Endocrine Abstracts

The hypothalamic melanocortin system consists of an endogenous antagonist, agouti related protein (Agrp) and agonist, alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), which act at the hypothalamic melanocortin 3 and 4 receptors. CNS administration of Agrp increased food intake over a 24-h period. Agrp blocked the reduction in 1-h food intake observed following alpha-MSH administration. This effect occurred independently of whether the antagonist was administered simultaneousl...

Type I phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks)are regulated by tyrosine kinases, Ras and G-protein coupled receptors and generate the lipid second messenger, phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3). PIP3 regulates a bewildering variety of cellular responses primarily through binding and hence activating or targeting a range of proteins each of which posseses a specific PIP3 binding module, most commonly a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain. In terms of cell survival the key ...

The interplay between the von Hippel Lindau (VHL) protein and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) will be reviewed and the extent to which this explains the pathogenesis of VHL disease will be discussed.HIF is a master regulator of the transcriptional response to diminished tissue oxygenation, controlling such processes as angiogenesis, erythropoietin production, cellular metabolism and influencing cell proliferation / survival decisions. HIF itself is a heterodimer, dominantly...

Clomiphene is commonly first-line treatment for ovulation induction in women with PCOS. Clomiphene results in a rise in serum FSH concentration; its effect upon FSH glycosylation is less clear. Glycosyl components of serum gonadotrophins are important determinants of their bioactivity.We compared serum FSH glycosylation in blood samples taken from healthy women with regular ovulatory cycles (group A; n=8) and anovulatory women before (group B; ...

We describe a case of subacute thyroiditis in a psoriatic patient treated with Adalimumab, with a very good clinical evolution with nonsteroidal anti-inflamatory medication.Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a pleiotropic cytokine produced by a variety of cells, comprehending T lymphocytes. TNF-α mediates its effects through two receptors, known as p55 (TNF-R1), and p75 (TNF-R2). TNF-α plays a primary role in both the induction and the...

Insulin resistance is possibly playing an underlying pathogenic role in the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and although is not a part of its definition, it appears in 50-90% of PCOS women. Polycystic ovary syndrome is also frequently associated with obesity; women suffering of PCOS seem to be at a great risk of developing a metabolic syndrome.Objectives: The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in a population of 4...

Introduction: The study was a single-center, open label, randomized, head-to-head clinical study to compare the mucosal findings after perform esophagogastroduodenoscopy between two groups before and after use of alendronate only and enterocoating alendronate (5 mg) with calcitriol (0.5 μg) combined drug (Maxmarvil).Methods: The 33 postmenopausal healthy volunteers, aged 50–70 years (mean age: 58±5 years) without gastrointestinal symptoms ...

Background: Thyroid hormones increase both serum levels of cystatin C and renal glomerular filtration rate (reflected by lower serum creatinine); the latter is considered the main determinant of cystatin C levels. A potential explanation for this apparently discrepant finding is an increased production, rather than a decreased clearance, of cystatin C. To study whether 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) increases the production of cystatin C in a w...

A 38-year old lady from the Philippines presented with a 2-year history of a painless thyroid lump, without pressure symptoms. Over the previous year it had gradually enlarged in size. She gave a history of disturbed sleep, tremor, anxiety and weight loss over the 2-year period. Past medical history included right middle lobectomy for bronchiectasis 10 years previously. Thyroid function tests revealed TSH<0.05 mu/l, FT4 86 pmol/l, FT3 18.3 pmol/l and ...

Background: Since the DCCT demonstrated that improved glycaemic control reduced complications the goal of diabetes management has been to maintain HbA1c as close to normal as possible. Recent changes by the laboratory to our HbA1c assay, combined with the debate about deanonymised publication of clinic’s HbA1c results, creating the potential for ‘league tables’, focussed our attention on the variation between HbA1c assays.Clinical data: Ou...