Endocrine Abstracts

The biological role of adipose tissue has been evolving over recent years. Initially viewed predominantly as a site for storage of excess energy, to be released when needed under the regulation of endocrine and neural inputs, the adipose cell should now be viewed as well as a bone fide endocrine gland. Secreted products include major regulators of energybalance, insulin sensitivity, the vascular system, neuroendocrine function, and inflammatory pathways....

Thyroid hormone (T3) works through nuclear receptors which are encoded by two genes TRalpha and TRbeta. Each gene encodes several isoforms among which some are not true receptors as they do not bind to DNA or do not bind thyroid hormone. In the absence of T3, thyroid hormone the receptors (apo-receptors) behave as transcription repressors toward target genes. Upon binding the hormone, the apo-receptors are transformed into holo-receptors which work as tanscription activators. ...

Jacques Samarut, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, France Abstract I graduated at the University of Lyon in 1981 working on the development of hematopoiesis in chick embryo. At the same time I started working on retrovirus oncogenes and their transformation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. I then moved to the Rockefeller University (New York) in the Lab...

Hyponatraemia is the most common fluid and electrolyte disorder encountered in clinical medicine, with incidences as high as 15% to 30% in both acutely and chronically hospitalized patients. Differential diagnosis is complicated by a long list of potential etiologies. Traditional diagnostic strategies entail an initial characterization of the patient's extracellular fluid volume status to differentiate euvolemic hyponatraemia from hypovolemic hyponatraemia (generally indicatin...

Primary Aldosteronism (PA), as defined by the autonomous and inappropriate secretion of aldosterone, causes mineralocorticoid hypertension. Key features of this include suppression of plasma renin and hypokalaemia. Recent studies that have used the ratio of aldosterone to renin (ARR) as a screening test have suggested that the prevalence of PA in unselected populations of patients with hypertension is around 10%. Only a minority of these patients, however, have a low potassium...

The association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and osteoporosis has been known for many decades but has only recently received appropriate recognition. This has largely resulted from the increasing awareness of the high morbidity and mortality attributable to osteoporosis in the general population and the application of advances in its detection to populations with gastrointestinal disease Recent population-based studies in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease...

Thyroid nodules and goitre are a common problem, with a very high prevalence evident from screening studies of the general population. In contrast, thyroid cancer is rare accounting for <1% of all new malignancies diagnosed in England and Wales each year. The challenge to the clinician is therefore to identify, amongst the large number of patients referred because of thyroid enlargement, the small proportion thyroid neoplasia. This differentiation is critical since most wit...

There is no doubt that the use of a syringe and needle has led to an important cost effective strategy for the investigation of thyroid nodules by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) with cytological examination of the aspirate. A recent European Thyroid Association survey found that 99% of respondents used FNAB (Bennedbaek et al 1999). However, there are limitations of FNAB including false negatives, false positives, inadequate specimens and reporting, accessibility of nodul...

Hypertension affects 20-60% of people with type 2 diabetes and people with hypertension are more than twice as likely to develop diabetes. Together, hypertension and diabetes are potent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Resistance to insulin-mediated glucose uptake and dysfunction(s) of the vascular endothelial monolayer are important pathophysiological features of both conditions which are associated with obesity and accelerated atherosclerosis. In recent years, it has...

In the human endometrium, the postovulatory rise in ovarian progesterone results in the influx of distinct local immune cells and induces the coordinated expression of certain gene sets that initially define a limited period of uterine receptivity and subsequently control differentiation of the stromal compartment (decidualisation). Decidualisation is critical for trophoblast invasion and the formation of a haemochorial placenta. Pathologically, a spectrum of reproductive diso...