Endocrine Abstracts

Ubiquitous in nature, cilia and flagella comprise near identical structures with similar functions. The most obvious example of the latter is motility; driving movement of the organism or particle flow across the epithelial surface in fixed structures. In vertebrates, such motile cilia are evident in the respiratory epithelia, ependyma and oviducts. For over a century, non-motile cilia have been observed on the surface of most vertebrate cells but until recently their function...

Background: Bardet Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by ciliary dysfunction. It is characterised by rod cone dystrophy, polydactyly, renal dysfunction, cognitive impairment. Endocrine consequences are thought to include hypogonadism, obesity and polyuria. However little is known about the endocrine and metabolic abnormalities in adult patients.Methods: One hundred and fifty-four patients with BBS were identified through t...