Endocrine Abstracts

Constitutional delay is a common presentation to paediatric endocrine clinics. Most are boys who have been at the bottom of the normal range for height during childhood and then started to feel left behind as their peers develop in puberty. There is no agreed cut off age but most boys referred are 13–15 years old. Most boys with delay of puberty are healthy, although there is an association with chronic medical conditions (eg inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile rheumatoi...

Diabetes which is not type 1 or type 2 makes up a very small proportion of all diabetes cases in children and adolescents. The value of recognising these is that treatment and outcome can be very different from that seen in type 1 or 2.Other forms of diabetes can be divided into several groups: 1. Genetic diabetes including MODY and neonatal diabetes. MODY can be confused with type 1 diabetes in children. Making the diagnosis can b...

Changes in glycan composition are common in cancer and can play important roles in all of the recognised hallmarks of cancer (1). We recently identified glycosylation as a global target for androgen control in prostate cancer cells and further defined a set of 8 glycosylation enzymes (GALNT7, ST6GalNAc1, GCNT1, UAP1, PGM3, CSGALNACT1, ST6GAL1 and EDEM3), which are also significantly up-regulated in prostate cancer tissue (4). These 8 enzymes are under direct control of the and...

Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG), the specific plasma carrier for sex steroids, interacts with cell membranes. In breast cancer cells, SHBG-cell interaction is closely related to estrogen-sensitivity and it is followed by a well-defined cascade of events. Soon after SHBG binding to cell membranes, cAMP accumulates in the breast cancer cells, activates PKA that in turn suppresses estradiol-induced ERK activation. ERK inhibition abolishes the anti-apoptotic effects of estradi...

Objectives: Many paediatric diabetes units in the UK have introduced 24 h telephone support to encourage self-management to reduce Emergency Department (ED) attendances and admissions. The UK national audit collects information on acute paediatric diabetic admissions; but there is no data available on ED attendances in this group. We undertook a retrospective audit of ED attendances as part of a baseline service evaluation of our newly introduced 24 h support service.<p cl...

The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit 2021 uncovered widening disparity in the utilisation of diabetes technologies among children and young people (CYP) with type 1 diabetes from ethnic minorities and low socioeconomic groups. Our data revealed that only 27.5% of CYP from ethnic minorities were using insulin pump therapy, compared to 50% from a white background. Unfortunately, our current staffing levels and available resources were inadequate to address this issue effective...

Introduction: Anterior pituitary cells are characterised by functional lineages based on the expression pattern of transcription factors. Functional differentiation in the form of pituitary adenomas co-secreting ACTH and growth hormone is very rare. We report a case of multiple cell line pituitary adenoma resulting in acromegaly and ACTH dependent Cushing’s.Case: A 52-year-old woman of Ghanian origin (BMI of 57.5 kg/m2) presented with pro...

Introduction: In August 2015, the British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (BSPED) released new guidelines for the management of DKA. These new guidelines recommended a much more conservative approach with fluid management in order to reduce the risk of cerebral oedema.Aim: Based on local anecdotal evidence, we hypothesized that with the new guidelines, we have had to increase maintenance fluid infusion rates more often and that the chil...

Silent corticoptroph adenomas (SCA) are pituitary tumours positive on immunohistochemical staining for ACTH but without clinical evidence of hypercortisolism. They account for 1.1–6% of surgically removed pituitary adenomas. Most tumours are macroadenomas with suprasellar extension present in 87–100% of the cases. They present with mass effects and this is in contrast to Cushing’s disease, which is mostly attributed to microadenomas. Reports suggest that these t...

Background: Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a disorder of genetic imprinting caused by uniparental disomy of chromosome 15. It can present in the neonatal period with dysmorphic features, hypotonia and feeding difficulties. In the UK, recombinant human Growth Hormone (rhGH) is licensed for use in PWS, improving body composition and motor development, as well as final adult height. Some studies have also demonstrated an improvement in respiratory function in children with PWS. T...