Endocrine Abstracts

For the last two decades this laboratory has been investigating the states of vitamin D and gonadal steroid hormone resistance in New World primate (platyrrhine) species. Hormone resistance results from the constitutive over-expression of proteins in the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A and C families. These proteins, originally considered to bind and 'stabilize' single strand pre-mRNAs destined for translation, also bind DNA, regulating both the transcription...

GH deficiency is believed to adversely impair skeletal health. In this study bone mass and architecture was assessed using DXA & pQCT. 30 GHD adults (peak GH to stimulation 0.33 to 2.4 mcg/l), 24 GHI adults (peak GH 1.6 to 6.7 mcg/l), and 30 controls comprised the study population.BMD (areal and volumetric), bone size, and architecture, were not significantly different from those of control subjects in either the GHD or GHI, AO groups. CO GHD adults ...

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the extent of change in total body water (TBW) and nature of its relationship with changes in body composition, measured by direct methods, during physiological GH replacement in severely GHD adults.METHODS: Thirty (16 female, age range 17-65 years) severely GHD adults were studied. Patients with diabetes insipidus, cardiovascular or renal disease requiring diuretic therapy were excluded. Patients with other pituitary deficits had ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the quality of life improvement, observed with long-term physiological GH replacement, is correlated with favourable changes in body composition or total body water (TBW) measured by direct methods.METHODS: Thirty (16 female, age range 17-65 years) severely GHD adults were studied. Patients with diabetes insipidus, cardiovascular or renal disease requiring diuretic therapy were excluded. Patients with additional pituitary ...

The diagnosis of GHD is based on GH stimulation tests. The test of choice is the ITT and a peak GH response of less than 9mU/L is considered diagnostic of GHD. Peak GH values of less than 20mU/L during an ITT are infrequently observed in healthy adults. In hypopituitary patients a peak GH values to the ITT of 9-20 mU/L likely represents a state of partial GHD, or GH insufficiency (GHI). To investigate if patients with GHI have similar features to GHD adults we assessed body co...

A 31 year old man with a 12 month history of uncontrolled hypertension was referred for further investigation. He complained of easy bruising, muscle weakness and severe back and hip pains. Clinical signs included cushingnoid facies, centripetal obesity, atrophic skin, peripheral oedema and BP of 150/104. Initial investigations confirmed Cushing's syndrome with 24 hour urinary free cortisol 696 nanomols per litre and 9am plasma cortisol 658 nanomols per litre following midnigh...

Osteoporosis is considered to be a cardinal feature of Cushing's syndrome with a reported incidence as high as 90%. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of baseline bone mineral density (BMD) in 21 patients (4 males) aged 19-63 (median, 37) years with untreated Cushing's syndrome. 18 patients had pituitary dependent disease and 3 adrenal adenomas. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) was used to measure the BMD at the lumbar spine (L1-L4), left femoral neck (LFN) and tot...

A South Asian woman aged 44 years presented with longstanding hirsutism. Her periods had always been regular and she had two children. She had been treated with spironolactone and Dianette without clinical benefit and the hirsutism was managed cosmetically. Investigations showed a high serum testosterone of 6.1 nmol/l ( 1-3nmol/l) and androstenedione 25nmol/l (2-10nmol/l). Serum sex hormone binding globulin was elevated at 96 nmol/l (23-85nmol/l), with normal DHEA sulphate, 4....

BackgroundSomatostatin (sst) acts via a series of 5 G-coupled receptors (sstr1-5) which control exocrine and endocrine secretions and also regulate cellular proliferation and apoptosis in many parts of the body. Recent experimental data suggests that sst plays a roles in ovarian function and the synthetic sstr agonists octreotide has been used in the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome. We have investigated the expression of somatostatin receptors (...

Ageing is associated with sarcopenia, osteoporosis and an increased risk of falling, which together contribute to increased fracture risk. There are few data describing the associations between functional measures of muscle and bone during ageing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine in ageing men associations between measures of lower-limb muscle strength and age and then to investigate the relationships with tibial bone outcomes.Men (n</...