Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: to investigate whether periconceptual undernutrition in sheep alters the timing and activation of the fetal HPA axis and thus pregnancy duration. Preterm birth is a major health problem, but its causes are poorly understood.Methods: Twentyeight nulliparous ewes were randomly assigned to an ad libitum (N, n=8) or restricted diet (maternal body weight reduced by 15-20%; UN, N=10) from 61 d before to 30 d after mating. Therea...

A 45-year-old lady presented with a 12-month history of blurred vision. Visual assessment revealed a bitemporal hemianopia and CT scan demonstrated a large pituitary tumour with lateral and suprasellar extension. A GTT showed her growth hormone was raised basally at 7.5 milliunits per litre and incompletely suppressed to 5.7 milliunits per litre confirming acromegaly. Transsphenoidal hypophysectomy was performed. Histology confirmed a somatoptroph adenoma. Post operatively she...

A 34-year-old woman, presented to her General Practitioner with hot flushes. Investigations showed her to have a normal LH, FSH, free T4 and TSH. Her prolactin was elevated at 1110 milliunits per litre (NR <350 ). She had a normal menarche age 14 and had regular 28 day menstrual cycles. Before the onset of the hot flushes she had started to take agnus castus, a herbal remedy said to help symptoms of premenstrual tension.Whilst she continued to take ...

A 67 yr old lady was admitted with left ventricular failure, angina, and atrial fibrillation. She was hypokalaemic (2.5mmol/l). There was a 3 year history of hypertension and a new diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. There was a recent history of weight gain, muscle weakness, bruising and facial puffiness. On examination she appeared cushingoid. A 24 hour urine for free cortisol was 1438nmol\/24h (normal<350). A basal 0800h serum cortisol was 1061nmol/l. After low dose dexameth...

Gout, which is commonly associated with hyperuricaemia, affects 0.2% of the population. Hyperuricaemia has a heterogeneous aetiology that may be due to either over production and/or reduced renal clearance, of urate. In order to identify the mechanisms underlying reduced excretion of urate, we undertook positional cloning studies of familial juvenile hyperuricaemic nephropathy (FJHN), which is an autosomal dominant disorder characterised by hyperuricaemia, a low fractional ren...