Endocrine Abstracts

Fetal brain development depends on thyroid hormone and children born to mothers with low thyroid hormone levels have decreased cognitive function. Nineteen per cent of children born to mothers known to have a high TSH during gestation had an IQ <80 compared to 5% of children born to mothers known to have normal TSH levels in pregnancy (P<0.001; Haddow et al. 1999).We conducted a randomized trial of antenatal hypothyroidism screening...

There is no doubt that the use of a syringe and needle has led to an important cost effective strategy for the investigation of thyroid nodules by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) with cytological examination of the aspirate. A recent European Thyroid Association survey found that 99% of respondents used FNAB (Bennedbaek et al 1999). However, there are limitations of FNAB including false negatives, false positives, inadequate specimens and reporting, accessibility of nodul...

The cardiac effects of subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH i.e. increased circulating TSH with normal T4) have been documented. While overt hypothyroidism causes increased central arterial stiffness (CAS) and augmentation gradient (AI) 1, there are only limited data in SCH. We have measured CAS, AG and augmentation Index (AI) (AG/Pulse pressure x 100) in patients with SCH before and after L-thyroxine (synthroid) therapy.Peripheral pulse pressure w...

ObjectiveThyroid replacement therapy needs careful titration, and recently there has been discussion regarding the bioavailability of different thyroxine preparations [1]We have taken the opportunity of comparing thyroid function in 18 females who were enrolled in a trial studying the effects of thyroxine therapy on subclinical hypothyroidism [SCH].MethodsThese patients (at entry to tri...

Glucocorticoids may regulate the autoimmune response by influencing the shift in balance between type-1 and type-2 cytokine responses. To investigate the effect of steroids on peripheral cytokine expression in autoimmune thyroiditis we measured dexamethasone (Dex) and progesterone (Prg) inhibition of peripheral CD4+ T lymphocyte expressions of Interferon-gamma (IFN-g) (type-1 response) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4) (type 2 response) in both patients and healthy subjects.<p clas...

Endothelial dysfunction contributes to the cardiovascular complications in Diabetes mellitus and hypertension. The effects of hyperthyroidism on the peripheral vasculature are not fully understood. Decreased central arterial stiffness is a feature of thyrotoxicosis and normalises with treatment (1). The purpose of our study was to establish the effect of thyrotoxicosis and its treatment on surrogate humoral markers of endothelial function; Von Willebrand factor (VWF), Soluble ...

ObjectiveDoes subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH)cause increased cardiovascular risk and how does treatment affect cardiac and vascular function in patients with SCH?MethodsCardiac function and central arterial stiffness(CAS)were measured in 20 females (mean age 50.1 plus/minus 4.1 years)with SCH (mean free T4 12.2 plus/minus 0.2 picomol per litre [normal range 9.8-22.1],median TSH 8.8 milliunits per litre[norma...

This study aims to recruit 22,000 women in early gestation to screen for thyroid failure. The trial is randomised such that half the women are being tested in early gestation (group1) while the remainder (group 2) are tested after delivery. As T4 is important for the developing foetal brain, the IQ of the children from group 1, whose mothers will have been treated with T4, is expected to be higher than that from group 2.Women are entered on the basis of ...

Normal pregnancy is associated with significant but reversible changes in thyroid function. However, maternal thyroid dysfunction during early pregnancy has been associated with neuro-intellectual impairment of the child. The CATS study, a randomised controlled study, has been initiated in order to ascertain if screening for abnormalities in thyroid function in early pregnancy (8 - 16 weeks gestation), with thyroxine replacement in appropriate cases, would be effective in redu...

Experimental evidence suggests that leptin plays an important role in modulation of cell-mediated immunity in organ-specific autoimmune diseases. This longitudinal study evaluates changes in serum leptin values in relation to development and outcome of postpartum thyroiditis (PPT). Materials and Methods: Fifty postpartum (6 week) euthyroid women with elevated thyroglobulin (TgAb) and/or thyro-peroxidase (TPOAb) antibodies were investigated. Body mass index (BMI), serum leptin ...