Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To describe a postmenopausal lady with hirsutism secondary to a rare leydig cell tumour of the ovary.Case history: A 55 year lady who attained menopause at the age of 49 was referred to us by GP for facial hirsutism of 5 years duration. She was bothered by recent excess hair growth of 4 months duration on the face and arms. She had no other virilising symptoms.On examination, she appeared cushingoid, had a BMI of 31, had...

Recent acute in vivo studies have shown that structural modifications of dogfish glucagon improves peptide stability and these analogues can act as dual agonists at both glucagon and GLP-1 receptors. Here, we compared the effects of chronic (51 days) twice daily administration of [D-Ala2]dogfish glucagon (Pep-N) and [D-Ala2]dogfish glucagon-exendin-4(31–39) construct (Pep-C), exendin-4(1–39) or saline treat...

Aim: Insulin-releasing effects and potential anti-diabetic actions of peptides isolated from the skin secretion of the African clawed frog, Xenopus amieti has been reported. However, peptides such as magainin-AM1 has not been previously studied for its ability to stimulate insulin secretion or promote glucose uptake. This study investigated insulin releasing effects as well as possible underlying mechanisms.Methods: Acute and chronic actions of ...

BACKGROUND: Acromegaly is associated with abnormal bone metabolism, characterized by increased bone turnover. In health, PTH is secreted in a circadian rhythm, which is important in bone function. However, the effect of acromegaly on PTH secretion is unclear, with previous studies reporting increased, decreased or no change in PTH concentration. Furthermore, the presence of PTH circadian rhythmicity has not been defined in acromegaly.OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of ...

BACKGROUND: Untreated Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (AGHD) is associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD). PTH plays an important role in bone metabolism and reports suggest that bone and renal target cell insensitivity to PTH may contribute to changes in bone turnover in AGHD.OBJECTIVES: To determine the difference in PTH and phosphocalcium metabolism in untreated AGHD patients who have normal and reduced BMD.METHODS: 13 ...

A 16-year-old female presented with secondary amenorrhoea. Menarche was age 14 years and periods were less frequent over the preceding 12 months. There was no galactorrhoea, headache or visual field disturbance and no known family history of pituitary disease, tall stature or infertility. There were no clinical signs of Cushing’s disease or acromegaly and visual fields were full to confrontation. Height was 160 cm. Investigations showed a prolactin of 2,452 mIU/l (RR 102-...

ObjectiveDue to the increasing prevalence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), it has become a global health challenge by being the most common cause of chronic liver disease. Recently, the microbiota has been linked to NAFLD, via altered bile acid and lipid metabolism. Whether serum Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbiota-dependent metabolite, is associated with NAFLD and NAFLD health outcomes remains unclear. The aim was to investigate...

Section 1: Case history: A 60 year-old lady presented with a 4-year history of progressively increasing virilisation on the background of right salpingo-oophorectomy for ectopic pregnancy in 1984 (no histology available).Section 2: Investigations: Testosterone 23.6 nmol/l (NR < 1.7), LH 16 IU/l (7.7–58.5), FSH 33 IU/l (25.8–134.8), androstenedione 3.2 nmol/l (NR 1.4–14.3), DHEAs 1.2 umol/l (0.5–5.6), 17-OHP 2.7 nmol/l (1–4.5)...