Endocrine Abstracts

GH therapy has been reported to increase insulin resistance, but overt diabetes is rare. We present a young girl who developed symptoms of diabetes whilst on GH therapy with resolution of symptoms and normalisation of blood glucose profile on reducing the dose of GH.Case report: A 14-year-old girl with background of prematurity, learning difficulty, cerebral palsy, scoliosis, and pan hypopituitarism presented with chest infection, high blood glucose leve...

Background: Hypomagnesaemia is one of the most commonly encountered electrolyte disorders in clinical practice. The reported prevalence of hypomagnesaemia varies from 2.5 to 15% in the general population to as high as 65% among patients admitted to intensive care units. There is a general lack of awareness among physicians regarding the prevalence, clinical significance, and management of hypomagnesaemia.Aim and method: To review current practice of the ...

Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone with low molecular weight (362 Da) synthesized from cholesterol in the adrenal gland. The release is regulated by the hypothalamic–pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Approximately 95% of the circulating amount is bound to proteins (CBG and albumin), but only the remaining free fraction is biologically active. Serum cortisol level is routinely analysed in laboratory medicine, though the widespread immunoassays (RIA and ECLIA) have the disadv...

Background: Autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS) in patients with adrenal incidentalomas (AI) has been associated with increased mortality in previous small studies. Our aim was to evaluate if ACS is a risk factor for mortality in a large population of patients with AI.Methods: Consecutive patients examined for adrenal adenomas, found as AI, without catecholamine or aldosterone hypersecretion between 2005 and 2015 were included and followed for up to 14 y...

During fasting neuropeptide Y (NPY) neurons in the mediobasal hypothalamus are activated to increase food intake and to conserve energy. Under conditions of food deprivation, lipid metabolism plays an important role in providing fuel for muscle. We investigated if central NPY affects VLDL-TAG secretion directly via the autonomic nervous system. We measured VLDL-TAG secretion in Wistar rats by an intravenous bolus of tyloxapol to inhibit uptake of triglycerides by peripheral ti...

Introduction: Usually, the hormonal profile is normal in patients with empty sella. However, when present, hormonal deficiency most commonly consist in growth disturbance in children and mild hyperprolactinaemia in adults. Hypopititarism with signs of symptomatic dysfunction occurs in <10% of patient with primary empty sella.Case report: A 27-years-old man presented to our department in 2008 with impuberism, micropenis, hypoplasic scrotum, inguinal g...

We describe a 3 year old Scottish girl with polyuria and nocturia and a past history of congenital heart disease. In addition to her excess fluid intake she had reduced food intake, failure to thrive and growth failure. Her sister, father, grandfather and a paternal aunt and uncle had a clear history of polyuria, nocturia and excess thirst. A fluid deprivation test revealed peak serum Na, serum and urine osmolalities were 147 mmol/L, 300 mOs/kg, 176 mOs/kg, respectively, in th...

Shapiro's syndrome is characterised by agenesis of the corpus callosum, hypothermia and hyperhydrosis. We report a case associated with abnormal water balance and hypothalamic dysfunction.A 20 year old Turkish Cypriot man presented with an 8 month history of profuse sweating associated with a perception of extreme cold. He described progressive problems with speech, memory and clumsiness on walking. Symptoms of polyuria and polydipsia were associated wit...

Clinical practice suggests that low dose steroid treatment delivered locally to the site of action may rarely lead to disturbances of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. We present three clinical examples:Case 1: A 72 yr old man with a history of severe sinusitis was referred because of three episodes of profound anorexia, vomiting and proximal muscle weakness which coincided with discontinuing his Betnesol (betamethasone sodium phosphate 0.1%) nose...

Macroprolactin is a complex of prolactin with immunoglobulin appearing to have limited biological activity, partly due to failure of this high-molecular weight complex to cross capillary walls.Macroprolactinaemia is a common phenomenon, it is thus important to identify this condition in order to avoid unnecessary investigations and treatment. Although the presence of macroprolactin can be confirmed by gel filtration chromatography, this is time consumin...