Endocrine Abstracts

The anterior pituitary gland displays considerable plasticity with a proliferative response to oestrogen in a number of different situations including pregnancy. The nature of pituitary remodelling to this physiological demand is not clear.Using microarray analysis we found that oestrogen treatment of the rat in vivo increased expression of Wnt4 mRNA in adult rat pituitary tissue. Dual immunofluorescence analysis showed that this Wnt4 expression w...

Craniopharyngioma (CP) is associated with considerably higher mortality and morbidity than pituitary adenomas. The tumours are rare, but present a considerable management challenge. In addition to the endocrine and mass effects which are common to all tumours arising from the region of the pituitary fossa, the site, size, and sometimes the treatment of CP, dictate that the endocrinologist must also manage hypothalamic complications. Endocrinologists are aware of the high frequ...

Background: Adipocytes and macrophages resident in adipose tissue produce and secrete a variety of biologically active mediators (adipokines) that contribute to the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Malfunction of adipocytes may play an important role in the development of low-grade inflammatory state associated with obesity.Objectives: Describe alternative ways to adipokines with potential impact on ...

Hyponatraemia is the commonest electrolyte abnormality in clinical practice; epidemiological data would suggest that SIAD is the commonest cause of hyponatraemia, and it is particularly important in patients undergoing neurosurgery, in whom SIAD is common. Recent data has shown that even mild hyponatraemia (plasma sodium 125–135 mmol/l) is associated with gait instability, falls, fractures, osteoporosis and increased mortality. This has led to the recognition that correct...

In mammals, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), produced by pituitary gonadotropes, is required for proper gonadal function and female fertility. The TGFβ superfamily members, activins, are critical regulators of FSH synthesis. Activins signal through heteromeric type I/type II receptor complexes and the effector proteins SMADs 2 and 3 to regulate gene transcription. Numerous studies in gonadotrope-like cell lines suggest that activin-stimulated FSH β subunit (Fshb) ...

We have uncovered the entire functional oxytocin (OT) system in the rat and human heart. In the experimentally-induced myocardial infarction (MI) in rats, the continuous OT delivery improves the cardiac work, reduces inflammation, and stimulates angiogenesis. We hypothesized that these actions of OT are mediated by increase in glucose uptake in cardiomyocytes (CM). Indeed OT (10 nM) increased basal glucose uptake in CM to 4.0±0.2 fmol/mg protein in comparison to 2.2 fmol/...

Background: The ‘intact’ parathyroid hormone (PTH) assays recognizes PTH (1–84) as well as amino terminally truncated fragments (C-PTH fragments). The present study investigated whether the use of plasma PTH-(1–84)/C-PTH fragment ratio enhances the noninvasive assessment of bone metabolism in patients on dialysis.Methods: Blood samples of 45 healthy subjects with normal ‘intact’-PTH values and 135 samples of dialysis patient...

Objective: To research changes in bone mass during treatment on MNG with thyroxin.Material and methods: For two years, patients and their clinical histories were examined when each ambulatory patient was personally visited by the author. MNG by Hashimoto’s disease and classic MNG were included. The patients with MNG in treatment were placed in the problem group, while the patients who were visited for the first time, and the patients with other endo...

Introduction: Thyrotropin (TSH)-secreting pituitary adenomas are rare (<1% of all pituitary tumors) and cause secondary hyperthyroidism.Case report: A 33-year old woman with type 1 diabetes mellitus presented in 2009 with palpitations. She had a past medical history of radioiodine therapy for thyrotoxicosis in 1998. After radioiodine treatment, she received an increasing daily dose of thyroxine (from 50 to 175 μg) because of her gradually rising...

Struma Ovarii and its malignant transformation to thyroid-type carcinoma are rare conditions. In recent reviews of reported literatures, only 53 cases of papillary thyroid-type carcinoma arising from struma ovarii were documented from 1924 to 2008. Due to the rarity of the disease, lack of uniform histological criteria for malignancy and protracted clinical course, its management is not also universally accepted by physicians. The aim of this paper is to present a very rare ca...