Endocrine Abstracts

Case history: An asymptomatic 26-year-old female was found to have hypercalcaemia with an associated normal PTH and vitamin D deficiency on blood tests in primary care. She was referred to the endocrinology clinic for further assessment. There was no history of renal calculi, constipation or fractures. The patient was taking the combined oral contraceptive pill only. There was a family history of hypercalcaemia, with an uncle affected in his 50s and a first cousin in his 20s. ...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is associated with poor health outcomes. This is, in part, because doses of glucocorticoid sufficient to suppress excess adrenal androgens are also associated with adverse metabolic effects such as insulin resistance. This toxicity occurs with efficacious doses of all commonly prescribed glucocorticoids (hydrocortisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone). However, the glucocorticoid corticosterone may have an improved therapeutic index because...

Case history: A 55 year-old female presented to A&E with left iliac fossa pain and vomiting, 8 days following her first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. She had a background of hypothyroidism, hypertension and hysterectomy for menorrhagia at age 25 – no prior thrombotic history. She underwent emergency laparoscopy for suspected torsion, which was converted to laparotomy for ovarian necrosis secondary to left ovarian vein thrombosis. Post-operatively, isolated...

Background: Corticosteroid Binding Globulin (CBG) binds >85% of plasma cortisol and controls the circulating free cortisol pool. Proteolytic cleavage by neutrophil elastase is proposed to reduce CBG binding affinity and increase free cortisol availability to inflamed tissues. The CORtisol NETwork (CORNET) consortium found that genetic variation at a locus spanning SERPINA1 (encoding alpha-1 antitrypsin, A1AT, the endogenous inhibitor of neutrophil elastase) and SE...

Background: The 2013 Scottish Diabetes Survey demonstrated that only 22% of individuals with type 1 diabetes have optimal glycaemic control, defined as a HbA1c <58 mmol/mol. The 2014 Diabetes Improvement Plan in Scotland prioritised, ‘improving the care and outcomes of all people living with type 1 diabetes’. Scotland’s Diabetes Education Advisory Group has now been established. Accordingly, the Fife Insulin and Food Education for Diabetes (FIFE Diabetes) st...

Introduction: Corticosteroid Binding Globulin (CBG) binds >85% of plasma cortisol and modulates free cortisol levels. Observations in vitro show that CBG is cleaved by neutrophil elastase (NE), a mechanism proposed to reduce CBG binding affinity and increase free cortisol availability to inflamed tissues. However, detection of cleaved CBG in vivo in human plasma is controversial, and any influence of NE on CBG cleavage has not been tested in vivo...

Background: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) PET is commonly used to quantify brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass/activity in humans but requires cold exposure. Rodent brown (BAds) but not white adipocytes (WAds) exhibit high choline content, thus we hypothesised that human BAT would demonstrate substantial 18F-fluorocholine (18FCH) uptake in vivo during warm and cold conditions.Methods: (1)...