Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Rats on a free-choice (fc) diet of saturated fat and liquid sugar in addition to chow (fcHFHS) overeat persistently, and show increased hypothalamic neuropeptide Y and decreased melanocortin signaling, which reflects a hunger state despite hyperphagia. This response is specific for a fcHFHS diet, because when given the choice between fat and chow (fcHF) or between liquid sugar and chow (fcHS) hyperphagia is not observed. Because leptin signaling is important for th...

TSH activates the TSH receptor (TSHR) thereby stimulating the function of thyroid follicular cells (thyrocytes) leading to biosynthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones. Because TSHR is involved in several thyroid pathologies there is a strong rationale for the design of small molecule ‘drug-like’ ligands (SMLs).rhTSH (ThyrogenR) has been used in the follow-up of patients with thyroid cancer to increase the sensitivity for detection...

The IGFs are present ubiquitously at very high levels throughout the body and affect virtually every aspect of cell function. These high levels are maintained due to their association with 6 distinct binding proteins (IGFBP-1 to -6) which specifically bind IGFs (but not insulin). The IGFs are not stored within any cells but are stored in the circulation due to their binding to IGFBP-3 which then results in its association with a large glycoprotein, the acid labile subunit (ALS...

Vitamin D deficiency is very common in India. Doctors are vulnerable to Vitamin D deficiency since they are almost always indoors. The purpose of this study was to assess the Vitamin D status among doctors in a tertiary referral centre in Kerala, a southern state of India.Methods: Levels of Vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and parathyroid hormone were assessed among 82 doctors and 50 healthy control subjects using ChemiLuminescence i...

Background: Asian has higher prevalence of diabetic nephropathy and end-stage renal disease as compared to Caucasian. No study to date has evaluated whether multifactorial intervention was associated with remission of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetic Asian population. We evaluated the effect of tightly controlling multiple factors on the remission of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetic Chinese with microalbuminuria.Materials and methods: A total o...

Background: The incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide with recent European data suggesting annual increases ranging from 0.6 to 9.3%, the overall rate being 3.9%. It was thought that the Republic of Ireland (ROI) had one of the lowest disease incidences in Europe. The first Irish study of T1DM incidence which provided a measure of case ascertainment, confirmed a high incidence rate (IR) at 16.6 per 100 000 placing this population, in the upper quartile ...

A 63-year-old type 2 diabetic gentleman with paranoid schizophrenia presented in October 2008 with systemic sepsis arising from multiple neuropathic foot ulcers. Foot MRI confirmed extensive osteomyelitic change. This admission followed two previous similar episodes which culminated in surgical debridement of the ulcers and amputation of the second and third toe of his left foot. Post-operatively, as his condition improved he was unable to comply with IV antibiotics, VAC dress...

Introduction: Despite adequate treatment with LT4 monotherapy, many patients with primary hypothyroidism still report complaints, as this treatment can not exactly imitate the endogenous homeostasis. We examined whether the different domains of HR-QOL were affected by the existence of a thyroid disorder and use of LT4 substitution, and whether a lower ratio of free triiodothyronine (fT3)–free thyroxine (fT4)</sup...

Aims/hypothesis: Several data have shown the association between diabetes type 2 (DM2) and transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene polymorphisms, in several and different ethnical populations. Although the pathophysiology is not completely clear, it seems that beta and alpha cell functions are abnormal. Up to these days there is no clinical data showing association between TCF7L2 gene polymorphism allele rs7903146 T and beta cell insulin and C-peptide contents in DM2 patie...

Background: β-thalassemia is associated with increased iron overload in endocrine tissues, including parathyroid glands. The occurrence of unbalanced calcium (Ca)-phosphorous (P) metabolism, such as chronic HPT, is higher in these patients compared to the general population. However, data about prevalence and presentation of HPT in this setting are scanty.Aim: To explore the biochemical characteristics of Ca-P metabolism, particularly the prevalence...