Endocrine Abstracts

Autoimmune hypophysitis is a rare cause of pituitary failure. It’s aetiology and natural history are not well understood. We present a case of pituitary failure that showed spontaneous resolution of radiological and clinical features, consistent with autoimmune hypophysitis.Case report: An 18 year old male presented with a 7 month history of polyuria and headaches. No significant past medical history or family history were noted. A water deprivation...

Much has been written on the attributes of preoperative localisation and minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP) for primary hyperparathyroidism. A recent 'summary statement from a workshop on asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism: a perspective for the 21st century' (Bilezikian et al, 2002) suggested however that in experienced hands, conventional open parathyroidectomy with visualisation of all four glands was still the gold standard. In light of this we have carried o...

Background: The hypothalamus is a critical area of the brain involved in the regulation of appetite. Cerebellin1 (Cbln1) is a highly conserved 16 amino acid neuropeptide. High levels of Cbln1 mRNA expression are found in specific hypothalamic areas involved in appetite regulation.Aim: To examine the effects of Cbln1 on food intake in rodents.Methods: 1. Ad libitum fed rats were injected intracerebroventricularly (ICV) with Cbln1 (1...

There is evidence that an unbalanced maternal diet, combining a high ratio of protein to carbohydrate with low intakes of folate and green vegetables imposes a metabolic stress on the mother and fetus leading to fetal growth retardation. Because recent studies have shown that high protein maternal diets are associated with raised offspring blood pressure, we have assessed whether this form of unbalanced maternal nutrition is also associated with glucose intolerance.<p clas...

Hydrocortisone is the standard replacement therapy in patients with primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency (AI) but there is no current consensus on the most appropriate replacement dose and the extent to which this varies between individuals. This study examines inter-individual variability in cortisol metabolism in patients taking hydrocortisone therapy and investigates the relationship between plasma and salivary concentrations.Subjects and Method...

Background: The novel peptide prokineticin-2 (PK2) has recently been implicated in the regulation of a number of physiological processes; including regulating gastrointestinal motility, spermatogenesis, neurogenesis and circadian rhythms. PK2 is a cysteine rich protein which mediates its effects via the prokineticin receptors which are expressed in several hypothalamic nuclei known to regulate food intake. We therefore hypothesised that PK2 may be an important endogenous regul...