Endocrine Abstracts

PCOS is associated with increased biochemical risk markers for cardiovascular disease, particularly low HDL cholesterol and increased triglycerides. There is accelerated progression to type 2 diabetes and hypertension in middle age. These biochemical abnormalities associate with insulin resistance which is present to a greater extent than can be explained by obesity alone. Notwithstanding, hard endpoint data in terms of increased cardiovascular mortality remains elusive. Infla...

PCOS is associated with increased biochemical risk markers for cardiovascular disease, particularly low HDL cholesterol and increased triglycerides. There is accelerated progression to type 2 diabetes and hypertension in middle age. These biochemical abnormalities associate with insulin resistance which is present to a greater extent than can be explained by obesity alone. Notwithstanding, hard endpoint data in terms of increased cardiovascular mortality remains elusive. Infla...

AbstractBackground: β-cell apoptosis is a cardinal feature of type 1 diabetes. A20 is an important negative regulator of inflammation and apoptosis and protects against β-cell death in response to inflammatory cytokines, and β-cell rejection following islet transplantation1. Preliminary experiments showed rapid induction of A20 (15–60 min) in β-cells in response to treatment with TNFα. Experimenta...

Background: Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessive disease characterised by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. The mutations alter fluid secretion in the lungs and digestive systems and the vast majority of patients die from pulmonary disease. CF-related diabetes (CFRD) is the most significant co-morbidity for patients with CF and accelerates lung decline. Recent evidence from animal and cell models has implicated a role for CF...

Hypophosphatasia (HP) is a rare inborn error of metabolism resulting from inactivating mutations in the gene for the tissue-nonspecific isozyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). Deficiency of alkaline phosphatase (ALK) activity leads to severe rickets. The perinatal form presents with extreme skeletal hypomineralisation at birth, and was a fatal condition until recently. We describe an 11-month-old infant who is one of the few surviving cases of a preterm infant with ...

Clinical guidance recommends titrating the dose of metyrapone against serum cortisol concentrations. These serum samples are usually measured by immunoassays; however it has been well documented that there are interferences in these assays in patients with altered steroid metabolism due to a pathological process or drug treatment. The increasing availability of mass spectrometry (MS) assays for steroid hormones may circumvent this issue and assays that measure multiple steroid...

Introduction: Catheterisation of the right adrenal vein when performing adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is challenging. The AVS Accuracy Kit (AAK) (Trust Medical, Kasai, Japan) enables point-of-care confirmation of accuracy of AVS by rapid cortisol assay. We investigated whether use of AAK during AVS would impact upon procedural success, number of venous samples taken, radiation dose and screening time.Methods: 0.5 ml of each venous blood sample was centrifu...

Introduction: Catheterisation of the right adrenal vein when performing adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is challenging. The AVS Accuracy Kit (AAK) (Trust Medical, Kasai, Japan) enables point-of-care confirmation of accuracy of AVS by rapid cortisol assay. We investigated whether use of AAK during AVS would impact upon procedural success, number of venous samples taken, radiation dose and screening time.Methods: 0.5 ml of each venous blood sample was centrifu...

Background: There are known outcome disparities between Black and White patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs). Recently, Black patients were shown to have higher rates of lymph node metastasis in smaller tumors than White patients, indicating possible differences in tumor biology. Numerous prognostic gene expression differences between racial groups have been reported in other cancers, but no such analysis has been conducted in pNETs. This study evaluated pNET...

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterised by the combined occurrence of parathyroid tumours, and neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) of the pancreas and pituitary. Reliable biomarkers, ideally in plasma or serum, for the early detection and recurrence of MEN-1 associated tumours, and especially pancreatic NETs are required, and we explored the potential use of microRNAS (miRNAs), which are small non-coding RNAs that bind target mRNAs ...