Endocrine Abstracts

For investigation of mild glucocorticoid resistance, dexamethasone may be inappropriate because, unlike cortisol, it crosses the blood-brain barrier and suitably low doses are difficult to titrate. Prednisolone has been proposed as an alternative but assay of cortisol as an endpoint is subject to cross-reaction with prednisolone in most ligand assays. Using capillary gas chromatography, we can distinguish urinary cortisol and prednisolone metabolites. We have compared this app...

INTRODUCTIONWe assessed the long-term outcomes of patients managed with intermittent androgen suppression (IAS) following their enrolment in an open, non-randomised feasibility study initiated 10 years ago.PATIENTS AND METHODSAll patients were required to have been managed with androgen suppression for a minimum of 9 months and achieved PSA remissions to levels <4ng/ml. Therapy was stopped and the patients...

We carried out a series of experiments to identify common principles underlying the temporal organization of diverse circadian rhythms in endocrine and other functions in humans. Profiles of rhythms in plasma hormone levels, body temperature, and arousal state were measured while subjects remained at rest in continuous dim ( < 1 lux) light, after they had been exposed to artificial 'days' and 'nights' of different lengths. Subjects gave written informed consent for their pa...

Objective: Surgical outcome in acute acromegaly has been studied nationally and internationally with conflicting and variable results. Definition of cure varies from centre to centre.Rrecent studies have shown increased mortality in acromegalic patients with GH level >5mu/l. We studied the out come of transphenoidal surgery by a single surgeon at 6 and 12 moths after surgery to compare the results with other national and international published studies.Patients and methods...

Acute cortisol increase in man, whether from endogenous or exogenous sources, is associated with changes in cortisol:cortisone equilibrium. We have examined these during normal daily circadian rhythms and following treatment with hydrocortisone. Following local ethical committee approval, four adult volunteers (2 male) collected urine samples over 3 hour periods starting from midnight and over hourly periods between 0600 & 0900 to define the morning cortisol peak. They pro...

Objectives: The main endocrine cell types in pancreatic islets are alpha-, beta-, and delta-cells. Although these cell types have distinct roles in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, inadequate purification methods preclude the study of cell-type-specific effects. We aimed to develop a reliable approach that enables simultaneous sorting of live alpha-, beta-, and delta-cells from mouse islets for downstream analyses.Methods: We developed an antibody-...

Background: Recent studies have shown that adult human possess active brown adipose tissue (BAT), which might be important in affecting obesity and related metabolic risk. However, the supporting evidence in large population based studies is sparse.Methods: We studied 4011 (2688 males and 1323 females) tumor-free Chinese adults aged 18–89 for BAT activities, visceral/subcutaneous fat areas and metabolic parameters. In vivo 18F-fluorodeoxygluc...

Objectives: The Wnt-signalling pathway is involved in tumor development in various tissues. Wnt-signalling molecules are expressed in pancreatic beta-cells. In addition, Wnt-signalling regulates insulin secretion and the proliferation of pancreatic beta-cells in vitro and in animal models. However, it is not clear whether Wnts play a role for the development of human insulinomas. Therefore, we investigated the expression pattern of Wnt-signalling molecules in benign and...

Clear evidence on the specific impact of fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) on cell biology and lipid metabolism in complex systems had been lacking until FABP-deficient mice models were created. Surprisingly, no change in appearance, gross morphology or viability was observed in FABP1-deficient mice. However, metabolic parameters in mice upon exposure to high-fat/cholesterol diet differed between studies. Therefore, liver fatty acid-binding protein (also called FABP1) plays ...

Background: Hypercalcaemia is independently associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity/mortality. It is a poor prognostic marker in malignancy. Best practice dictates further investigation of any high calcium values. Recognition of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is important for long term follow-up and management.Aims: Survey of causes of hypercalcaemia in adults (>18 years) from samples sent to one hospital lab over 1 year with particula...