Endocrine Abstracts

Regulators are concerned about the potential for environmental chemicals such as agrochemicals and their metabolites to perturb hormone systems. This has led to recommendations for the testing of potential endocrine disrupting chemicals1. The Steroidogenesis H295R assay is an in vitro cell model used to investigate compound effects on steroid hormone biosynthesis, specifically 17β-estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T). The human H295R adreno-carcinoma ce...

Although it is becoming increasingly clear that testosterone exerts an inhibitory influence on stress-induced adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and corticosterone release, where and how this occurs in the brain remains poorly understood. We previously determined that androgen receptors are not distributed within anterior pituitary communicating neurons of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus (Bingham et al. J Comp Neurol 2006). However, they are contained with...

Primary adrenal lymphoma is an extremely rare type of lymphoma. There have been only about 200 cases described in the literature so far. About a half of patients can present with adrenal insufficiency. We report a case of a 70- year-old previously fit and well patient referred to Endocrinology services after a CT scan of her adrenal showed bilateral adrenal masses right measuring 6 cm and left measuring 9 cm. CT was performed as she complained of 9 kilograms weight loss in las...

Background: Birth control is widely encouraged to prevent unwanted pregnancies and around two-third of women use contraception. Prescribed contraceptives may result in amenorrhoea or withdrawal bleeds which can mask the initial symptoms of many endocrine disorders delaying diagnosis and treatment.Case Summary: A 43-year old Filipino female nurse was referred for headache, uncontrolled hypertension, weight gain, hirsutism and acne with raised serum testos...

A previously fit and well 49-year-old gentleman presented to hospital with vomiting and myalgia. Three weeks previously he had been admitted with acute pancreatitis, but no cause was found. An incidental hypercalcaemia was also noted at that time. He had lost approximately two stone in weight in the previous three months and had become more short of breath on exertion. He had a strong family history for type I diabetes mellitus, but otherwise there was no significant history.<...

A 20-year-old gentleman with an established diagnosis of Chronic fatigue syndrome was admitted to hospital with palpitations and shortness of breath on exertion. He had been taking ‘healthy supplements’ for his ME for a year. On examination, he was noted to be tachycardic with a heart rate of 120–150 beats/minute. ECG confirmed sinus tachycardia. Further investigations revealed a free thyroxine (fT4) of 29.4 pmol/l and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH...

A 21-year-old female patient was referred from the eye clinic after she was noted to have bilateral papilloedema during a routine eye examination. She gave a 3 months history of intermittent headaches and fleeting episodes of profuse sweating and rash, unrelated to the headaches. She had been investigated by the GP with routine blood tests which were found to be normal.On examination, she was noted to be tachycardic at 100 beats/min and hypertensive at 1...

Adrenal Leiomyomas are very rare tumours. 20 cases have been reported to date. Their management remains difficult and challenging. They tend to present with flank or abdominal pain and have very little biochemical activity, if any.Case presentation: We present a case of a young 44 year old female. She was referred to Endocrinology services with a history of 2 weeks abdominal pain. She underwent an ultrasound organised in primary care which was suspicious...

Various haematological abnormalities have been reported to be associated with treatment of hyperthyroidism. The Association between neutropenia and untreated hyperthyroidism has been described although the aetiology is unknown, but thought to be related to autoimmunity.Case: A 41 year old Nepalese lady presented with a three month history of poor sleep and loss of weight. She was found to be thyrotocxic with T4 of 64 mol/l (10–24), T...

The dampening of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis responses to a repeated stress is termed HPA habituation. We investigated here the effects of two commonly used repeated restraint stress paradigms, in which rats are exposed either to 10 episodes of 0.5 h restraint or 5 episodes of 3 h restraint. We compared ACTH, corticosterone, and testosterone responses, as well as corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) mRNA levels within bra...