Endocrine Abstracts

The gonadotrophin hormones comprise a common alpha subunit and a hormone specific beta subunit and their expression profiles differ during pituitary ontogeny. The transcriptional regulatory cascade that is required to mediate this is largely unknown. However, perturbation of the expression of homeodomain transcription factors, Paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 1 (Pitx1) and Homeobox gene expressed in embryonic stem cells 1 (Hesx1) disparately affects gonadotrophin g...

Objective: The terminology used to describe abnormalities of sex determination and sex differentiation was revised in 2006. It was anticipated that new terms, such as “disorder of sex development” (DSD), would improve communication between health professionals, aid parental understanding and be acceptable to affected individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the new terminology has been an improvement compared to previous nomenclature.<p clas...

Many marine sponges have been shown to produce metabolites with cell growth and endocrine altering activities. We tested crude extracts (1.0 mg/ml) from two species (AV and SB) for effects on levels of an important cell cycle regulatory protein, cyclin B1; cell cycle growth-phase (sub-G1/Apoptosis, G1, S, and G2/M), as well as on cell survival in SW-13 human adrenal carcinoma cultures. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis studies of cyclin B1 levels indicate a 60-90 % reduction ...

Bone mineral density (BMD) is a highly heritable trait. We sought to investigate site and gender specificity of BMD inheritance in general pedigrees.Probands with primary osteoporosis and low BMD relative to an age- and sex- matched cohort (z-score <-2.0 at either lumbar spine (LS) or femoral neck (FN)) were identified from the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (Oxford UK) (45 male, 102 female). All available first- and second-degree relatives were recrui...

The effects of N-terminal parathyroid hormone (PTH) and parathyroid hormone related peptides (PTHrP) on the spontaneous contractility of 4 days pregnant mouse uterus in vitro were investigated. The myometrial tissue contracted vigorously for several hours, when incubated in organ baths in De Jalon's solution. PTH(1-34) and PTHrP(1-40) caused similar dose related inhibitions of contractions over a dose range of 10-9 to 10-7 M. C terminal PTHrP(107-139) was devoid of this...

Visfatin is a controversial molecule secreted from adipose tissue and known to be positively correlated with body mass. Previous reports have suggested that visfatin interacts with the insulin receptor signalling pathway. Due to its high expression in visceral fat tissue and its initial reported insulin sensitising effects it has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, although this link has yet to be well established. Since insulin receptors are ...

Background: Birth weight has important consequences for later health, including the development of the metabolic syndrome. Tissue sensitivity to cortisol is regulated, in part, by the GR and alterations in its expression occur in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Low birth weight is associated with increased fat mass and down-regulation of PPARα, in skeletal muscle of neonatal pigs.Objectives: To examine whether birth weight influences GR or PPARα m...

Surgical management for parathyroid disease worldwide is on the rise. Hand in hand, parathyroid surgery has evolved from the classical bilateral approach to the more focussed unilateral approach. The failure rate in the best of hands continues to be 3–4% but this figure may rise as Minimally Invasive Surgical techniques are universally adopted.Accurate pathological diagnosis to differentiate parathyroid adenomas from hyperplasia continues to be diff...

The effects of radiotherapy, one of the main options currently available for cancer therapy, depend on various factors, including the dose and the radiosensitivity of tumour cells. Radiotherapy is known to induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells, but the effects of irradiation on components of the intracellular pathways involved in apoptosis and survival are largely unknown. BAD, which is a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family plays a central role in the interaction betwee...

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the potentially curable cause of high-risk hypertension in 5-10% of unselected patients. Diagnosis and lateralisation of PA is challenging and complex. Outcomes post total adrenalectomy, the standard treatment for unilateral aldosterone producing adenomas (APAs), are variable. Between 30-60% are cured (1), but prediction of outcome is unreliable, and some patients are reluctant to have abdominal surgery to remove a whole adrenal gland. Endoscopic ...