Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Acute left ventricular failure is rarely caused by phaeochromocytoma. The rarity and severity of this presentation may result in delayed investigation and incorrect management.Case Report: A 22 year old woman was admitted with headache, vomiting, back pain and malaise. She was initially treated for suspected septic shock with intravenous antibiotics and fluids. Within 24 hours of admission, she rapidly deteriorated and developed pulmonary o...

Background: The detrimental effect of excessive obesity on insulin resistance has been well established. The expansion of adipose tissue is closely dependent on two processes: adipogenesis and angiogenesis and the Wnt signalling pathway has been reported to affect both. In adipose tissue the Wnt signalling pathway functions in a converse manner: increasing commitment of mesenchymal stem cells to preadipocytes and inhibiting differentiation of preadipocytes to mature adipocytes...

Introduction: Hyponatraemia presents a diagnostic challenge in acute medicine. Suggestive symptoms may be present or it can be an incidental finding. Whether it is acute or chronic, associated with excessive, normal or reduced intravascular volume all help determine cause and correct management.Case report: A six-year-old boy with a good neurological outcome from extreme hyponatraemia (initial sodium 96 mmol/l) caused by autoimmune hypoadrenalism. He pre...

Introduction: Advances in the understanding of the natural history and genetics of phaechromocytomas and paragangliomas have altered the demographics of these conditions resulting in much higher rates of malignancy and association with known genetic abnormalities.Objective: To analyse the clinical and biochemical features of hereditary (H) and sporadic (S) phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas.Design: Retrospective case-series at G...

Background: Treatment of choice of ACTH producing pituitary adenoma is transsphenoidal resection. Owing to difficult visual demarcation of the adenoma, peroperative feedback about the completeness of the resection would be desirable. We investigated if rapid per-operative ACTH measurements is useful in surgical strategy.Methods: Thirteen patients with pituitary adenomas were operated. An modified ACTH-assay delivered results within 30 min. Catheters were...

In line with European guidelines, infant formulas in France have been vitamin D-fortified with a vitamin D3 content of ~400 IU/l. New guidelines for the prevention of vitamin D deficiency and rickets have subsequently been published and the vitamin D supplement for formula-fed infants was reduced from 800 to 400 IU per day.To contribute to the evaluation of the need for vitamin D supplementation, a study was conducted to assess vitamin D3 intake (choleca...

A 56-year-old gentleman diagnosed with galactosemia by open liver biopsy at the age of one was referred by GP with longstanding complaints of increasing lethargy, low mood and chronic anaemia. Initial investigations revealed normocytic anemia with a normal renal function, ESR, haematinics, calcium and myeloma screen. Endocrine tests revealed anterior hypopituitarism (TSH: 4.4, FreeT4: 4.5, LH: 0.5, FSH: 2, testosterone: <0.1, prolactin: 27, IgF-1: <3.3, random cortisol...

VHL is an autosomal dominant familial cancer syndrome with renal, CNS and pancreato-biliary manifestations in addition to phaeochromocytoma (PC)/paraganglioma (PGL). Importantly, there is a partial genotype–phenotype correlation, with kindreds harboring deletions and mutations of the VHL gene leading to premature termination/truncation not manifesting PC/PGL. As genetic testing in PC/PGL moves from a research-focus into clinical service, knowledge and understanding...

Inguinal subcutaneous fat, the site of murine mammary glands 4 and 5, is a suitable model of mammary white fat adipose tissue (WAT). WAT requires extracellular Ca2+ influx for differentiation and expansion; this primarily occurs via plasma membrane Ca2+ voltage-dependent channels (CaVs). Whereas the neuropeptide oxytocin can mobilise intracellular Ca2+ in WAT which has key roles in lactation. Our aim was to use a combination of molecular biolog...

Non-functional pituitary adenomas (NFPA) are non-hormone secreting pituitary tumours while growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas (GHPA) are active pituitary tumours causing acromegaly. Since immunotherapy is becoming the preferred therapeutic strategy in cancers, understanding the diversity of immune cells infiltrating the tumour microenvironment is warranted. However, little is known about the immune landscape of pituitary tumours. We validated an acoustic-assisted hydr...