Endocrine Abstracts

An audit examining self-management skills and pre hospital management of adrenal crisis. This audit was performed following a clinical incident involving an Addison’s patient who suffered and survived a cardiac arrest as a direct result of an adrenal crisis. The patient involved in the initial incident lived close to a major A&E.The paramedic arm of the audit came about after consideration of the geographical nature of this locality. Even if the...

This presentation will describe the case of a 60-year-old woman who,after being hypothyroid for 12 years, developed severe thyroid associated opthalmopathy (TAO) and was found to be hyperthyroid. She had strongly positive anti-TSH receptor antibodies. She developed right optic nerve compression unresponsive to methylprednisolone and requiring orbital decompression at Moorfields Hospital in November 2000. She has subsequently required immunosuppressive therapy for severe TAO af...

Macroprolactin(mPRL)is a high molecular weight form of prolactin(PRL)most commonly due to formation of a complex with IgG.The PRL in mPRL remains reactive in immunoassays for PRL and the complex has a longer plasma half life than monomeric PRL.mPRL is a common cause of hyperprolactinaemia but its origin is not known and the complex has minimal bioactivity in vivo.The clinical significance of hyperprolactinaemia due to mPRL is that it can cause diagnostic confusion and lead to ...

Investigations of bone disorders which are often inherited have yielded important insights in the molecular mechanisms of bone development, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. However, these studies have been hampered by the lack of available patients and affected families. To overcome this limitation, we have investigated mice treated with the chemical mutagen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) for hereditary bone disorders. Mice were kept in accordance with national welf...

We are investigating mice treated with the chemical mutagen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) to establish models for hereditary bone disorders such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and skeletal dysplasias. We report on one such mouse model designated Longpockets (Lpk). Mice were kept in accordance with national welfare guidelines and project license restrictions. Lpk/+ mice are viable and fertile, present with short humeri by two weeks of birth and have a...