Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: We present a rare case of squamous cell carcinoma of the sphenoid sinus presenting as a sellar mass and panhypopituitarism.Case presentation: A 60-year-old Chinese male with schizophrenia and a 20 pack year smoking history, was admitted to our hospital with headache and diplopia without visual field loss. Brain imaging with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a 2.9 cm sellar mass based in the sphenoid sinu...

Introduction: We report a patient who presented with presumed intestinal obstruction, and was subsequently diagnosed with an adrenal phaeochromocytoma associated with venous thromboembolism. We review the literature and discuss underlying mechanisms for these uncommon manifestations.Case presentation: A 56-year-old man with background untreated hypertension presented with abdominal distension, vomiting, breathlessness and haemoptysis. Heart rate (HR) was...

Introduction: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly prescribed drugs. We report a case of severe hypocalcaemia secondary to omeprazole-induced hypomagnesaemia.Case report: A 85-year-old Chinese man with stage 4 chronic kidney disease was admitted to our hospital in Jun 2014 with vomiting and weakness. On admission, he was severely hypocalcaemic (adjusted calcium 1.37 mmol/l (RI: 2.15–2.58)) and hypomagnesaemic (Mg 0.1 mmol/l (RI: 0.7–1.0))...

Background: Children who are overweight and obese have a higher incidence of fracture, but it is unknown if this varies by fracture site. Indeed, obesity in adult women protects against forearm fracture, but increases the risk of humeral fractures. We aimed to determine if adiposity differed by fracture site in children with upper limb fractures.Methods: Children aged 3–18 years were recruited within 60 days of fracture. Height, weight, waist circum...

Introduction: Elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels are associated with increased cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the patients with impaired kidney function. We aimed to investigate whether PTH levels are associated with CVD in persons without significant renal diseases.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study and we included 1951 Korean subjects aged ≥30 years (men 46.6%), who underwent 64-slice multidetector-row cardiac computed tomography (...

GH is an important anabolic hormone involved in the regulation of longitudinal bone growth. However, acromegaly patients have a higher prevalence of vertebral fractures despite normal bone mineral density (BMD), suggesting that overexpression of GH has adverse effects on skeletal architecture and strength. We used giant bovine GH (bGH) transgenic mice to analyse the effects of high serum GH levels on bone architecture and mechanical strength. Five month-old hemizygous male bGH...

Background: Cholesteatoma, a serious suppurative middle ear condition, has an increased prevalence in Turner syndrome (TS).Aims: To estimate its incidence in our TS population; identify risk factors; highlight distinctive operative findings; and suggest strategies for earlier detection.Methods: Retrospective casenote review for patients attending a TS clinic to identify those with cholesteatoma; each age-matched with three unaffect...

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with low ambient ultraviolet B (UVB) light in childhood and in utero (relative risk of developing MS is 1.2 for those born in spring). Besides, the MS-linked HLA-DRB1 allele interacts strongly with vitamin D in vitro, and vitamin D levels are lower in MS patients. Fatigue and musculoskeletal aches/pains are prominent symptoms in both MS and vitamin D deficiency. Moreover, having any chronic disease may predispose to stay...

A 57-year-old man with a history of alcohol excess was admitted following a road traffic accident. He suffered multiple trauma with fractures to his left femur, tibia and fibula, his right pubic ramus and several ribs. In addition severe abdominal trauma necessitated nephrectomy and splenectomy. Routine biochemistry and bone profile on admission was within normal limits.He had a prolonged stay in the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) with acute kidney injury ...

The measurement of serum testosterone in women is difficult with most automated immunoassays because of poor sensitivity, accuracy and precision at low concentrations. Mass spectrometry is the gold standard for these measurements but it is slower and requires special expertise and equipment. We investigated whether the modification of a commercial RIA allowed improved testosterone measurements in laboratories without access to mass spectrometry.A commerc...