Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Hypoparathyroidism (HP) is caused by a group of heterogenous conditions that result in deficient secretion of parathyroid hormone. Due to this heterogenous nature, information on HP prevalence is highly variable and studies can be difficult to compare. This study aims to estimate the true prevalence of HP within the EU via comparison of available literature and analyses of sub-populations.Methods: MEDLINE and EMBASE were systematically search...

Stem cell transplants are used to treat and cure many types of haematological malignancies as well as rare solid-organ tumours. The conditioning regimes, medications and potential graft vs host disease can have effects on many organ systems in the body. The Endocrinology Department has designed a follow-up service over the past 3 years for patients in remission due to increasing awareness of the potential endocrinological and metabolic effects of allogenic stem cell transplant...

Autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) is widely believed to be associated with total loss of endogenous mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid production and secretion, due to cell-mediated immune destruction. Therefore, patients with AAD are prescribed lifelong mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid replacement therapy. We present a case of a 69 year old women known with polyglandular autoimmune disease type 2 (hypothyroidism, Addison’s disease and premature ovarian fail...

Introduction: Male hypogonadism may complicate Addison’s disease (AD), but the prevalence of testosterone deficiency in adult males with primary hypoadrenalism is unknown.Methods: Male patients older than 18 years of age enrolled in the South African AD national registry were screened for biochemical testosterone deficiency (early morning basal testosterone <9.9 nmol/l). Testing was also performed to see if these subjects were more susceptible t...

The metastasis related methyltransferase 1 (Merm1), originally designated WBSCR22, is implicated in cancer through H3K9 methylation and silencing of the tumour-suppressor Zac1 gene. Activated GR is a transcription factor with chromatin remodelling activity, and so the functional interaction between GR, and Merm1 was determined. Merm1 consistently potentiated GR transactivation of TAT3-Luc in HeLa cells. This was dependent on the SAM and methyltransferase domains of Merm1. Merm...

Introduction: Acute left ventricular failure is rarely caused by phaeochromocytoma. The rarity and severity of this presentation may result in delayed investigation and incorrect management.Case Report: A 22 year old woman was admitted with headache, vomiting, back pain and malaise. She was initially treated for suspected septic shock with intravenous antibiotics and fluids. Within 24 hours of admission, she rapidly deteriorated and developed pulmonary o...

Various programming stimuli have been postulated to permanently influence fetal development with the common result that offspring exhibit differing degrees of insulin resistance. We set out to establish whether protein restriction, high glucose, glucocorticoid or alcohol exposure might exert their effects directly using a derived population of fetal hepatocytes. Cells were isolated from fetal mouse livers (n=10) at embryonic day 12. Fetal livers were rinsed in phosphate...

Introduction: Hypoglycaemia is a common event encountered in patients with type 1 diabetes usually due to an imbalance between diabetic therapy, activity level and dietary intake.Case: We report a case of a 31-year old lady with 20-year history of type 1 diabetes on basal-bolus regimen of insulin, who presented with a 2 month history of secondary amenorrhoea and recurrent disabling hypoglycaemia despite significant reduction in insulin doses. Clinical ex...

Background: Testosterone levels are commonly lowered in men with diabetes but it is unclear whether these impact upon symptoms of androgen deficiency and diabetes-related quality of life.Objective: To investigate the relationship between testosterone levels, symptoms of androgen deficiency, erectile function and diabetes-related quality of life in men with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Design: Cross-sectional study of 115 men with type 2 diabetes, 93 men w...

Background: A moderately high fructose diet fed to rat dams shifts the secondary sex ratio in the litters towards males. These dams, as well as diabetic pregnant mice, have elevated plasma glucose. Hence, high uterine fluid glucose or a hormone that may mark high glucose, may result in preferential selection of Y-bearing sperm at the point of fertilisation through effects of glucose on sperm motility. In this study, we assessed sperm motility after incubation in media with/wit...