Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Subacute thyroiditis is an inflammatory condition, most likely of viral origin, which typically presents wit low anterior neck pain, fever and transient thyrotoxicosis. Ultrasonography (US) usually shows a diffuse thyroid enlargement with ill-defined hypoechoic areas.Case: A 55-year old women was admitted in the emergency room, with 2 weeks of anterior neck pain, cervical compressive symptoms of dysphagia, fever and palpitations. On physical ...

Introduction: Hyponatremia is the most common hydroelectrolytic disturbance in clinical practice. Multiple causes exist for its occurrence, being the etiological diagnosis sometimes complex. In patients with suprasellar tumours it is even harder due to several confounding factors. Management of these patients is difficult as it conflicts with chemotherapy-associated hyperhydration protocols. We present a case that exemplifies this.Clinical case: Four yea...

Introduction: Ectopic thyroid is a rare entity, resulting from developmental defects at early stages of thyroid embriogenesis. It’s prevalence is 1/100 000–300 000 in general population and 1/4000–8000 in patients with thyroid disease. This condition is more common in females, in Asians and may occur at any age, although it’s most common at younger ages. The most frequent location of ectopic thyroid tissue is at the base of the tongue. In 70–75% of cas...

Introduction: Type 1 gastric endocrine tumors (T1-GET) incidence is increasing world while mainly due to widespread use of upper endoscopy. Autoimmune disease (AID) is the hallmark of T1-GET, pernicious anemia is often found at presentation. Association with lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT) has been described.Aims: Retrospective evaluation of GET data from patients (pts) followed at IPO-Porto, including the presence of other AID with emphasis to LT.<p cl...

Introduction: MEN1 is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait, with a prevalence of 2–20/100 000 in the general population. It is characterized by tumors envolving the parathyroid glands, the endocrine pancreas and the pituitary. Other tumors are more rarely associated: adrenal adenomas, carcinoid tumors, pheocromocytomas, angiofibromas, lipomas, collagenomas and meningiomas. The presence of two or more of MEN1 associated tumors is diagnostic of the syndrome.<p class...

Glucocorticoid (GC) excess inhibits wound healing (WH) causing increased patient discomfort and infection risk. The GC-activating enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) regulates local GC availability in tissues including liver, adipose, and muscle. 11β-HSD1 is also expressed in skin, where studies recently demonstrated increased levels in older donors and a reversal of age-induced dermal atrophy in 11β-HSD1-null mice. However, the role o...

A 59-year-old gentleman presented to the Medical Admission Unit with facial and ankle oedema following a dog bite. He did not have any significant past medical history. Initially, he was treated for angioedema. His oedema worsened to anasarca, blood pressure rose and was found to be hypokalaemic. Echocardiogram showed a normal left ventricular ejection fraction. Urine protein creatinine ratio was <0.5 g/24 h. Vasculitic and autoimmune screen were negative. Eight weeks late...

Glucocorticoid (GC) excess adversely affects many aspects of skin homeostasis, characteristics of which are also seen during ageing (e.g. poor wound healing). The mechanisms underlying this remain unclear. The enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) regenerates cortisol, independently of circulating concentrations, and we have previously demonstrated increased 11β-HSD1 expression in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) from aged donors. We have now e...

Growth hormone (GH) is involved in body growth and metabolism. This hormone is used for the treatment of various clinical conditions and is administrated subcutaneously once daily or 3 times a week. The chronic use of GH has side effects; among them, the increase in tumor incidence. GH activates pathways related with oncogenesis not only by the activation of its specific receptor, but also by transactivation and regulation of the expression of the epidermal growth factor recep...

Two progesterone receptor (PR) isoforms, the full-length PR-B and the N-terminally truncated PR-A, have distinct reproductive functions, with PR-B being required for a proper mammary gland development. The functional distinction between PR-B and PR-A has partially been attributed to the additional activation function (AF3) domain, localized within the PR-B-unique sequence (PR-BUS). Three highly conserved sequence motifs within AF3 domain are required for the strong transactiva...