Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Cardiovascular disease accounts for about one-third of all premature deaths (ie, age <70) in Cuba. Yet, the relevance of major risk factors, including diabetes, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and body-mass index (BMI), to cardiovascular mortality in this population remains unclear.Methods: In 1996–2002, 146,556 adults were recruited from the general population in five areas of Cuba. Participants were interviewed, measured (height, we...

Since the introduction of national BSPED DKA guidelines we wondered whether the previous variability in DKA guidelines would be abolished.Aim: To explore the variability of guidelines in three regional diabetes networks in South West (SW) and South Central England and to compare them to the current BSPED guidelines.Methods: Within an audit of in-patient care, a copy of the DKA guidelines was requested from 27 services. General layo...

Introduction: DSD includes variations in the development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex and can be subdivided into (XY DSD, XX DSD, and sex chromosomal DSD). Most presentations occur in the neonatal period with atypical genitalia or discordant phenotype and antenatal genotype, but later presentations occur raising complex diagnostic and clinical management issues.Objective: To characterise the etiological, cl...

Talking to children about sex development has never been easy and for professionals or for parents. The spectre of the Optimal Sex of Rearing theory from the 50s and 60’s an awareness of gender fluidity with the range of possible futures for each child we see can silence us. If we don’t let a child know about the surprises their body has in store for them what difficulties do we store up for them? Standard advice for talking to children is to communicate in a develop...

Hypothalamic inflammation has been the focus of an increasing number of studies in recent years as it is thought to underlie the pathogenesis of obesity-associated insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. These studies have also highlighted the role of glial cells in metabolic control, due to the fact that both microglia and astrocytes are involved in central inflammatory processes. High fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity has been the most commonly used model for the analysis of th...

At 39 I was diagnosed with Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) and commenced on Prednisolone by my Endocrinology team. There followed 18 months under my local Eye Hospital. I was started on Azathioprine. The Prednisolone was then gradually decreased to nil and then the Azathioprine decreased to nil. Now that my TED was inactive I transferred to Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH). In 1 year I had bilateral lateral wall decompressions, bilateral upper lid surgery & bilateral lower lid surg...

Diabetes control is poor in children in the UK with fewer than 20% of children achieving target HbAlc levels. Multiple injection therapy and insulin pumps produce the most physiological blood glucose control but both require the child to have blood glucose testing and insulin dosing at each meal and most snacks, and therefore at school. There are often huge obstacles to setting appropriate support in place in schools, particularly in children who are too young to perform their...

Introduction: Thyroid carcinomas are uncommon, accounting for approximately 1% of all new malignant disease. They include a wide range of disease types, of these 65% of thyroid cancers are papillary with a peak incidence in the 30–40 year age group and women are 2–3 times more frequently affected than men. Follicular cancer accounts for 30%, which occurs mainly in the 50+ age group. Another 4% are medullary thyroid carcinoma which occurs equally in men and women. Ana...

The concept of gender identity is uniquely human. Hence we are left with the phenomenon of men and women suffering from Gender Dysphoria (GD) also known as transsexualism to study the origins of gender identity in humans. It has been hypothesized that atypical levels of sex steroids during a perinatal critical period of neuronal sexual differentiation may be involved in the development of GD. In order to test this hypothesis, we investigated brain structure and function in ind...

Our health and wellbeing are influenced by numerous factors, including our early developmental hormonal and nutritional environments. Indeed, modifications of hormones and nutrition during specific developmental periods can have long-lasting effects on fundamental functions such as metabolism and reproduction, with these long-term changes often being sex dependent. Moreover, modifications in one neuroendocrine system can have an important impact on other neuroendocrine axes, a...