Endocrine Abstracts

Severe obesity continues to dramatically increase in prevalence and is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. The American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery recommends that bariatric surgery only be performed on those with severe obesity. Gastric bypass surgery decreases mortality by 40% at 7.5 years.Using photographs of volunteers from a hospital based weight management clinic, we performed a survey of endocrinologists, general pr...

Objectives: We describe three patients recently admitted to our institution with severe hypomagnesaemia and hypocalcaemia and a history of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy.Patient 1 was admitted with lethargy, anorexia and leg cramps. Medications included a PPI (omeprazole) prescribed for gastritis. Corrected calcium was 1.54 mmol/l (2.15–2.65) and magnesium 0.25 mmol/l (0.7–1.0), with a PTH of 1.0 pmol/l (1.6–6.9) and 25-OH-vitamin D 5...

Urocortins are the endogenous ligands for the corticotropin-releasing factor receptor type-2 which is highly expressed in skeletal muscle where it regulates glucose metabolism and muscle mass. Transgenic mice overexpressing Urocortin-3 (UCN3+) show accelerated peripheral glucose disposal and increased skeletal muscle mass with myocyte hypertrophy associated with decreased energy efficiency and improved glucose tolerance. We aimed to determine whether this phenotype would confe...

Introduction: The hypothalamus plays a pivotal role in maintaining body temperature.Insults to the hypothalamus can result in life threatening temperature disturbance.We describe a case of hypothalamic dysfunction presenting with poikilothermia that was managed with a special portable external heating vest.Case report: A 31 year old man presented in July 1992 with a subarachnoid hemorrhage which was managed s...

The potential for primary tumour relapse is an important consideration during GH replacement therapy (GHR). We report 3 cases of relapse of intra cranial germ cell tumour (GCT) during GHR.Patient 1: An 11 year-old female presenting with visual loss and short stature due to a suprasellar malignant teratoma. She was successfully treated with bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatinum (BEP) and intrathecal chemotherapy. She suffered a first relapse two years late...

Experimental, clinical and/or epidemiological evidence points to a role for prolactin (PRL) in the promotion of benign and malignant tumors of the breast and the prostate. However, therapies reducing PRL levels (dopamine agonists) are currently not considered for the treatment of these pathologies. Dopamine agonists only target PRL secretion from the pituitary, while recent observations suggest that the involvement of autocrine PRL is perhaps even more relevant than circulatin...

BackgroundIn addition to inhibiting pituitary GH secretion, somatostatin (SS) and its analogues have been shown to exert anti-proliferative effects on a variety of different cell types. The presence of receptors for SS have been demonstrated in a number of tissues but quantification of mRNA expression of the 5 subtypes of SSTR in the colon is unknown.MethodsTotal RNA was extracted from 9 paired samples of adj...

A 28 years old lady presented at 21 weeks gestation with bipedal oedema and 4 week history of easy bruising and weakness and aching of the thighs. She had no significant past medical history and had prior uneventful pregnancy 17 months previously. On examination she was hypertensive (180/100 mmHg), had puffy face, prominent abdominal striae and bilateral leg oedema. Serum potassium was 2.6 mmol/l and random plasma glucose was 8.6 mmol/l. OGTT confirmed gestational diabetes and...

Background: Vitamin D prevents proliferation, promotes differentiation and induces apoptosis of colonic cells. A reduced dietary intake is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Recently, we have shown that 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-alpha hydroxylase (1aOHase) mRNA, which converts vitamin D to its active metabolite, is upregulated in CRC. However, this was based on small number of samples and data on vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in CRC are inconsisten...

Background: Sporadic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is more common on the left side of the colon. Acromegaly confers an increased risk of developing CRC but with an increase of right sided disease. IGFBP-3 both regulates tissue exposure to IGF-I and also exerts cellular IGF-l independent pro-apoptotic effects. Whether variation in regional IGFBP-3 expression in the colon may explain the observed pattern of disease in both normal and acromegalic patients is unknown.Aim: 1) To c...