Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Adult survivors of childhood leukaemia treated with bone marrow transplantation and total body irradiation (BMT/TBI) have an increased risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) disproportionate to their level of adiposity or other recognised risk factors. Post prandial hyperglycaemia due to reduced β-cell reserve after irradiation will be missed by fasting glucose (FG) levels. However, the UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) screening guidelines recommend...

Maternally inherited diabetes and deafness (MIDD) is rare subtype and monogenic form of adult onset diabetes caused from point mutation at position 3243 of mitochondrial DNA. The name indicates the main features of disease including diabetes and sensorineural hearing loss. About one percent of people with diabetes can have MIDD but the diagnosis can be challenging and needs high clinical suspicion on basis of family history, clinical features of diabetes, deafness and unusual ...

Background: Adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) treated with bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and total body irradiation (TBI) have increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Insulin resistance (IR) has been described, but effects of TBI on pancreatic growth and β-cell function have not been previously reported.Method: Two groups of childhood ALL survivors were studied: Group 1, treat...

Background: The ITT has been said to be the gold standard for diagnosing GH deficiency (GHD) for 50 years. The original 0, 20, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min time points are still used in many but a survey of current UK paediatric ITT protocols identified several variations.Objective and hypotheses: To identify optimal GH sampling time points to avoid over diagnosis of GHD.Methods: Results of 502 paediatric ITTs using two different samplin...

Glucocorticoids act on several major neuropeptide networks in the hypothalamus which are important for regulation of energy balance and insulin sensitivity. Active glucocorticoids (cortisol/corticosterone in humans/rodents) can be regenerated from their inactive forms by the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type one (11β-HSD1) which is expressed in the hypothalamus. Therefore we decreased 11β-HSD1 expression in the brain to investigate the role of regener...

Background: Bardet Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by ciliary dysfunction. It is characterised by rod cone dystrophy, polydactyly, renal dysfunction, cognitive impairment. Endocrine consequences are thought to include hypogonadism, obesity and polyuria. However little is known about the endocrine and metabolic abnormalities in adult patients.Methods: One hundred and fifty-four patients with BBS were identified through t...

Introduction: This study explores the role of different fat depots in the aetiology of abnormal glucose homeostasis in childhood ALL survivors treated with BMT and TBI using detailed body composition assessments with MRI and DEXA scanning.Method: 52 (16–26 year old) childhood ALL survivors treated with (group 1, n=21, M=11) and without (group 2, n=31, M=13) BMT and TBI and 20 obese subjects (group 3, M=10) were inv...

Introduction: Measures commonly used to assess adiposity are often considered to reflect visceral adiposity and hence used as indicators of cardiovascular risk. This study compares common clinical adiposity measures with abdominal MRI, a direct measure of visceral fat, to assess if this relationship applies in patients with abnormal body composition.Method: Fifty childhood leukaemia survivors (16–26 years) treated with bone marrow transplantation/to...

Objectives: Symptomatic hypogonadism is common in obese men with type-2 diabetes (T2DM) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), and is now an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) improves cholesterol metabolism in hypogonadal men with T2DM and/or MetS. We have previously shown that a non-functional androgen receptor (AR) and low levels of circulating testosterone in the testicular feminised (Tfm) mouse is associated with elevated ch...

Glucocorticoid (GC) excess, whether exogenously- or endogenously-derived, induces many adverse effects in skin including thinning, decreased cellularity and reduced collagen synthesis. Consequently, skin exhibits reduced dermal structural integrity, increased atrophy/fragility/bruising and impaired wound healing, effects that perfectly mimic skin ageing. Local GC levels are regulated in a tissue-specific manner by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) isozymes i...