Endocrine Abstracts

Background : Patients with primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) describe significant impairments in quality of life. Current replacement regimes are non-physiological. Animal studies indicate that pulsatile presentation of endogenous glucocorticoids is critical for normal transcriptional and behavioural responses. Healthy volunteer work also shows that pattern of glucocorticoid presentation alters cognitive and emotional processing.Objective: To assess th...

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP), usually due to multigland hyperplasia, occurs in >90% of patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1). The literature is divided on the optimal surgical management for such patients. We report a retrospective cohort study on the long-term outcomes associated with limited, subtotal, or total parathyroidectomy as initial surgery for PHP in MEN1. The primary endpoint was recurrent PHP defined as an adjusted serum calcium >2.6 mmol/l ...

Significant knowledge gaps exist regarding the humanistic effects of hypoparathyroidism, a rare, debilitating disorder. We report results from a global survey to characterise the burden of hypoparathyroidism from the patient perspective. An anonymous survey was conducted in patients with uncontrolled chronic hypoparathyroidism (as determined by patients’ report of persistent symptoms and/or poorly controlled calcium levels as told by their physician) despite receiving con...

Introduction: Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a complex syndrome including hyperphagia, pituitary hormone deficiencies, low muscle mass and cognitive impairment. Treatment with recombinant Growth Hormone (GH) has beneficial effects on body composition, physical performance, cognition, psychomotor development, respiratory function, and quality of life of patients with PWS. GH treatment has a narrow therapeutic range. Clinicians measure serum immunoreactive Insulin-like Growth Fa...

Background: Urinary steroid metabolite profiling is an accurate reflection of adrenal and gonadal steroid output and metabolism in peripheral target cells of steroid action. Measurement of steroid metabolite excretion by gas chromatography-–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is considered reference standard for biochemical diagnosis of steroidogenic disorders. However, performance of GC–MS analysis and interpretation of the resulting data requires significant expertise a...

Turner Syndrome (TS) affects 1:2500 females and is caused by the partial or complete loss of one X chromosome. About 80% of women with TS experience primary amenorrhea and therefore the only option for fertility treatment is ovum donation (OD). The remaining 20% may have the opportunity for a spontaneous pregnancy. Pregnancy in women with TS has been associated with excess obstetric risk such as miscarriage and hypertension. Maternal mortality has been estimated to be 2% risk ...

Background: Bile acids (BAs) are end-products of cholesterol catabolism, which act as signalling molecules to regulate glucose, lipid and energy metabolism. BAs activate several receptors including the ligand sensitive transcription factor Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and the membrane G-protein coupled receptor, TGR5. Besides the organs physiologically in contact with BAs, like the gut and liver, BA-receptors are also expressed in cholesterol-rich steroidogenic tissues, such as ...

Introduction: Glucocorticoid (GC)-induced osteoporosis is a widespread problem that is accompanied with increased fracture risk. Currently, it is unknown whether detrimental effects of GC therapy on bone are simply the consequence of supraphysiological GC doses, or whether absence of the endogenous GC rhythm also plays a role. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the importance of the presence of a diurnal corticosterone (CORT) rhythm, the primary GC in mice, for bone quality....

Although chronic hypoparathyroidism is known to negatively affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL), burden of illness is less well defined in patients whose disease is not adequately controlled on conventional therapy. We report burden of illness for the European subset of a patient survey in 13 countries globally. 398 adults with chronic hypoparathyroidism not adequately controlled on conventional therapy (recruited by treating physician or patient association) complete...

Obesity leads to low-grade inflammation, and high-fat diet is one of the major causes. On the other hand, menopause can aggravate it by promoting food intake alterations, and metabolic and endocrine adaptations. Thus, we used ovariectomized rats fed with high-fat diet to evaluate changes on the tissue inflammatory state. Forty days-old female Wistar rats were fed with: a hyperlipidic diet enriched with lard – H-group; or chow diet – C-group; for 30 days. After this p...