Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Most paediatric medicines have not undergone extensive clinical trials in children and as a necessity are frequently prescribed off-label, a practice which is recognised to be associated with an increased risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs).Aims: To assess the use of routinely acquired healthcare data to identify medication utilisation and specifically drug discontinuation, as a signal for possible ADR occurrence in children: using orlist...

Introduction: The neurohormones A and B-type natriuretic peptides are markedly increased in patients with heart disease, and are well established as useful diagnostic biomarkers. Obesity is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Cross sectional data suggest however that plasma levels are reduced among obese. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of weight loss and corresponding changes in body composition on plasma levels of A and B-typ...

Ghrelin, the endogenous ligand for the GH secretagogue receptor type 1a (GHS-R1a), is a peptide with a post-translational octanoyl modification on Ser-3. Previous studies of ghrelin derivatives showed that the pendant group at Ser-3 plays an essential role in the bioactivity. The acylated peptide specifically releases growth hormone (GH) both in vivo and in vitro, while the desoctanoyl form of the hormone is at least 100-fold less potent than the parent peptide.<p class="a...

Background: To arrest the immune-mediated destruction of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in type 1 diabetes (T1D), interventional studies have predominantly focussed on two distinct approaches: arresting the ongoing immune response or protecting the pancreatic beta cells. Recently, both approaches using respectively low-dose anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG), an immune-depleting agent, and verapamil, a calcium channel blocker with beta cell protective ...

Background: A recent RCT of rhGH in IBD over 6 months showed that improvement in linear growth was associated with a reduction in insulin sensitivity.Objectives: To investigate the effects of prolonged rhGH on growth and glucose homeostasis in children with IBD.Patients and methods: Eleven children (10CD/1UC) (9 m) with a median age of 14.7 years (range, 8.9, 16.2) who received rhGH (0.067 mg/kg per day) as part a 6-month RCT were ...

Introduction: The growth of human tumors depends on the formation of new blood vessels and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) helps control this process via inducing new capillaries to sprout from pre-existing blood vessels. Four cardiac hormones which eliminate up to 80% of human pancreatic cancers and up to 86% of human small-cell lung cancers growing in mice were investigated for their effects on VEGF and the VEGFR2/KDR/Flk-1 receptor. The VEGFR2 receptor is the main...

Introduction: Patients bearing thyroid cancer that have already gone into surgery and 131I therapy that in the follow-up have high thyroglobulin levels and negative 131I whole body scan represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. 99mTc HYNIC Octreotide recognizes somatostatin receptors that are expressed in thyroid cancer. The objective of this paper is to evaluate these patients by means of 99mTc HYNIC Octreotide and to correlate the results with other imaging methods.<...

Objective: Our objective in this study was to identify the type of clinical care received by young type 1 diabetic patients who have made the transition from paediatric to adult care, and to assess the metabolic status of the patients. The research aimed to develop a sustainable and coordinated approach to facilitating the transition between diabetes services for adolescents and reveal from the perspective of the adolescents living with type 1 diabetes their experiences surrou...

In Europe more than 50 million adults are diabetic. Of these, 90–95% have type 2 diabetes (T2D). It is also recognized that an even larger population is insulin resistant and it is thought that treatment at this early phase of the metabolic syndrome may prevent the occurrence of overt diabetes and associated pathologies. We are in the process of developing unacylated ghrelin (UAG) analogues as therapeutics for T2D. Towards this goal, we have used a mouse protocol in which...

Background: Glucocorticoids play a key role in determining body fat distribution. Excess circulating glucocorticoids lead to intrahepatic fat accumulation. Obesity is associated with enhanced glucocorticoid production but this is offset by enhanced degradation such that circulating steroid concentrations are normal. However, tissue-specific pathways may lead to different degrees of cortisol exposure in different organs. Local steroid exposure in the liver is determined by the ...