Endocrine Abstracts

Numerous studies provided data on possible decline in human fertility over the last decades and geografic differences in it. So, recently research interest in these tendencies and possible factors affecting fertility is increased.Objective: In this study, we aimed to explore women’s fertility expressed as time to pregnancy (TTP) – the number of contraceptive-free cycles needed to conceive – in a large cohort of Lithuanian women and the eff...

Berenice B Mendonca, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil AbstractBerenice B Mendonca received her M.D in 1973 from Faculdade de Medicina do Triangulo Mineiro, Brazil. In 1984, Prof Mendonca completed her research fellowship in Endocrinology at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, where she developed the whole of her scientific achievements.During the course of her career, Prof Mendonca ha...

Objective: The study set out to determine the out-of-pocket and indirect costs of treating diabetes mellitus in Nigeria.Method: The study was conducted at two tertiary health facilities that are 25 km apart and operate under the same management, the Wesley Guild Hospital (WGH) and the Ife Hospital Unit (IHU) both in southwestern Nigeria. An interview-structured questionnaire and case note records were used to determine demographic variables, how much pat...

Epidemiological studies indicate that low circulating concentrations of IGF1 are associated with increased adult risk for the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the metabolic syndrome (MS). Although comparable epidemiological data relating to GH concentrations are lacking, GH deficiency (GHD) is associated with many of the features of the MS and increased T2D risk. These data indicate that reduced activity of the GH/IGF1 axis is a risk factor for MS yet IGF1 and GH have ...

Our group studies the cell biological mechanisms of neurogenesis in the context of mammalian brain evolution, specifically the proliferation versus differentiation of neuroepithelial (NE) cells and their progeny. In the course of neurogenesis, mouse NE cells down-regulate a number of epithelial features. Expression of the anti-proliferative gene Tis21 can be used as a tool to distinguish between proliferating and neuron-generating NE cells. Time-lapse microscopy of neuron-gene...

The syndrome of Resistance to Thyroid Hormone (RTH), found in about 300 patient families, is characterized by multiple somatic abnormalities, varying levels of mental retardation, and tachycardia. It is caused by mutations in thyroid hormone receptor beta 1 (TRb) which confer dominant negative effects. No patient with a germline mutant TRa gene has yet been found. We therefore introduced a patient’s mutation into the mouse TRa1 gene. The mutation allows T3 binding with a ...

Familial pheochromocytoma is inherited as a component of one of 5 pheochromocytoma – related syndromes such as von Hippel-Lindau disease, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 and the paraganglioma syndromes type 1 and type 4.Neurofibromatosis type 1 is often cited as the fifth of these syndromes but a clinical-genetic characterisation does not exist. 0.1 to 5.7% of patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 have pheochromocytoma. The NF1 gene as the susc...

Introduction: Radioiodine (Iodine-131) is a widely used treatment for thyrotoxicosis. Fluctuation in thyroid hormone levels following radioiodine treatment is common. Hypothyroidism occurs in approximately 5.5% of patients per month in the first 6 months, with onset time hard to predict. In contrast, some patients remain hyperthyroid either due to persistent pre-radioiodine thyrotoxicosis or transient exacerbation following radioiodine. We examined whether the block & repl...

Up to 90% of patients treated with radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism develop hypothyroidism, in some cases many years after treatment. The majority of patients receiving RI in our clinic were referred from clinics throughout the northwest of England and attend on one occasion for RI treatment with follow-up by the referring physician. The Royal College of Physicians guidelines recommend centres administering RI have a system for regular patient monitoring to ide...

Estrogen protects women from cardiovascular disease through an unknown mechanism. Two subtypes of estrogen receptors (ERalfa and beta)have been isolated and cloned. We have demonstrated abundant vascular expression of ERbeta in female rats and mice using immunocytochemistry. A majority of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell nuclei in various segments of the vascular tree showed immunoreactivity towards ERbeta. Activation of vascular ERbeta with the selective ERbeta ago...