Endocrine Abstracts

Histiocytosis X is a rare disorder in which proliferating Langerhans cells can infiltrate virtually any site in the body. Bone is the most commonly affected site but endocrine involvement is frequently seen. Diabetes insipidus is the most common abnormality when there is involvement of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis.We report the case of a 42 year old lady who presented with diabetes insipidus in 1997. MR scan of the pituitary showed absence of the post...

Background and aims: Mechanism underlying the IR (Insulin-resistance) remains yet to be identified. Resistin has been shown to antagonize insulin action, and thus might be implicated in the pathogenesis of IR. In contrast, adiponectin has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity and improve glucose tolerance. We aimed to test the hypothesis that resistin levels might correlate positively with the indices of insulin resistance, while the opposite might be true for adiponectin...

We report the case of a 57-year-old woman who presented with headache of sudden onset and with blurring of vision in the right eye. This had been preceded by a week's history of fever, rigors and coryzal symptoms which had been treated as malaria and had subsequently settled. Examination demonstrated proptosis and complete ophthalmoplegia of the right eye with 6/60 acuity. Baseline investigations included normal urea and electrolytes, clotting screen and full blood count, with...

People living with diabetes face the daily burden of managing their disease. The ongoing challenge of administering insulin, testing heir glucose and adhering to recommended lifestyle can be overwhelming. Diabetes technology can alleviate some of this burden. However, the technology should be chosen wisely upon preferences and competences of affected people. Insulin pump use has been increasing over the last decades. Insulin pumps re considered a comfortable way to deliver ins...

The pituitary gland has always held a special allure; so small and yet so complex pathophysiology and clinical presentation. I heard the call of its sirens in the late 70’s just after finishing my medical examination and it was the realization of how little we know about pituitary disorders that prompted me to specialize in endocrinology in view of working in neuroendocrinology. In 1990, I got the great fortune to head an endocrine outpatient unit and a research laborator...

Professor K ChatterjeeKrishna Chatterjee is Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Cambridge, and a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator. His research interests in genetic and molecular endocrinology include Disorders of Thyroid Hormone Action. He co-directs a national referral laboratory for unusual and discordant thyroid function tests in Cambridge....

Autoimmune endocrine diseases such as type 1 diabetes and autoimmune adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease) are disorders that often aggregate in families. Despite being universally lethal before the 20th century, the predisposing genetic variants have remained in the population, probably conferring advantages even at the price of an enhanced risk of developing autoimmunity. With carefully phenotyped patients and geographically matched controls, strong signals can be ...

Olle Kämpe is professor and senior consultant in endocrinology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He holds the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg endowment professorship in clinical endocrinology since 2014 and was before that professor of molecular medicine at Uppsala University between 1999 and 2014. He is fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (www.kva.se/en), and member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinsk...

In males, peak bone mass as evaluated by DXA is reached at the age of 20–22 years and may be important for the risk of fracture later in life. DXA, however, only provides two-dimensional images and does not allow assessment of bone structure.We used HR-pQCT to assess trabecular and cortical volumetric BMD (vBMD) and bone microarchitecture at the distal radius and tibia in a population based study including healthy male volunteers. Moreover, bone str...

A 72-year-old woman was initially referred by her GP to the colorectal service of our Hospital. She had a 4-month history of weight loss, fatigue and appetite loss.The initial blood tests at the GP surgery revealed a normochromic normocytic anaemia.She had a diagnosis of SVT and she was on sotalol. She had never smoked nor she had a history of excess alcohol.In her initial blood tests: Hgb 9 g/dl, albumin 27 ...