Endocrine Abstracts

Whereas it was previously accepted that patients needed between 20 and 30mg of hydrocortisone daily, current estimates are much lower at approximately 10mg per day. The next question - which appears uncontroversial - is the choice of drug. This is universally accepted as being hydrocortisone. But is it? The adrenal glands secrete both cortisol and cortisone and there is now increasing evidence that 11betaHSD-1 can, in a tissue-specific manner, convert cortisone to cortisol. Th...

The Pituitary Foundation was founded in 1994 when a group of endocrinologists, GPs and patients identified the need for a support group for patients with pituitary disease. Charitable status followed in 1996. It's core aims are to provide support to patients, their families and carers, to act as a source of reliable information and to increase awareness of the Foundation and pituitary disease within the medical profession and the general public. Membership, services and public...

IntroductionThe secretion of multiple hormones occurs in both a circadian and an ultradian manner. Both animal and human studies have shown that cortisol has an ultradian rhythm. Variations in ultradian cortisol secretion may explain inter-individual variation in the stress response.ObjectiveWe have developed an automated blood sampling system (ABS) that allows undisturbed sampling of blood, thus reducing str...

Objective: The aim was to investigate awakening salivary cortisol response (ACR) and its subsequent rise in normal prepubertal children and prepubertal survivors of leukaemia.Methods: 90 patients fulfilling the criteria of >1 year post treatment for leukaemia, >6 months off steroids, prepubertal, 5–12 years and in remission were recruited. Group1 Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) had Total Body Irradiation (n=26), Group2 Chemotherapy ...

Enhanced corticosterone release by female compared to male rats under basal and stress conditions has been frequently evidenced (1). The demonstration that gonadectomy enhances stress-induced corticosterone secretion in male rats (2) but reduces such levels in female rats (3) suggests a causal association between gonadal steroids and corticosterone release. The present study examined the corticosterone profile of intact and gonadectomised female and male rats under basal and s...

Inherited CBG deficiencies are rarely reported and only 3 causative mutations in 4 families have been described. The objective of this study was to investigate a family with potential CBG deficiency.The index case, a 29-year-old female of Pakistani origin with consanguineous parents, presented with hirsutism and a slightly elevated 17-OHP. In a subsequent Short Synacthen Test (SST) 17-OHP was normal but serum cortisol (SerC) values were abnormal (case 1 ...