Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease and a movement disorder characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra causing dopamine depletion in the striatum. Neurodegeneration in PD occurs due to multiple pathways including oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, protein aggregation. These changes increase during menopausal condition in females when the level of estradiol is decreased. Recently, there has been a growing inte...

Aims: To compare glycaemic control and change in body mass index (BMI) in children and adolescents newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and started on either twice daily insulin (BD) or multiple daily insulin (MDI).Methods: This study looked retrospectively at all children newly diagnosed with T1D at our hospital from January 2006 to June 2007. There were 44 children and the outcome measures used were change in haemoglobin A1c (HbA1...

We present 2 cases of extraadrenal phaeochromocytoma with several unusual features: (a) A 54 year-old female presented with dizziness, falls, and palpitations. She was tachycardic with blood pressure of 218/75 supine and 139/107 standing. An abdominal mass was palpable. Urinary catecholamines were markedly raised and a CT scan showed para-aortic mass with avid MIBG uptake confirming the diagnosis of an extraadrenal phaeochromocytoma. Persistent hypokalaemia and hyperglycaemia ...

In the ovary, glucocorticoids are metabolised by 11βHSD enzymes. The bi-directional 11βHSD1 enzyme usually acts as an NADPH-dependent 11-ketoreductase to regenerate cortisol (F) from circulating cortisone (E), while 11βHSD 2 inactivates F using NAD+ as cofactor. Having isolated endogenous inhibitors of 11βHSD1 from porcine follicular fluid (pFF) and ovarian cysts, the aims of this study were to establish whether 11βHSD enzymes interconvert F...

The association of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) with other autoimmune disorders is well documented. Familial prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and other autoimmune diseases was examined in our cohort of 2296 with Graves’ disease (GD) (1920 females, 376 males) and 361 with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) (313 females, 48 males), probands being recruited using standard diagnostic criteria. FH was ascertained using a standardised structured questionnaire.<p class...

Context: The post-surgical follow-up of malignant insulinomas is often marked by recurrence after initial remission. However, the criteria for the diagnosis of recurrence of these malignant endocrine tumors are not well defined in the literature, unlike diagnostic of criteria for hyperinsulinemic hypoglycaemia (Cryer 2009). We retrospectively reviewed the criteria that allowed the diagnosis of recurrence in four patients with malignant insulinoma after initial post-operative r...

We have previously shown PTTG binding factor (PBF) to be a transforming gene both in vitro and in vivo, forming colonies in soft agar and tumours in nude mice. We have found that along with PTTG, PBF is upregulated in thyroid cancer and is also a prognostic indicator for recurrence. As our cohort of thyroid cancers showed significantly reduced sodium iodide symporter (NIS) expression compared to normal thyroid (47% reduction, N=27, P=0.005), which was negatively ...

Objective: Macroprolactinomas (MPRL) may result in spontaneous or dopamine-agonist-induced CSF rhinorrhoea. The incidence of, and mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to determine the incidence of non-surgical (spontaneous and dopamine-agonist-induced) rhinorrhoea, and to identify biochemical, radiological and histopathological factors associated with this phenomenon.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed MPR...

Her-2/neu over-expression is associated with elevated tumorigenicity and enhanced metastatic potential. Recently a DNA motif containing the consensus binding site of PEA3, a member of the ets transcription factor family has been identified on the Her-2/neu promoter. Activation of the PEA3 response element has been proposed to be involved in the transcriptional squelching of Her-2/neu.Methods: Using RT-PCR we have determined PEA3 mRNA expression in human breast tissue and l...

Background and aim: Obesity (Ob) is tightly associated with metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes (DT2) andinsulin resistance (IR). Furthermore, obesity has been identified as one of the primary causes of mood disorders (MDs) including depression. Several studies have demonstrated the link between Ob, adiposity, neuroinflammation and MDs. The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and its regulator, the non-coding RNA BDNF antisense RNA (BDNFas), play an import...