Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of chronic diseases and a determinant of cardiovascular disease. Divergent associations between obesity and hormonal changes have been reported. The objective of the present study was to analyse the associations between different anthropometric measurements and serum hormone levels including insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), thyroid-stimulation hormone (TSH), prolactin, and testosterone.M...

The survival of the semiallogeneic fetus within the mother is thought to be due to mechanisms of immunological tolerance. Regulatory T cells (Treg) are believed to have a crucial role in maintaining pregnancy by creating a transient tolerant microenvironment within the maternal uterus as former studies confirmed. We have evidences that Treg expand in lymph nodes from normal pregnant mice already on day 2 of pregnancy. Abortion-prone mice present diminished numbers of Treg in i...

Background, objective: Adipose tissue is known to secrete a multitude of bioactive adipokines and it seems that the majority of these adipokines is implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity and associated metabolic diseases. Existing research studies mostly concentrated on one or two adipokines and therefore, comparisons of the involvement of different adipokines in these disorders are difficult. Furthermore, associations of circulating adipokine levels with different fat comp...

Introduction: Hypokalemia is one of the commonly encountered electrolyte derangements in clinical practice. Numerous conditions and certain medications can trigger hypokalemia such as Piperacillin/Tazobactam, Flucloxacillin, Cephalexin and Vancomycin.Case report: A 72-year-old lady was admitted following a fall sustaining a right neck of femur fracture. Prior to this admission, she was on chemotherapy for non-small cell ...

Background: The diagnosis of male hypogonadism can be difficult. Free testosterone is calculated if total testosterone is close to the lower limit of normal, however, this is inaccurate in conditions that alter sex-hormone-binding globulin. Alternatively, salivary testosterone is thought to reflect free testosterone, but is present at low concentrations, thus requiring sensitive mass spectrometry instrumentation, and there is limited data on the pre-analytical...

Introduction: National guidance from the Association of Children’s Diabetes Clinicians (ACDC) recommends starting children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus on a total daily insulin dose of 0.5–0.75 iU per kilo per day (kg/d). This equates to a basal insulin dose of between 0.25–0.375 iU/kg per day. Local practice suggested many patients required a significantly smaller starting dose of basal insulin.Ai...

It is becoming increasingly evident that pathways exist within the (ER) that can impact upon cellular redox status, glucocorticoid metabolism and glucose homeostasis.Within the ER of the liver, glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) transporter (G6PT) work together to increase blood glucose concentrations by performing the terminal step in both glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. The G6Pase ‘shares’ G6P with hexose-6-phosp...

Ovariectomy of immature female rats, results in significant decreased parameters in different organs. Previously we found that estradiol-17b (E2) restored these parameters in the different organs of ovariectomized female rats (Ovx) to values obtained in intact immature female rats. E2 also stimulated creatine kinase specific activity (CK) a hormonal-responsive marker in organs containing estrogen receptors. In the present study, we compared the effects of...

Introduction: β-Arrestins are cytosolic proteins, which play key roles in the desensitization, internalization and signaling of G protein-coupled receptors. Currently, little is known about the role of β-arrestins in the internalization of the CB1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R). Therefore, the interaction between β-arrestins and CB1R, and its role in receptor internalization were studied.Materials and methods: The β-arrestin binding of C...

Introduction: Hyperthyroidism-associated myocardial infarction with normal epicardial coronary arteries on angiogram is seldom reported.Case report: A 61-year-old Caucasian man, resident in an iodine sufficient area, presented with chest pain in the emergency unit. ECG revealed inferolateral myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation. Soon after admission, the patients developed collapse due to primary ventricular fibrillation, requiring defibrillat...