Endocrine Abstracts

Radioiodide therapy of thyroid cancer represents the most effective form of systemic radiotherapy available to the clinician today. The ability of thyroid cancer cells to concentrate iodide is induced by expression in the follicular cell membrane of the sodium iodide symporter, NIS. Some thyroid cancers lack expression of this protein and therefore the ability to concentrate iodide, making them insensitive to 131-I therapy. Several investigators have characterized the expressi...

Patients are increasingly anxious to know what is being done to them, and the matter of properly informed consent has become a politically sensitive topic. From a clinician's point of view there are four aspects to consider; first, consent to examination and treatment; secondly consent to the use of biological samples for research or other purposes; thirdly consent to necropsy and the retention of post-mortem material; and fourthly consent to the use of personal clinical infor...

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11beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD-1) is a key enzyme which amplifies intracellular levels of active glucocorticoids within specific tissues, including the brain. The hippocampus highly expresses both corticosteroid receptors and 11beta-HSD-1, making it a prime target for glucocorticoid actions. This brain region plays an important role in fear/anxiety behaviours and learning and memory. We examined the anxiety-related behaviours (elevated plus maze and ope...

Thyroid hormone T3 controls many functions in Vertebrates including developmental processes (body and skeletal growth, nervous system maturation) and physiological regulations (heart rate, thermogenesis, glycemia, T3 production). The action of T3 is mediated by two isotypes of nuclear receptors, respectively TRa and TRb that are encoded by two different genes. Each of these two genes encodes several isoforms, several of which are not true receptors.T3 is...

Transcription factors play an important role in the development and function of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis at multiple levels. Mutations in several of these factors have now been described in patients with primary and secondary forms of congenital adrenal hypoplasia. Secondary adrenal hypoplasia results from defective ACTH release and action. This condition can occur as part of a combined pituitary hormone deficiency due to mutations in the homeobox transcri...

I intend to speak about the problems that can occur when there is a breakdown in communication between, in the first instance, patients and GP's and then patients and consultants.I give some examples of cases I have come across and how a self-help group like TED can spend time just listening to patients and working out with them how they can mend any fences that have been broken, and so achieve what we are all working towards - successful treatment....

From a patient's perspective thyroid eye disease is the predominant symptom, and often the eye disease does not revert back to normal even after treatment of the thyrotoxicosis.Thyroid eye disease - is this a life sentence? A patient's experience and viewpoint and an open discussion....

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Appropriate biological timing is essential for optimal physiological function. Driven by the central pacemaker, circadian rhythms in physiology and behaviour require time cues, primarily light, to maintain synchrony with the 24h day and adapt slowly to abrupt changes of time cues. Extrinsic rhythm disorder results from the desynchrony of the internal clock with a new behavioural and/or light dark schedule. The numerous health problems of shift workers (poor sleep, alertness, p...