Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To audit the investigation and diagnosis of severe hyponatraemia (serum sodium ≤125 mmol/l) in elderly (age ≥65 years) medical in-patients admitted with this problem.Method: Standards for the investigation and diagnosis of hyponatraemia were designed after literature review and discussions with local endocrinologists. Elderly patients with hyponatraemia on admission were identified retrospectively over a 12 month period from the la...

Attenuated glucoprivic feeding responses are a feature of hypoglycaemic unawareness in insulin-treated diabetes. Glucose alters the activity of hypothalamic neurones involved in regulating appetite. Arcuate nucleus (ARC) Neuropeptide Y (NPY) releasing neurones stimulate feeding. The identification of glucose-sensitive NPY releasing hypothalamic neurones suggests a strong role for these neurones in mediating changes in appetite induced by alterations of glucose. To gain a bette...