Endocrine Abstracts

Normal range glycemia towards higher side has been shown to have a higher risk than lower range of glycemia(1).People with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) with better glycemic control would be an ideal step towards prevention of coronary heart disease CHD.Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes remains high(2). Diagnosis of diabetes is made too late in too many patients. By the time diagnosis is made complications have already settled ...

GH/IGF1 stimulate muscle function whereas excess glucocorticoids induce myopathy. Myocytes express 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), an enzyme which converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol. GH/IGF-I inhibit 11β-HSD1 expression in some tissues and thus reduce cellular glucocorticoid exposure. This suggests that anabolic actions of GH/IGF1 could be mediated indirectly through effects on 11β-HSD1. The regulation of 11β-HSD1 has be...

Background: A polymorphism of the GHR gene, deletion of exon 3 (d3 GHR), has been associated with improved growth response to GH in some studies. We investigated the effect of this polymorphism across several diagnoses, evaluating parameters of growth outcome from a single institution (Manchester) and combined these with those derived from the literature using meta-analytical approaches.Methods: GHR genotype was assessed by PCR and related to clinical an...

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced by peripheral immune cells and also by pituitary endocrine cells. MIF exerts its pro-inflammatory actions in the host defence system by blocking the inhibitory effects of glucocorticoids on the release of other pro-inflammatory cytokines. Reports that pituitary folliculo-stellate (FS) cells show characteristics of immune cells led us to propose that FS cells may serve as an additional source o...

Objective: To evaluate whether patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) have been successfully transitioned to adult endocrine care.Methods: All patients with CAH who had attended the paediatric adrenal clinic at RMCH and were currently between 16 and 30 years of age were identified. Current status of adult endocrine care was recorded.Results: Sixty-eight patients were identified. There was inadequate information on 16 pa...