Endocrine Abstracts

The observed association between thyroid disorders and breast cancer has provoked many investigations. One area where there is some, although far from universal, agreement is the finding of an increased prevalence of anti-thyroid autoantibodies in breast cancer patients compared to controls. Whether this is a feature of a generalised autoimmune response to breast cancer, or provoked by the enzyme thyroid peroxidase acting as an autoantigen, remains unclear. In this study we lo...

This communication tests the hypothesis that iodine (I2) gas or iodine oxides released from seaweeds previously shown to enhance atmospheric iodine adjacent to seaweed hotspots, may through being inspired by respiration, supply a significant fraction of daily iodine requirements. This could assume importance in a country such as Ireland where iodised salt availability is <5%. Iodine intake was assessed by measuring urinary iodine (UI) excretion using a dry ashing technique...

The production of iodine containing thyroid hormones necessary for brain development in the fetus depends not only on maternal dietary intake but also on placental iodine transport.Previously, studies focused on finding the optimum level of iodine nutrition for expectant mothers. However, little knowledge exists on the ability of the placenta to either accumulate or even store iodine. This study aims to investigate iodine uptake and tissue iodine content...

Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) is a tumour marker used to manage patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). However, its diagnostic accuracy can be questioned when thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) are simultaneously present. Changes in serum TgAb can also serve as an index of disease progression in DTC. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between TgAb titre and disease progression, defined as radiological or histological evidence of recurrence. Eig...

Iodine is a trace element required for thyroid hormone production. Requirements increase in pregnancy, when even mild deficiency may affect offspring neurocognitive development.The gold standard for assessing iodine status is population surveys of urinary iodine concentration (UIC). The WHO also suggests a population prevalence of >3% of TSH values > 5 mIU/L indicates deficiency. A recent UK survey of 700 teenage girls demonstrated ...

Iodine is a trace element required for thyroid hormone production. Requirements increase in pregnancy, when even mild deficiency may affect offspring neurocognitive development.The gold standard for assessing iodine status is population surveys of urinary iodine concentration (UIC). The WHO also suggests a population prevalence of >3% of TSH values > 5 mIU/L indicates deficiency. A recent UK survey of 700 teenage girls demonstrated ...

Inadequate dietary iodine intake is the most common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide and is defined by the WHO as a population median urinary iodine (UI) excretion <100 μg/l. No contemporary data are available for the UK according to the ICCIDD. The UK has no programme of food/salt iodination.We have performed a systematic assessment of the current UK iodine status in 14–15 years old schoolgirls. Seven hundred and eighty-fiv...