Endocrine Abstracts

Carney complex consists of endocrine, cardiac, cutaneous and neural tumours, as well as pigmented lesions in the skin and mucosae. Endocrine manifestations include primary pigmented nodular adrenocortical disease, acromegaly, prolactinoma, large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumour in males, and thyroid nodules and carcinomas. Here, we report a new case in whom the diagnosis was obscured by complicating presentations.A female patient, presented with seizure like attacks at ...

BACKGROUND: An audit of facilities and medical and surgical care based on the 1997 Royal College of Physicians and Society for Endocrinology guidelines for the management of pituitary tumours was carried out in the South West in 2001. We present the results for patients referred to one specialist pituitary surgeon in Plymouth.METHODS: 1. A questionnaire was sent to each endocrinology department covering staff resources, facilities for investigations and the process of care...

Subcutaneous heparin is commonly used for prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis. Heparin induced hypoaldosteronism can lead to hyperkalemia and natriuresis. These side effects are more common in elderly, renal insufficient and diabetic patients. We present a case with heparin induced hyperkalemia in a patient with diabetes.An 85 year old lady with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus of 32 years duration with peripheral neuropathy was admitted under the vas...

Androgen, a key endocrine factor that drives normal prostate gland growth, is implicated in the progression of prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia. However, failure to adapt androgen ablation therapy for the treatment of prostatic diseases cast doubts on our understanding of androgen role in the regulation of normal and abnormal prostate gland growth. This study was conducted to gain further insight into the role of androgen in maintaining a balanced prostatic cell...

Having been known as a reliable tool for assessing the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, measurement of salivary cortisol plays an important role in both the clinical settings and the researches. To establish a normative data, which forms the basis for the usage of this valuable parameter, we gathered 8:00 h saliva samples from 94 healthy individuals aged 6-14 years. Cortisol levels were measured by radioimmunoassay technique, using Orion Diagnostica`s coated tube tec...

The secondary sexual characteristics such as a neck mane and antlers seen in the male red deer are unusual in that they are produced on an annual basis and are linked to the breeding season. This cycle is highly controlled and the development of these characteristics coincides with changes in plasma levels of testosterone and IGF-1. We have previously shown that the expression of the androgen receptor in the hair follicle cells of the neck mane are only present during the bree...

Several cases of subacute thyroiditis were noted over the autumn and winter period of 2000-1 in one endocrine referral centre. This study was undertaken to determine if the incidence of subacute thyroiditis was different from the previous year, whether a seasonal clustering had occurred and whether a specific viral pathogen was responsible.A diagnosis of subacute thyroididits was made if the patient had evidence of transient hyperthyroidism or biphasic ...

Hyperthyroidism is a common disorder, most usually caused by Graves' Disease (GD), in which thyroid-stimulating antibodies (TSAB) mimic thyrotropin. Since the diagnosis of GD is made clinically and its signs and symptoms are indistinguishable from those of patients harboring an activating germline thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) mutation, incorrect diagnoses have been made. Point mutations in more than 30 residues, predominantly in exon 10, of the TSHR cause constitutivity making ...

Background: In GHD adults short-term studies of GH replacement have been reported to improve several aspects of quality of life, in particular energy levels. Only one study to date has examined whether this beneficial effect on QoL is maintained on long-term replacement of greater than five years. Patients & Methods: In 1992 six-twelve months GH replacement was offered to severely GHD adults as part of a randomised placebo controlled study. At baseline 86 pat...

Background: Diets rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) n-3 may change the fluidity and composition of membrane phospholipids, leading to different prostanoids formation, decreasing IL-1β and TNFα releases and increasing the basal levels of corticosterone, important factors to promote acute phase response (APR) to stimuli. This study proposes to verify if PUFA n-3 or n-6 rich diets alters the APR of fibrinogen and haptoglobin after turpentine stimulus.<p cla...