Endocrine Abstracts

Vitamin D is a large group of structurally similar substances (calciferols) with diverse biological functions. Although approximately 40 different vitamin D metabolites have been determined so far, only 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D was considered to be biologically active and the determination of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH D) served a tool to assess vitamin D supply. Recently it was found that also C3-epimers of vitamin D have their biological effect, however these effects differ f...

Old people will have to take care of themselves as long as possible. The challenge for the future is therefore not to extend human age at all costs, but to extend human self-sufficiency. Two years ago, we showed that patients with anxiety and affective disorders (‘depression’) felt great after a month’s stay at the spa, improved in a number of endocrinologic parameters. In this work we try to explain the physiological changes of stay in a spa without pharmace...

A 54-year-old Asian man with type two diabetes diagnosed 6 years ago was admitted to hospital in May 2011 because of deteriorating renal function. His eGFR had been stable until April 2011 when his eGFR dropped from 37 in January 2011–2021. Repeat eGFR 2 weeks later was 17 and his family doctor felt he needed to be admitted to hospital. He was on metformin alone which was stopped. His HbA1c was 6.4% (48 mmol/mol). He had hypertension and was on four antihypertensive agent...

A 53-year-old lady of African origin presented to the emergency department with a 2 months history of watery diarrhoea associated with anorexia, general deterioration and weakness. She had lost 10 kg over 2 months. There was no history of recent travel abroad. Her past medical history included a cardiac arrest in 2000 (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and she had an internal defibrillator implanted for Brugada-like syndrome. She had hypertension since 1999 and it was noted that sh...

Background: A reduced injection force potentially makes it easier for patients to administer their injected medication.Objective and Hypotheses: This report compares dose force, dose accuracy and dose precision of two growth hormone injection devices: Norditropin® NordiFlex® (NF) (Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark) and Genotropin® GoQuick® (GQ) (Pfizer Inc, NY, USA).Methods: M...

Primary aldosteronism (PA) accounts for up to 15% of cases of hypertension, and associates with increased cardiovascular morbidity. Specific treatment options include mineralocorticoid antagonists or adrenalectomy; the latter offers cure although reported rates vary between 20–60%. The role of adrenal vein sampling (AVS) in diagnosing PA remains controversial. By reviewing casenotes of PA patients treated surgically and comparing with matched medically managed PA patients...

Acute deterioration in Graves Opthalmopathy (GO) has infrequently been described following total thyroidectomy. A 56 year old female smoker presented in January 2010. Thyroid function tests: TSH<0.01, free T4 (fT4) 47. Thyroid receptor antibody (TRAb) was raised at 31 (<1.5). She was commenced on carbimazole treatment. She had no GO at time of diagnosis. She discontinued carbimazole due to rash. She represented in December 2010 with symptoms of thyrotoxicosis. TSH<...

A 54-year-old lady with a 27-year history of schizoaffective disorder presented with shaking episodes, polyuria and polydipsia. She was found to have a serum sodium of 157 mmol/l. Of note, she had been on lithium for several years but this had been stopped three months previously as her serum sodium was raised at 156 mmol/l.On admission her lithium level was undetectable, confirming no recent use. Serum osmolality was 343 mOsm/kg and urine osmolality 82 ...

Introduction: CT renal tract is commonly requested by the urologists for suspected renal colic as it is recognized as the most accurate technique for the detection of ureteric stones. However, follow-up of adrenal incidentalomas identified on such scans could pose a challenge for the non-endocrinologist. We investigated the prevalence and follow-up of incidentally discovered adrenal masses after CT renal colic.Methods: We looked through the reports of al...

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) contributes to incretin effect of insulin secretion which is impaired in type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to develop a simple meal test for evaluation of GIP secretion and action and to examine GIP changes in type 2 diabetic patients. Seventeen type 2 diabetic patients, 10 obese non-diabetic and 17 non-obese control persons have been examined before and after 30, 60 and 90 min stimulation by meal test. In a mixe...