Endocrine Abstracts

Erratic release of insulin accounts from periodic nature of the symptoms in insulinoma. Islet-amyloid polypeptide has been demonstrated in human insulin producing tumours- insulinoma. Presence of amyloid tissue has been demonstrated in pancreatic islets in patients with diabetes mellitus. Impaired islet function is a feature of diabetes mellitus. Hyperglycaemia, as in diabetes, enhances amylin secretion. Presence of insulinoma has been documented in past but insulionoma presen...

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The principal physiological effect of the anterior pituitary hormone prolactin is to stimulate milk production during lactation. However, recombinant mouse prolactin (PRL) has recently been shown to have an antidiuretic effect when the normal antidiuretic hormone, vasopressin, is either absent from the circulation or its secretion inhibited(1). The present study was designed to investigate whether this antidiuretic effect of prolactin was mediated by changes in the glomerular ...

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH, Müllerian inhibiting substance) is a protein hormone expressed by the Sertoli cells of the testes and the granulosa cells of the ovaries. AMH is best known for its paracrine functions in reproductive organ development and function. The hormonal roles of AMH are largely unexplored, but functions are emerging in growth and brain development. To date, there is no putative function for AMH in the blood of adults. AMH belongs to the TGF-β...

Short synacthen tests (SST) are used to investigate patients with suspected HPA pathology and a rise of serum total cortisol > 550nmol/L is accepted as demonstrating sufficient cortisol reserve. However, cortisol is 80% bound to cortisol binding globulin (CBG) and therefore abnormal values of CBG can influence serum total cortisol used to interpret dynamic tests of the HPA axis. The free cortisol index (FCI) is a surrogate marker for serum free cortisol and is defined as s...

Clinical case: 24-year-old student nurse referred to the liver unit with a 6-month history of pyrexia, cognitive dysfunction and abnormal liver function tests. ERCP was normal; CT scan suggested multiple liver deposits; histology showed both fatty infiltration and focal cholangitis. Medical history included type 1 diabetes since age 7yrs; an unusual skin rash that spontaneously remitted 4 years previously; recurrent vulval ulceration, variously ascribed to candida and/or excor...