Endocrine Abstracts

Elevated serum prolactin (PRL) is common, with many potential causes. We performed a retrospective audit of patients with hyperprolactinaemia from 2006 to 2008, aiming to identify the clinical indications for prolactin testing, the aetiology identified and the treatment instigated. Medical notes for 83 patients (55 female, mean age 41 years (range 17–95)) with PRL >700 mU/l were retrospectively reviewed. Indications for testing included: seizure or suspected seizure (...

Introduction: Hypoparathyroidism is normally treated with calcium salts and activated vitamin D. Here we report a case where synthetic 1–34 PTH (teriparatide) and i.m. vitamin D was successful in treating a case of primary hypoparathyroidism resistant to conventional treatment.Case report: A 16-year girl presented to the emergency department with vacant episodes and mild confusion. Her childhood was uneventful until the age of 12 when she developed ...

Introduction: Children with chronic renal failure may grow poorly and have altered bone metabolism and body composition. Post-renal transplant (Tx), improvement in these parameters may be hindered due to glucocorticoid exposure.Aims & methods: To study changes in these parameters after Tx, anthropometry, bone mineral content (BMC) at total body (TB) and lumber spine (LS), lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were analysed by DXA in 15 children (median ag...

Background: Musculoskeletal symptoms are common but unrecognized symptoms of thyroid dysfunction. We present a case report of an elderly man presenting with acute paraparesis as the first manifestation of thyrotoxicosis.Case report: A 73-year man presented with 1-week history of weakness in both legs and inability to mobilize or stand. Neurological examination revealed severe proximal muscle weakness (grade 0/5 power) of both lower limbs with reduced ten...

Attenuation of the adrenocortical response to ACTH in septic shock is a well recognised phenomenon, although the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The evidence points towards factors in septic serum that dampen the adrenocortical responsiveness. The aim of this work is to investigate the cellular function of adrenocortical cells in septic shock and to determine the components within serum that could influence their function. Septic rat serum was collected from ma...

Recently the American Diabetes Association (ADA) adopted a lower cut off for (IFG) Impaired fasting glucose (greater than or equal to 5.6 millimol per litre). We suggested that performing oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT), in all subjects with IFG according to the new ADA criteria, would result in very little new diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and to test this hypothesis we reviewed our recent experience with OGTTs.Between August 2001 and June 200...

BACKGROUND Human and animal evidence indicates that poor maternal nutrition leads to programmed endothelial dysfunction and hypertension in offspring. In humans, endothelial dysfunction has been observed in independent cohorts studied aged 7 and 11, but explanatory molecular mechanisms are lacking. Endothelial function, and synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), relies on nutrient supply of L-arginine, with maternal dietary restriction in r...

While the hypothalamo-pituitary axis is known to contain high levels of basic FGF (FGF2) and its high affinity receptor FGFR1, the physiological role of FGF2 in this region needs elucidation. Here, we demonstrate that FGF2 and arginine vasopressin (AVP) co-localize within the cytoplasm of nearly all supraoptic and paraventricular magnocellular neurons of human hypothalamus as well as the axonal processes of the neurohypophysis. High-resolution confocal imaging indicates that F...

Risk of cardiovascular disease is higher for patients with diabetes and dyslipidemia. Known risk factors include elevated triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), LDL, and low HDL. The log(TG: HDL), known as Atherogenic Index of Plasma (AIP), is inversely correlated with LDL particle size (r=-0.78) and provides another marker of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. Low-risk CHD cohorts have negative AIP values; high-risk cohorts have positive values. Patients with type 2 diab...

The KINGS mouse harbours a mutant Ins2 which drives beta cell ER stress, however only males develop diabetes. Since diabetes incidence is lower in women and ER stress is implicated in human diabetes, we investigated the influence of oestrogen and testosterone in mediating sex differences in the KINGS mouse. To investigate the influence oestrogen (E2) and testosterone removal on glycaemic control, male (n =4-6) and female (n =9) KINGS mice underwent p...