Endocrine Abstracts

Acute presentation: 46 year old patient was admitted as an emergency with vomiting, hypotension and serum cortisol of 26 nmol/L indicative of adrenal failure. Despite previous history of panhypopituitarism he was found to be hyperthyroid (free T4 6.32 ng/dL (0.93-1.7), free T3 22.21 pg/mL (1.8-4.6)).Past Medical History: He was fit & well till the age of 45. Eight months prior to this hospitalisation he presented with diabetes insipidus and was found...

Background, subjects & methods: Dexamethasone increases visfatin synthesis in vitro, but it is not clear, whether it is reflected in the changes of serum levels of this cytokine. We have therefore assessed fasting serum concentrations of visfatin, glucose, insulin and cortisol in 20 subjects (4 males, 5 subjects with type 2 diabetes) age (mean±S.D.) 42.1±17.2 years, BMI 36,7±8.38 kg/m2 before and after 48 hours of administrat...

Background, subjects & methods: Visfatin, also known as pre-B cell colony enhancing factor (PBEF), is a cytokine that is highly expressed in visceral fat, and exerts insulin-mimicking effects in rodents through activation of an insulin receptor, though in a manner distinct from insulin. Visfatin levels do not change in response to acute hyperinsulinaemia in mice, but it is not clear whether this also applies to humans. In order to investigate this we measured serum visfati...