Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Ergot-derived dopamine agonist therapy (EDDAT) is associated with cardiac valvulopathy in Parkinson’s disease. The risk to patients with prolactinomas is uncertain. The EMEA/MRHA and BSE recently issued guidelines for surveillance echocardiography (ECHO) of patients receiving treatment with EDDAT. Our policy is to arrange opportunistic ECHO screening at first clinic visit guidelines.Objective: We investigated the uptake and findings of e...

Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) remodel extracellular matrix (ECM) in physiology as well as in cancer, inflammatory states and cardiovascular disease. In type 2 diabetes, there is evidence of activation of MMPs in vasculature, while decreased activity of MMPs and excessive accumulation of ECM is thought to contribute to the development of diabetic nephropathy.Material and methods: We measured serum MMP-2, MMP-9 in 22 subjects with type 2 DM ...

This is an unusual case of sleep apnoea treated with C-PAP as a result of multinodular goitre (MNG) which was overlooked.This is a case of a 69-year-old gentleman who was referred to the endocrine clinic for assessment of his diabetes. Sleep apnoea was diagnosed around four years ago and he has been using C-PAP every night. Enlargement of multinodular goitre coincided with the diagnosis of sleep apnoea. He has previously been seen by another endocrinolog...

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. There are still major gaps in our understanding both of overall effective weight management strategies and physical activity alone as a weight management strategy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an 18 week monthly group exercise education program on weight, physical activity, cardiovascular fitness, quality of life and attitudes to exercise in obese Irish females. Eighteen obese females were recruited ...

The aim of this study was to determine if a change in the amount of fat consumed in the diet influenced female salivary postprandial testosterone and cortisol concentrations and whether any changes affected circadian rhythm.The study was conducted on 9 healthy female subjects aged 21–45 years (BMI mean=22.5±1.61) and has been approved by the University College Ethical Committee. Over 3 non-consecutive days, each subject consumed 2 meals, lunch...

The application of exogenous neurotrophins (NT) has been widely proposed as a therapeutic strategy for the recovery of regeneration in axotomised CNS neurons. Results from this approach have, however, been disappointing since limited regenerative responses are elicited, we suggest due to limited neurotrophin receptor (NTR) expression. NT exert their trophic effects by signalling through the Trk/p75 receptors. Adequate receptor expression levels must, therefore, be central to t...

Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1), deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), and thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) are the enzymes involved in pyrimidine and purine metabolism; TK1 activity is correlated with growth processes, and dThdPase is involved in the mechanisms of angiogenesis. The increased activities of TK1, dCK and dThdPase or the increased expression of genes for theses enzymes have been found in different tumors. The aim of the study was to estimate the expression of mRNA, specific for...

We observed 26 women from 19 to 40 years old (mean age 27) with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) due to different causes excluding prolactinomas. The continuance of HH was from 1 to 23 years (mean 6 years 4 months). Main complains were amenorrhea (all patients), urogenital disorders (18 patients), ingravescent memory and fatigue (17 patients). Biochemical blood test relieved increased cholesterol and high density lipoprotein levels in all patients, increased triglyceride lev...

Introduction: Liver involvement is frequent in Turner syndrome (TS) with a reported prevalence of abnormal liver function tests (LFTs) ranging 20–80%. Marked architectural changes and cirrhosis may be found in TS-women, associated with an increased incidence and risk of mortality.Recent studies and guidelines recommended:– monitoring annually all LFTs (International TS-Guidelines)– to improve d...

Subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) is a status of altered hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis secretion in the absence of the classical signs or symptoms of overt cortisol excess. Among the various tests used for the diagnosis of SCS, the 1-mg dexamethasone test (DST) is the most used. Alprazolam (ALP), a benzodiazepine activating GABAergic receptors, possesses clear centrally-mediated inhibitory effects on ACTH and cortisol secretion in normal subjects, while it d...