Endocrine Abstracts

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a major cause of secondary hypertension. Among PA, the diagnosis of an aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) is critical because an APA can be cured surgically. Adrenal venous sampling (AVS) is the golden standard test in the diagnosis of an APA, but is available only in specialized medical centers. Meanwhile, aldosterone secretion of an APA is reported to be more sensitive to ACTH than that of idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA) or essential hypert...

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is common; disproportionately affecting the overweight and obese. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the first-line treatment for moderate to severe OSAS. Clinical equipoise exists as to whether CPAP treatment directly affects pituitary-gonadal hormone synthesis.Study Aim: This study aimed to determine the effect of CPAP treatment on gonadotropins, prolactin, sex-hormone binding-globulin (SH...

The finding of an adrenal incidentaloma warrants a careful diagnostic work-up to assess hormonal activity and potential malignancy. Current diagnostic algorithms depend largely on imaging studies, which is time-consuming, expensive and carries a health risk. Urinary steroid profiling using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) might be a valuable diagnostic test for differentiating benign from malignant adrenal lesions, as adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) often cause abn...

PTTG has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pituitary, thyroid and other tumours. PBF was recently identified as a protein which interacts specifically with PTTG both in vitro and in vivo. PBF facilitates PTTG's nuclear localisation, and mediates its ability to transactivate basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). We investigated PBF expression and function in vitro, and examined its relationship to PTTG action. Transient transfection of wild type PTTG induced a significan...

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Rickets is a condition only seen in growing children due to disorders that result in impaired apoptosis of hypertrophic cells and mineralisation of the growth plate and osteoid. Although there are a variety of causes of rickets vitamin D deficiency remains the commonest cause worldwide with evidence of a resurgence in some developed countries.There are several modes of presentation of vitamin D deficiency dependent on the age and growth rate of the child...

What do we mean by ‘osteoporosis’? Essentially, bone of reduced mass that is abnormal at a micro-architectural level, with an increased propensity to fracture. The detection of such abnormality is not straight-forward. Any bone will fracture given sufficient force, and it might be thought that restricting further investigation to those who fracture following mild or trivial trauma would be the way forward. Defining what level of trauma should be regarded as ‘mil...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of autosomal recessive disorders causing deficient cortisol synthesis. The commonest cause, 21-hydroxylase deficiency, accounts for about 90–95% of cases. Other entities such as deficiencies of 11β-hydroxylase, 17α-hydroxylase, 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2, and P450 oxidoreductase are considerably rarer. The differential diagnosis has to be established as different forms of CAH will require different...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFAs) are benign pituitary neoplasms arising from the adenohypophyseal cells. They are not associated with clinical evidence of hormonal hypersecretion and have a prevalence of 22 cases per 100,000 people. At presentation, the majority is macroadenomas and their clinical manifestations are the result of pressure effects to surrounding structures.Management options include observation, surgical removal combined or not w...

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