Endocrine Abstracts

Cessation of hGH in GH deficient children generally occurs when final adult height has been obtained.Commonly, transition to adult clinics occurs in late teenage years,a time when patients are studying for A-levels, entering higher education or full time employment. It had been noticed that some patients were not doing as well in these areas as had been expected but that when adult hGH was commenced their performance improved.The aim of this audit was to try and investigate wh...

The excess androgen levels in women with PCOS may be ovarian and/or adrenal in origin and one proposed contributing mechanism is an alteration in cortisol metabolism. Increased peripheral cortisol metabolism, either by enhanced inactivation of cortisol by 5alpha-reductase or impaired reactivation of cortisol by 11b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11bHSD type 1), results in decreased negative feedback suppression of ACTH secretion maintaining normal plasma cortisol concentrations...

The neuroendocrine and immune systems are closely linked, and cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), secreted by immune cells or neighbouring pituicytes, may have important local effects on pituitary function to modulate endocrine mechanisms of regulation.We have analysed the transcriptional regulation of the human prolactin (hPRL) gene promoter by TNF-alpha. Using stably transfected GH3 cells expressing luciferase und...

Background: Asprosin is a novel adipokine involved in appetite and glucose regulation. During obesity, circulating asprosin is increased, which leads to increased inflammation and can disrupt cellular functions such as mitochondrial respiration. Asthma is a comorbidity of obesity, with both diseases sharing an inflammatory profile and mitochondrial dysfunction. This study investigated the molecular links between asthma and obesity, by exploring whether asprosin causes mitochon...