Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: In a large, randomized, double-blind, phase III trial in patients with acromegaly, pasireotide LAR was significantly more effective than octreotide LAR at inducing GH<2.5 μg/l and normal IGF1 after 12 months of therapy (core study). The crossover phase of this trial allowed patients without full biochemical control at month 12 to switch treatments. This abstract reports the results of patients who switched therapy.Methods: Medicall...

M Sheppard, University of Birmingham, UK AbstractProfessor Michael Sheppard was appointed as Provost and Vice-Principal of the University of Birmingham on 1 October 2008. The Provost has responsibilities for financial and human resources and the development and delivery of the University strategic plan with special responsibility for the University's external and international relations.Profess...

In April 1986, the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant resulted in widespread radioactive contamination in southern Belarus, northern Ukraine and southern Russia. The main radiation dose was to the thyroid and came from exposure to I131 from drinking contaminated milk. A substantial increase in thyroid cancer incidence in children was observed as early as 5 years after the accident. The first report in 1992 described 114 cases of thyroid cancer in childre...

1500 euthyroid patients (1302 females and 198 males, mean age 47.8) presenting with thyroid enlargement were evaluated by fine needle aspiration (FNAC) of the thyroid as the first line investigation. The final cytological or histological diagnosis was determined after surgery (n=556) or clinical follow-up for a minimum period of 2 years (mean 9.5 yrs, range 2-19 years). Goitre type was assessed clinically and classified as diffuse in 184, multinodular in 457 or solitary nodule...

Debate surrounds the optimal biochemical assessment in the follow-up of patients withacromegaly, particularly with the introduction of GH receptor antagonists to the treatment algorithm. Consensus statements suggest target values for GH of < 1microgram per litre with normal age and sex matched IGF-1 values. A number of groups have reported on the correlation between IGF-1 and GH levels in small cohorts of acromegalic patients. We retrospectively<p...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the commonest dysrhythmia (after sinus tachycardia) complicating hyperthyroidism. We have previously reported increased vascular mortality in hyperthyroidism and postulate this reflects the prevalence of AF. We recruited a consecutive series of 425 subjects with overt hyperthyroidism (n=334 females, 91 males) and determined the prevalence and outcome of AF. All had 12 lead ECG and 24h Holter monitoring before and after antithyroid treatment with thi...

Increased mortality in patients with acromegaly has been confirmed in a number of retrospective studies, but causative factors and relationship to serum IGF1 remain uncertain. The West Midlands Acromegaly database contains details of 419 patients (178 males). Serum IGF1 data from the Regional Endocrine Laboratory was available for 338 patients (81%). At diagnosis mean age was 47 years (range 12-84) and mean GH was 70plus/minus5.4 milliunits per litre. 61% were treated by surge...

It is now evident that ghrelin is more than just a growth hormone (GH) secretagogue; it plays an important role in energy homeostasis, increasing food intake and fat deposition, has cardiovascular effects, and inhibits cell proliferation.Ghrelin mRNA expression is widespread in human tissues, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms and signals that regulate gene expression at the transcriptional level. To address this we cloned and sequenced a 4kb region upstrea...

Ghrelin, the natural ligand for the GHS-R, modulates proliferation in cell lines derived from malignant breast tissue. It has been suggested that this action is independent of the GHS-R. We have previously demonstrated that MCF7 cells expressed ghrelin but not GHS-R mRNA and MDA-MB231 cells expressed GHS-R but not ghrelin mRNA. To determine whether ghrelin modulates proliferation in MCF7 and MDA-MB231 cells we performed proliferation assays treating with saline, 1 and 10nM ghr...

A 76-year-old lady developed a tender thyroid swelling following a fall at home. One month later she was admitted with acute dyspnoea, and increased pain and swelling in her neck. She was found to be hyperthyroid on endocrine testing: free T4 (FT4) 24.8 (9-20) picomoles/litre, free T3 (FT3) 8.1 (3.5-6.5) picomoles/litre and thyrotropin (TSH) 0.2 (0.4-5.5) mIU/litre. She also had a raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) at 54 mm/hr. She was commenced on hydrocortisone and ...