Endocrine Abstracts

A 35-year-old patient was referred to a tertiary referral unit for further investigation of severe watery diarrhea. Infectious agents had already been excluded. Biochemistry revealed a strikingly raised serum calcium concentration of 4.09 mmol/l (NR 2.1–2.65 mmol/l), chromogranin A was grossly elevated at 293 U/l (NR 2–18 U/l) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) was also raised at 130 pg/ml (NR 10–60 pg/ml). Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen demonstrat...

Introduction: Aurantiasis cutis is an asymptomatic condition characterised by yellow discolouration of the skin and is caused by high levels of β-carotene. Beta carotenaemia has frequently been associated with the development of menstrual disturbances in women but no causal link has been established.Case report: We herein present a case of a 15 year old Caucasian girl (otherwise well, BMI 24) who presented with aurantiasis cutis together with a four...

A 21 years old male, diagnosed with ALL in 2003 (aged 9), completed treatment in June 2009 (aged 15). Chemotherapeutic agents included doxorubicin, daunorubicin, cytarabine, mercaptopurine, methotrexate, asparaginase, vincristine, dexamethasone (7 mg for 3.5 years). He didn’t receive any cranial irradiation. He underwent endocrine assessment aged 15 because of delayed puberty and had testosterone replacement for 4 years (September 2012 till January 2016). He also had hist...

Introduction: There is paucity of data comparing bone densitometry and body composition in adult women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) treated with glucocorticoids since childhood and the same parameters in healthy women of the same age and BMI.Methods: 20 women with classical CAH (35% simple virilizing, 65% salt losing), aged 16–45 years, had anthropometric, laboratorial and densitometry exam (DXA) for bone mineral density (BMD) (L1–...

Introduction: The aim of study was to analyse the effect of long-chain polyunsaturated higher ω-3 fatty acids (PUFAs) on the arterial stiffness parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN).Description of methods: The study involved 39 patients with moderate CAN (55.2±3.8 years, HbA1c 7.1±0.5%. The aorta (AIxao), brachial augmentation index (AIxbr), pulse wave velocity (PWV) were assessed ...

A 71-year-old male ex-publican presented to the Medical Emergency Unit suffering from lethargy, weight loss, dizziness on standing and dyspnoea on exertion. He had a past medical history of hypertension, ischaemic heart disease and alcoholic liver disease and he admitted to drinking 100 units of beer per week. His anthihypertensive medications included lisinopril and hydrochlorthiazide. On examination BMI was 35 kg/m2, blood pressure 85/65 mmHg and there was no bucc...

Cortisol is metabolised by two 11βHSD isoenzymes. Recently, we reported that 11βHSD1 and 11βHSD2 mRNA and protein are co-expressed in boar testis and throughout the male reproductive tract. However, enzyme activities were only detectable in boar testis, caput epididymidis, bulbourethral glands and penile urethra. The objective of the present study was to assess whether cortisol–cortisone metabolism in the boar testis and caput epididymidis could be regulate...

Background and aims: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on the heart rate variability (HRV), some biochemical parameters in patients (pts) with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular aunonomic neuropathy (CAN).Materials and methods: 39 pts with CAN (54±5 yrs) were allocated in two groups: A (n=26) were receiving capsules of fish oil every day (2.0 g EPA, 2.0 g DHA and ...

Background and aims: The present study has examined the effect of α-lipoic acid (ALA) and nicotinamide (NA) on the heart rate variability (HRV), superoxide dismutase (SOD), gluthation peroxidase (GPO), catalase activities, reduced gluthatione (GSH), malondialdegide (MDA) contents in the RBCs’ in Type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM) with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN).Materials and methods: 59 patients with T2DM and CAN (59.3±7.9 year...

Background and Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of pioglitazone (PGZ) and metformin (MET) plus Hypocaloric Diet (HD) in young patients with obesity and impaired oral glucose-tolerance test (75 g glucose).Materials and methods: 49 patients (17.1±1.2 yrs) were allocated in groups: A (n=14) received PGZ 30 mg tid plus HD, B (n=12) - MET 1000 mg tid plus HD, C - PGZ 30 mg plus MET 1000 mg plus HD (n=11), D (<i...