Endocrine Abstracts

Craniopharyngioma is a rare and benign type of tumour derived from squamous cell nests of the primitive Rathke’s pouch of the pituitary gland. Commonly present in childhood, it is also found in adults in their 50s and 60s. People may initially present with vision disturbance, usually bitemporal inferior quadrantanopia, progressing to bitemporal hemianopsia as the tumour grows and compresses on the optic chiasm. Although a slow-growing tumour, both the disorder and therapy...

Premature ovarian failure (POF) is defined as cessation of menstruation before the expected age of menopause. The disorder is considerable heterogeneous with a wide spectrum of causes- genetic, autoimmune, metabolic, infectious, and iatrogenic. However, etiology remains to be elucidated in most cases.Chromosomal abnormalities have long been recognized as frequent causes of POF. However, few large cohorts have been studied. Ethnic background is usually no...

Skeletal muscle is the principal tissue responsible for insulin-stimulated glucose disposal and is thus the major site of peripheral insulin resistance. Urocortin 2 (Ucn-2), a corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) family member and the type 2 CRF receptor (CRFR2) are highly expressed in skeletal muscle. To determine the physiological role of Ucn-2, we generated mice deficient in this peptide. Using glucose and insulin tolerance tests and hyperinsulinemic euglycemic glucose clam...

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility and efficacy of US-guided microwave ablation on primary hyperparathyrodism patients who were excluded from surgical treatment.Materials and methods: From May 2014 to December 2017, 30 parathyroid nodules of 25 patients underwent percutaneous ultrasound-guided MWA in our department. Contrast enhanced ultrasonography, 99Tmc-MIBI test, laboratory data and clinical symptoms were evaluated before therapy; 2 h...

Objective: Ovarian cryopreservation is an emerging technique that may advance breeding of endangered species and preservation of reproductive capacity in young women cancer patients who will undergo chemo/radiotherapy destruction of ovarian tissue.Materials and methods: A total of twelve mature female rabbits were used in experiment. Rabbits were anesthetized and then subjected to laparotomy. Bilateral oophorectomy was used to save one ovary as fresh con...

Previously, we demonstrated that progesterone (P4) could enhance breast cancer cell migration through increasing formation of the p27-RhoA complex and RhoA activation caused by the cSrc/AKT-mediated phosphorylation of p27 at T198. Here, we further examined the effect of P4 on breast cancer cell proliferation. Our results show that P4 (12.5–100 nM) concentration-dependently enhanced proliferation in breast cancer cell lines (T47D and MCF-7). We also found that increases of...

Background: Hypokalaemia (potassium below 3.5 mmol/l) is a common electrolyte abnormality associated with cardiac instability and myopathies. Untreated hypokalaemia can lead to inpatient morbidity and mortality.1Aim: To review the management of hypokalaemia, in terms of potassium replacement therapy, potassium-level monitoring and cardiac monitoring, in Maidstone hospital.Methods: A cross-sectional study of inpatients wi...

We previously reported that calycosin, a natural phytoestrogen structurally similar to estrogen, successfully triggered apoptosis of ER-positive breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. To better understand the antitumor activities of calycosin against breast cancer, besides MCF-7 cells, another ER-positive cell line T-47D was analyzed here, with ER-negative cell lines (MDA-231 and MDA-435) as control. Notably, calycosin led to inhibited cell viability and apoptosis only in ER-positive...

Orexins, acting via their receptors, are involved in the control of feeding, sleep-wakefulness, arousal, neuroendocrine homeostasis and autonomic regulation. However, the 5′ structure and regulation of human orexin type 2 receptor (OX2R) gene remains is not known. We present original findings regarding the 5′ structural organization of the human OX2R gene and identify four OX2R mRNA transcripts that differ in their 5′-untranslated region (UTR). The four trans...

Orexins, acting via their receptors, are involved in the control of feeding, sleep-wakefulness, arousal, neuroendocrine homeostasis and autonomic regulation. However, the 5′ structure and regulation of human orexin type 2 receptor (OX2R) gene remains is not known. We present original findings regarding the 5′ structural organization of the human OX2R gene and identify four OX2R mRNA transcripts that differ in their 5′-untranslated region (UTR). The four trans...