Endocrine Abstracts

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5–10% of reproductive-aged women and is associated with hyperandrogenism and chronic anovulation. Leukocytes, together with granulosa cells, may contribute to the pathogenesis of PCOS via their ability to secrete an array of cytokines implicated in follicle growth.Aim: Using RT-PCR, we screened for the expression of a range of cytokines in ovarian biopsies obtained from PCOS patients and normal individuals to...

Context: Exogenous oestrogen administration causes prolactinoma formation in rats and there are anecdotal reports of oestrogen treatment and prolactinoma formation in gender reassignment males to females. It remains unclear whether chronic exposure to high dose oestrogen in women is linked with prolactinoma development.Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of high dose subcutaneous estrogen on prolactin and gonadotrophin levels of 101 wo...

Introduction: Recent trials suggest that using ergot-derived dopamine agonists such as cabergoline in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease is associated with an increased risk of valvular heart disease. However, the dose of cabergoline used to treat hyperprolactinaemia is considerably less than that used in Parkinson’s disease.Study design: A cross-sectional study; forty four patients, who received cabergoline for at least 6 months, underwent t...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is common with a suggested prevalence of 6–7% in Caucasian women of reproductive age. The presence of cardiovascular risk factors of obesity, insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia may predispose women with PCOS to coronary heart disease, although this remains controversial. This study aimed to contrast and compare the changes in lipid profile and hs-CRP following treatment with metformin, orlistat and pioglitazone in women with ...

Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a novel class of small noncoding single-stranded RNA molecules 18–24 nucleotides long that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. There is increasing evidence of their importance in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), with their differential expression depending on obesity. There is recent evidence that miRNA-93 and mi-RNA-223 may have a role to play in the modulation of insulin resistance, through GLUT4 modulation in...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are both associated with the metabolic syndrome and are each associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Endothelial function, an early feature in the development of atherosclerosis, has been shown to be abnormal in both PCOS and NAFLD.The aim of this study was to determine if NAFLD conferred additional cardiovascular risk compared to PCOS alone.<p class="ab...

Background: Obesity is associated with increased insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and increased cardiovascular risk leading to atherosclerosis. Bariatric surgery has been shown to improve some of these factors in obese patients with glucose intolerance. A form of bariatric surgery is the Roux-en-Y procedure which can result in greater weight loss and restriction with less malabsorption than other procedures (such as the bilious-pancreatic diversion); but the effect of some ...

Background: The insulin stress test (IST) is accepted as the gold standard investigation of the hypothalamio-pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA). The short synacthen test (SST) has been advocated as an alternative to the IST. Fatigue can be a common presenting symptom of patients suffering from abnormalities in the HPA axis.Methods: We audited the results of ISTs following failed SSTs for the assessment of patients who present with symptoms of fatigue. We ...

A 73 years old female presented in 2005 with 8 year history of face and body hirsutism. Examination confirmed hirsutism but there were no other masculinization features. Her initial investigations revealed a high testosterone of 13 nmol/l, normal androstenedione, DHEA-S and 17 hydroxy progesterone. CT and U/S of pelvis and abdomen, showed normal adrenals, ovaries and a large calcified uterine fibroid. Urinary steroid metabolites ruled out adrenal testosterone source and exogen...

SOM230 is one of the long-acting somatostatin analogues, which has been developed for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumours. Recently we found that SOM230 inhibits the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The aim of this study is to further investigate its antiproliferative effect using adult human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) and human dermal microvessel endothelial cells (HDMECs). The expression of SSTRs and the potential mechanism were obs...