Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: A breech presentation occurs in 3–5% of all full-term pregnancies and is associated with increased risk of maternal and foetal morbidity. Factors known to increase the risk of breech presentation include prematurity, low birth weight and multiple pregnancies. Recent studies suggest maternal thyroid hormone deficiency in late pregnancy may also be a risk factor. Our study aims to assess if a breech presentation at 36 weeks gestation in a healthy singleton coh...

Introduction: Iodine is important for thyroid hormone synthesis, and iodine deficiency in pregnancy may impair foetal neurological development. Perchlorate, found in some foods and everyday chemicals (e.g. fertilisers) and thiocyanate, which is found in cigarette smoke, decrease the transport of iodine from the circulation to the thyroid cells by inhibiting the sodium-iodide symporter. Environmental exposure to these substances during pregnancy may result in reduced thyroid ho...

Introduction: Iodine is important for thyroid hormone synthesis, and iodine deficiency in pregnancy may impair foetal neurological development. Perchlorate, found in some foods and everyday chemicals (e.g. fertilisers) and thiocyanate, which is found in cigarette smoke, decrease the transport of iodine from the circulation to the thyroid cells by inhibiting the sodium-iodide symporter. Environmental exposure to these substances during pregnancy may result in reduced thyroid ho...

Background: Sporadic and familial autosomal dominant non-autoimmune hyperthyroidism (S/FANH) is caused by activating germline mutations in the TSH Receptor (TSHR) gene. These patients lack TSHR-Ab, show diffuse uptake on radionuclide thyroid scan and often lack positive family history due to variable penetrance. Because of these overlapping features, S/FANH is difficult to distinguished from Graves’ disease without autoimmune features. Ther...

Background: Sporadic and familial autosomal dominant non-autoimmune hyperthyroidism (S/FANH) is caused by activating germline mutations in the TSH Receptor (TSHR) gene. These patients lack TSHR-Ab, show diffuse uptake on radionuclide thyroid scan and often lack positive family history due to variable penetrance. Because of these overlapping features, S/FANH is difficult to distinguished from Graves’ disease without autoimmune features. Ther...

Changes in glycan composition are common in cancer and can play important roles in all of the recognised hallmarks of cancer (1). We recently identified glycosylation as a global target for androgen control in prostate cancer cells and further defined a set of 8 glycosylation enzymes (GALNT7, ST6GalNAc1, GCNT1, UAP1, PGM3, CSGALNACT1, ST6GAL1 and EDEM3), which are also significantly up-regulated in prostate cancer tissue (4). These 8 enzymes are under direct control of the and...