Endocrine Abstracts

Issues: Newer anti-diabetic therapies out of reach of >84% populations of Asia. Pharmaceuticals donot provide price discounts in resource-constrained-countries. incidence of insulin resistance neglected issue in resource-poor nations. Diabetes forums failed to address this concern. Hence we formed liaison study group of four clinics to analyse this issue and make policy paper. Resource poor nations have little technical expertise/manpower to study insulin resistance. Lack ...

A systematic survey of low S-cortisol levels at the department of clinical chemistry: indications for testing and frequency of undiagnosed adrenal insufficiency.Background: S-cortisol is frequently analyzed at clinical chemistry departments. Low levels of S-cortisol needs to be promptly acted on if the cause is undiagnosed adrenal insufficiency (AI). The causes of S-cortisol testing are however multiple and low levels are necessarily not alarming if foun...

During the past several years the wide application of sensitive brain imaging techniques (CT, MRI) has led to an increasing recognition of asymptomatic lesions in the pituitary. Although their etiology covers a wide range of pathologies, most incidentally discovered pituitary lesions are benign adenomas, ranging in size from micro- (<10 mm) to macro- (>10 mm) adenomas. Micro-incidentalomas are very common, with a reported incidence in normal individuals of 4–20%. ...

Cyclooxygenase (COX), the rate-limiting enzyme in prostaglandin (PG) biosynthesis exists in two isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2. They are encoded by two separate genes, and show cell-type specific expression and regulation. The expression of COX-1 is constitutive, whereas that of COX-2 is inducible by cytokines/growth factors or inflammatory stimuli. Since the processes of ovulation and implantation are considered analogous to 'proinflammatory' responses, and the involvement of PGs ...

Lipodystrophy including familial, acquired and secondary forms displays the full spectrum of the metabolic syndrome including severe insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia; hypertension, hypertriglyceridaemia, low HDL cholesterol, and hyperglycaemia1. This group have an absolute or partial reduction in fat mass, yet often show more extreme metabolic features than obese individuals.Partial lipodystrophy may be genetic or acquired. Genetic causes...

β-catenin is thought to play an important, intrinsic role in early pituitary development by regulating adenohypophysis (anterior pituitary) transcription factor activity. Expression of β-catenin is detected in the adenohypophysis, rostral mesenchyme, and neural ectoderm, including the area that develops into the infundibulum and neurohypophysis, and nearby regions. The importance of β-catenin expression in the neural ectoderm and mesenchyme has not been addresse...

Introduction: Cushing’s syndrome is a rare condition, resulting from chronic exposure to excessive circulating levels of glucocorticoids. This condition is highly associated with complications such as cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. This study aims to review the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome.Material and Methods: A descriptive and comparative study carried out in t...

In ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome, the high dose dexamethasone suppression test (HDDST) has been traditionally used to identify differentiate between pituitary-dependent Cushing’s disease and ectopic ACTH production. However, more recently, concerns regarding the diagnostic accuracy of the HDDST have led to many centres abandoning this test in preference to bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS). We aimed to establish current consensus in the UK for the...

During the establishment of pregnancy, the endometrium undergoes dynamic remodelling in order to establish a ‘receptive’ microenvironment. Decidualisation, a key part of this process, is characterised by differentiation of endometrial stromal fibroblasts which secrete factors that regulate implantation and placental development. Recent studies in our laboratory have revealed that decidualisation results in altered expression of enzymes that regulate biosynthesis and ...

Chorionic Gonadotrophin (CG) is secreted by both horse and human placenta and is critical to maintenance of early pregnancy. Production of CG is dependent on the differentiation of specialised CG-secreting cells, binucleate (horse) and syncytiotrophoblast (human). We recently showed the transcription factor Glial Cells Missing 1 (GCM1) is rapidly induced in vivo during differentiation of equine binucleate trophoblast. Studies in human syncytiotrophoblast have shown cAMP...