Endocrine Abstracts

A 68-year-old female was found to have a supra sellar mass on CT scanning for investigation of long-standing tremor. She had experienced thirst, polydipsia, polyuria, nocturia and malaise for 1 year. Primary hypothyroidism had been diagnosed 5 years earlier. A left temporal visual field defect found 3 years earlier had been attributed to a structural anomaly of the optic nerve head. MR scanning confirmed the presence of a mass lesion of the infundibulum with displacement of th...

Introduction: The traditional approach to mediastinal ectopic parathyroid adenomas has been through a median sternotomy. With improved localization techniques it has become possible to use less invasive approaches to access the mediastinum. We present our recent experience of three cases of mediastinal parathyroid adenomas successfully treated using a manubriotomy approach which provides good access to the superior and anterior mediastinum.Method: All pa...

Introduction: Iodine is the key element for the synthesis of thyroid hormones and its intake modulates the physiology and physiopathology of thyroid gland. In Portugal, endemic goiter has disappeared, but some data make us consider that iodine intake, as in other European areas, is far from being sufficient. Taking into account the potential harmful effects of moderate iodine deficiency during pregnancy, when needs are increased, and the absence of recent data on iodine intake...

Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS1) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the autoimmune regulator gene. Major disease components include mucocutaneous candidiasis, hypoparathyroidism and Addison’s disease. Acquired hypoparathyroidism (AH) occurs in 80% of APS1 patients and is associated with hypocalcaemia, hyperphosphataemia and low serum levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH). Reports suggest that these clinical symptoms are initiated by...

Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is common in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and can lead to microvascular and macrovascular complications. The aim of our study was to assess ED in patients with T2DM (n=21; 13 with diabetic neuropathy (DN), 8 without DN) and compare them with non-diabetic controls (n=10).Methods: ED was assessed by skin microcirculation (SM) and biochemical markers (BM) of endothelial function. SM was measured on the dorsu...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity are linked to osteoporosis, making these patients at increased risk of developing fractures. In this study we aimed to investigate bone biochemical markers and bone structure in diabetic patients to compare with non-diabetic controls.Methods: We recruited 21 type 2 diabetic patients and 10 non-diabetic controls. Fasting blood samples were collected for markers of bone turnover (Sclerostin (SCL), RANKL, OPG, OPN...

Foot ulceration in diabetes is known to represent a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and carry considerable financial implications for healthcare organisations. Little research has studied the outcomes for patients with foot ulcer in Eastern India. We identified 717 patients aged 18 years and over with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who presented for management of their diabetic foot ulcers from February 2013-February 2016 with mean follow up of 2 years. Methods: Of th...

Background: Patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), a neuroendocrine tumour derived from the parafollicular C-cells, often present with metastasized disease. Survival strongly correlates with stage of disease at diagnosis, illustrating the need for early diagnosis. Calcitonin (CT), a well-established tumour marker for MTC, is limited by a high rate of false positives in the screening phase. Promising new markers for MTC are procalcitonin (PCT) and progastrin releasin...

Background: Resistance to thyroid hormone (TH) alpha (RTHα), caused by heterozygous mutations in THRA, is characterized by abnormal thyroid function tests and features due to tissue-specific hypothyroidism, including disproportional short stature, variable motor and cognitive defects, macrocephaly and macroglossia, constipation and anemia. Mutant receptors display defective T3 binding resulting in impaired transcriptional activity. Dominant negative inhibition of the WT r...

Background: Over the last few decades, in vivo animal experiments have been the gold standard for the assessment of safety of chemicals and pharmaceuticals for human health. However, in vivo animal data has limited relevance for toxicity prediction in humans, especially considering species-specific issues of age, sex and exposure in different life-stages. Within the Virtual Human Platform for Safety Assessment (VHP4Safety) project we aim to develop an animal-...