Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction:Hepatic IGF-I is generally believed to be regulated by pituitary-derived GH. However recent studies have emphasized the importance of paracrine/autocrine IGF-I in normal growth and development, as well as some malignancies. However, it remains unclear how locally produced IGF-I is regulated. The aim of this project was to investigate IGF-I expression in different tissues from the growth hormone receptor knock-out (GHR-KO) mouse.<p class=...

Background: Variable rate intravenous insulin infusion (VRIII) or ‘sliding scale’ is required for certain patients with diabetes to keep their blood glucose within the recommended target range during an acute illness or a period of starvation. When used in the right context this has shown to improve outcomes but can also lead to morbidity especially hypoglycaemia.Aim: Evaluate risk of hypoglycaemia in patients on VRIII with concurrent use of ba...

The objective of the study was to assess the effect of intra-muscular testosterone on glycemic control, metabolic parameters and hypogonadal symptoms in men with hypogonadism and poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. This is a randomised double-blinded placebo-controlled add-on trial of intramuscular-testosterone undecanoate(Nebido®) administered every 12 weeks in 65 hypogonadal men with poorly-controlled diabetes. Phase-1 patients were randomly assigned to either...

Case history: A 54-year-old man was admitted with a history of syncopal episodes. Orthostatic hypotension led to an endocrine referral and subsequent diagnosis of pan-anterior hypopituitarism but with no evidence of posterior pituitary involvement. Although an initial aetiological diagnosis remained elusive, further work-up (see below) led to a histology-confirmed diagnosis of ACE-negative neurosarcoidosis. This diagnostic conundrum could have been contributed by a prior neuro...

Section 1: Case history: A 38 year old man with no significant past medical history presented to the emergency department with a sudden onset, severe frontal headache. He had been experiencing peripheral visual disturbance for six days prior to this. Routine observations including blood pressure were normal on arrival. Neurological examination of the upper and lower limbs revealed no abnormalities. Bedside visual field test demonstrated significant loss of peripheral vision bi...

Development of a functional human lung requires regulation of cell growth, proliferation and differentiation in specific germ layer compartments. Important endocrine regulators of respiratory development include glucocorticoid (GC) steroids and the potent synthetic GC betamethasone is commonly used antenatally to treat the deficits of very preterm human birth. Previous studies with conditional mouse knockouts of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene have established the mesenc...

Phosphorylation of the Androgen Receptor (AR), has been shown to play an important role in directly modulating AR activity. However, the full extent of which protein kinases are involved in the regulation of the AR remains unknown. In order to address which kinases are important in the regulation of AR activity in both androgen sensitive and independent prostate cancer (PCa), a comprehensive siRNA kinome screen was performed. AR transcriptional regulation was evaluated using a...

Glucocorticoid (GC) signalling via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is essential for normal lung development. Previous work using conditional mouse knockouts of the GR gene established that GR activity in the mesenchymal compartment of the lung is critical for normal respiratory development. Screens for GC-target genes with conditional mesenchymal GR deficient mouse lung (GRmeskO) identified Versican (Vcan), an important extracellular matrix (ECM) component and cell proliferat...

A 58-year-old lady presented to hospital with abdominal pain, nausea, and tiredness, and was referred to endocrinology with symptomatic hyponatraemia (serum Na+ 112 mmol/l). Six months previously her serum sodium was normal. She was euvolaemic, and adrenal insufficiency and thyroid dysfunction were excluded. Laboratory investigations were suggestive of syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) and no causative medications were identified. A CT of her th...

Pancreatic islets are susceptible to hypoxia during isolation, culture, and transplantation. An intervention that protects against hypoxia while preserving β-cell function will improve islet quality. Adrenaline suppresses insulin secretion and oxygen consumption in pancreatic islets. These findings suggest that adrenergic action creates metabolic quiescence in β-cells. Our objective was to determine whether adrenaline is protective during hypoxic culture in an insuli...