Endocrine Abstracts

Autoimmune hyperthyroidism has a complex aetiology including both environmental and inherited components. Amongst the environmental factors that are well documented to be important are smoking and stressful life events. The prevalence of all forms of autoimmune hyperthyroidism is known to be higher in women, but the effects of oestrogen are complex: the combined oral contraceptive pill protecting against Graves’ disease, whereas pregnancy predisposes. Autoimmune hyperthyr...

The most important part of any research project is getting it published in the best way; this usually will include a peer reviewed journal paper. Choice of journal is an important decision, with international broad readership journals having much greater prestige than regional or subject-restricted publications. You will need to decide whether to put all your relevant research findings into a single large manuscript, or to split your work up into a series of smaller papers. If...

ObjectiveIt is controversial whether subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) always reflects mild thyroid failure and if treatment is beneficial. The arguments in favour of treatment are prevention of progression, reducing cholesterol levels and improving symptoms. The consequence of SCH on body weight and its response to treatment has never been studied in a systematic manner.MethodsUnselected population-based stud...

Introduction: The biochemical diagnosis of hypophosphataemic rickets relies on measurement of tubular phosphate reabsorption. However, as the renal tubules are immature at birth and the reference range for urine phosphate excretion is not well defined in young children, there is uncertainty about how early in life a biochemical diagnosis of phosphate wasting can be made. In addition, the benefit of early treatment of hypophosphataemic rickets is unclear.<p class="ab...

Introduction: In lambs, the rapid increase in heat production after birth is due to the initiation of nonshivering thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). This occurs in conjunction with an increase in amount and activity of the BAT specific uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). Both mRNA and protein for the long and short forms of the prolactin receptor are highly abundant in ovine BAT up to the time of birth. The following study aimed to determine whether prolactin administratio...

Thyroid function changes with advancing age, however there is little good quality data available that characterises the extent of thyroid disease in the elderly, or the parameters of normal thyroid function in the ‘oldest old’. Reference ranges for serum TSH and free thyroid hormones based on unselected younger adults are currently applied uniformly to older individuals.The Newcastle 85+ study has collected health and lifestyle information from...

Maternal cold exposure induced by winter shearing promotes fetal growth, particularly that of the liver by increasing maternal glucose supply to the fetus. A major component of the fetal liver is glycogen which is rapidly mobilized at birth in order to provide an endogenous energy source. Hepatic glyocgen content is regulated in part by the lipid activated transcription factor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), whilst insulin-like growth factor (IG...

Fetal adipose tissue growth is a coordinated process involving the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor (GH-IGF) axis. Maternal cold exposure (CE) induced by winter shearing can promote fetal fat growth depending on maternal food. The following study examined the interaction between maternal CE and dietary intake on the mRNA abundance for the endogenous ligand of the GH secretagogue receptor (GHSR-1a), the IGF-I and II receptors and the enzyme glycerol-3-phosphatase (G3P)...

IGF-II and I are key components of postnatal growth and are involved in the proliferation of adipocytes. Cold exposure by winter shearing has been shown to promote growth and development and is dependant upon maternal nutrition. However, the effects on adipose IGF-I and II mRNA have not yet been determined.Thirty-three multiparous ewes of similar body weight were entered into the study, fifteen were shorn (S) during mid gestation and eighteen left unshor...

Ghrelin is a recently discovered endogenous ligand of the Growth Hormone (GH) secretagogue receptor, and is primarily produced by the stomach. Ghrelin acts on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis to stimulate GH release and may determine hepatic sensitivity of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I) to GH. Maternal chronic cold exposure by winter shearing has shown to increase lamb birth weight, however, the effects on Ghrelin are not yet known.Twenty-six multip...