Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Arguably patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid cancers (PTC) are more likely to have negative radioactive iodine uptake and low/undetectable thyroglobulin levels if the central compartment lymph node dissection (CCLND) is performed routinely irrespective of the macroscopic appearance of the LN. The aim of this study was to determine whether routine CCLND leads to more favourable outcome in the first year after treatment for well-differentiat...

Parafibromin is a tumour suppressor protein, encoded by the gene responsible for the hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumour (HPT-JT) syndrome, which is an autosomal dominant disorder, characterised by parathyroid tumours, ossifyfing fibromas, renal and uterine tumours. Parafibromin is a component of the polymerase-associated factor 1 (PAF1) complex and interacts directly with β-catenin, although these functions do not fully explain its role in tumourigenesis. To further investiga...

Introduction: The hypothalamic kiss1/kisspeptin system is pivotal in controlling fertility. However, kiss1 transcripts were also quantified in rat fat, where expression was regulated by oestradiol (Brown et al. 2008) and by dihydrotestosterone (DHT; Brown et al. 2009). In human fat, microarray analysis revealed abnormal, multiple gene expression in obese PCOS patients (Corton et al. 2007). In the present experiments we used a rat model (Manne...

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. However, some aspects of its management remain controversial. The protocols provided by the British, European and American Thyroid Associations have changed recently and continue to evolve.We have audited the management of patients with thyroid cancer in a tertiary referral hospital and compared it with the guidelines from the Consensus Statement published by the European Thyroid Cancer Taskforce in...

Introduction: Glucocorticoids may exert important actions in early pregnancy on the invading trophoblast. The local actions of glucocorticoids can be modulated by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) enzymes which catalyse inter-conversion of cortisol with its inert metabolite, cortisone. Although two cloned 11β-HSD isoenzymes are known to be expressed in the term placenta, their expression and activity have not been well characterised in the first trimest...

A 73-year-old woman developed androgenic alopecia and progressive hair growth on the chest, back and abdomen over the course of 3–4 years. Menarche was at age 16. She had irregular menstrual periods subsequently but gave birth to three children. She reached menopause at age 40. No history of weight loss or sweating was reported. At presentation, we saw a 73-year-old lady with pronounced hirsutism (Ferriman–Gallway-score 24/36). No virilizing signs of the external gen...

Introduction: The involvement of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway is apparent different epithelial human cancers. Wnt stabilizes ß-catenin (free ß-catenin) by preventing its phosphorylation which targets ß-catenin for degradation. Free ß-catenin is translocated to the nucleus where it stimulates a number of genes that modulate proliferation and differentiation upon binding to TCF/LEF-1. We have previously shown that Wnt/ß-catenin pathway is dysregulated ...

Fat-derived adipokine genes that modulate metabolic and inflammatory responses, such as resistin (rstn) and fasting-induced adipose factor (fiaf), are also expressed in mouse brain and pituitary gland. We, and others, reported that central fiaf and rstn mRNA levels were increased following a brain injury-induced inflammatory response, and central injection of resistin reduced food intake and increased hepatic glucose production. Since LPS-induced en...

Background: Concordant parathyroid localization studies using sestamibi and ultrasound scans allow minimally invasive parathyroidectomy to be the procedure of choice for patients with non-familial primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). This study investigates the financial implications of scan-directed parathyroid surgery.Methods: Analysis of hospital records for a cohort of consecutive unselected patients treated in a tertiary referral centre over a 5-year...

A 43-year-old man presented with aching legs, gynaecomastia, erectile dysfunction, central obesity, and generalised hair loss. Examination confirmed these findings as well as showing him to be hypertensive at 160/100 mmHg. Routine haematology and biochemistry as well as levels of anterior pituitary hormones were normal, except for an inappropriately low TSH in the face of normal T3 and T4 levels. A pituitary MRI showed the presence of an ill defined area of reduced signal inte...