Endocrine Abstracts

Nausea/vomiting induced by smoke inhalation is a common phenomenon, possibly explaining why many people who have a naturally strong reaction rarely take up smoking tobacco. The tachykinins are an ancient family of bioactive peptides distinguished by the common C-terminal motif, Phe-X-Gly-Leu-Met-amide. In humans, there are four members: substance P (SP), endokinin (EK) also known as hemokinin (HK), neurokinin A and neurokinin B, which sig...

Nausea/vomiting induced by smoke inhalation is a common phenomenon, possibly explaining why many people who have a naturally strong reaction rarely take up smoking tobacco. The tachykinins are an ancient family of bioactive peptides distinguished by the common C-terminal motif, Phe-X-Gly-Leu-Met-amide. In humans, there are four members: substance P (SP), endokinin (EK) also known as hemokinin (HK), neurokinin A and neurokinin B, which sig...

Plasma adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) is extremely labile and far from an ideal analyte for use in the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome. Processing of ACTH by some ectopic tumours releases high levels of smaller ACTH-like fragments, α-MSH and CLIP, which can interfere with individual antibodies in current diagnostic immunoassays. Furthermore, cross-reactivity with the precursor of ACTH, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), increases the likelihood of erroneous interpretations an...