Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a common cause of secondary hypertension. Antihypertensive agents interfere with the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis, and screening with the aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) is preferably made without medication. Withdrawal may however be harmful. We examined the detection rate of PA in hypertensive patients taking their prescribed medication, apart from amiloride and spironolactone.Design and setting: Hyperten...

Patients with the syndrome Resistance to Thyroid Hormone (RTH) exhibit purturbances in regulation of serum thyroxine and often suffer from hypermetabolism, tachycardia, hyperactivity and mental retardation. Most of these patients express a mutant thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRb) unable to bind ligand, resulting in transdominant negative effects in transcription. As no patient with a mutant TRa has been identified, we introduced into the mouse TRa1 gene a point mutation foun...