infusion (CSII, or insulin pump) vs CSII alone.Methods: Over a two-year period, we reviewed all patients treated with insulin p...

Aim: To describe 2 cases of immune-mediated hypophysitis due to the therapeutic use of Ipilimumab, a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA4)-blocking antibody.Case 1: A 62 year-old male with history of metastatic melanoma was started on Ipilimumab. After finishing the 4th at 2 months he complained of weakness, fatigue, and fever, prescribed ciprofloxacin and prednisone 20 mg daily, and felt better. 2 days later he was hospitalized with weakness, BP 86/6...

Hormonal therapies in the form of oestrogens, anti-androgens and progestogens are often used in the treatment of male-to-female transsexuals. We present the case of a 36 year old phenotypic male with karyotype 46XY who presented with normoprolactinaemic galactorrhoea likely to be related to prior oestrogen administration. He had been self-administering oestrogen and progesterone preparations continuously for 7 years (aged 26 - 33 years) in an attempt to develop female phenotyp...

Background: An 81-year-old gentleman presented to his GP with a 2 week history of reduced appetite, lethargy and 2–3 kg weight loss over the last month. On routine bloods, his potassium was noted to be 2.2 mmol/l. He was being treated in the community with indapamide, losartan and amlodipine for hypertension. He was admitted to hospital for IV replacement. However, he had persistent hypokalaemia (<2.9 mmol/l) for 3 days despite appropriate replacement and suspension ...

The heart not only has a mechanical function of pumping blood through vessels but also acts as an endocrine gland. In its endocrine function, the heart releases atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), a hormone of a large family of natriuretic peptides. ANP is secreted from cardiac atria as an inactive preprohormone. In post-translational modification, 25-amino acid signal sequence is cleaved from preprohormone to produce proANP of 126-amino acid, which is the major form of ANP stor...

Hypertension is associated with vascular changes characterized by endothelial dysfunction, increased vascular contraction, and arterial remodelling. Vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells, which constitute bulk of vascular wall, are critically involved in these processes through their highly plastic and dynamic features and ability to undergo phenotypic differentiation. Stimulation of VSM cells by pro-hypertensive neurohumoral stimuli such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine, and ...

Evidence indicates that normal pattern of progression of puberty is altered under certain conditions of stress, whereas growth rate is affected by sustained higher concentrations of cortisol, a marker of stress reactivity. Available data show that early teens commonly resort to use of drugs. The use of drugs may evoke stress responses, which may alter pubertal development and affect growth rate. Body weight (BW), height, BMI and plasma concentrations of LH, testosterone (T), G...

The secretion of leptin, an indicator of energy reserves, declines as energy stores are consumed in growth and development at puberty. The pubertal growth and development are often altered under different kinds of stresses. Usually, stress stimulates the release of cortisol, which is a labelled marker of stress. Early teens are inclined to drug abuse that may put their bodies under stress and may induce excessive secretion of cortisol. Since, sustained high levels of cortisol ...