Endocrine Abstracts

The hypothalamus plays a key role in the control of appetite and energy balance. The endogenous cannabinoids are widely distributed throughout the brain, including the hypothalamus, together with specific cannabinoid-1 (CB-1) receptors. Endogenous and exogenous cannabinoids induce hyperphagia, whereas the selective CB-1 receptor antagonist, SR 141716 (rimonabant), inhibits feeding and CB-1 knockout animals are leaner and eat less after an overnight fast. Ghrelin, the recently ...

The insulin tolerance test (ITT) is the gold standard for assessing growth hormone (GH) and cortisol production in pituitary disease, However it is potentially hazardous, requires medical supervision and adequate hypoglycemia may not be achieved. We retrospectively examined the records of 185 consecutive patients aged 14-76 years with pituitary disease who underwent the ITT over 18 months. Testing was performed in the endocrine day ward by an experienced endocrine nurse. Absol...

Published data has demonstrated that low 0900 h plasma total cortisol (PTC) immediately following traumatic brain injury (TBI) predicts mortality. However, potential discrepancies exist between PTC and plasma free cortisol (PFC). We hypothesised that low PTC would correlate closely with PFC and predict mortality and long-term hypopituitarism.One hundred patients (84 men, median age 33, range 18–75) with TBI (mean GCS±S.D.=8.59&#1...

Hypothalamic-pituitary (HP) dysfunction is common in children treated with cranial radiotherapy (RT) for brain tumours but there is little known about the risk of HP dysfunction in adults treated with RT for primary non-pituitary brain tumours.We aimed to investigate the frequency of HP dysfunction in adults after RT for primary brain tumours which are distant from the HP region.We studied 56 adult patients who received external be...