Endocrine Abstracts

The hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis can be affected following therapy for brain tumours. Primary thyroid damage is frequent following craniospinal irradiation(CSI). Central hypothyroidism is less commonly reported following cranial irradiation(CI), however, some investigators have argued it is underdiagnosed and may be more prevalent than growth hormone deficiency(GHD). Utilising thyroid function tests(TFT) for the diagnosis of central hypothyroidism is notoriously difficu...

An eighty four year old lady was admitted to medical ward with an acute on chronic confusion. She was diagnosed to have thyrotoxicosis 5 weeks prior to this [TSH less than 0.02 (ref range 0.35 -5.00 miu per litre) & fT4 of 41.7 (ref range 11.0 - 23.0 pmol per litre)] and was treated by her general practitioner with carbimazole 30 mg daily. Despite this her thyroid function did not improve. The dose of carbimazole was further increased to 60mg daily with minimal response. T...

Our recent studies show that perinatal exposure to the synthetic glucocorticoid (GC), dexamethasone, altered the number of dopaminergic cell bodies in mesencephalic nuclei in adult male and female rats, with implications for mood, behaviour and motor activity. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether hypothalamic dopaminergic populations are also subject to such 'programming' effects. Using timed pregnant rats, dexamethasone was included in the drinking water bet...

Mrs. P.A., a 75 year old lady, presented to Accident and Emergency with a severe persistent headache of 3 days duration. She was disorientated and drowsy. She has a history of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, depression and hypothyroidism. She was a smoker of 20 a day and consumed no alcohol. Her Glasgow Coma Scale was 13/15, her examination was normal. An initial CT head showed a pituitary tumour with haemorrhage. Tests showed an FSH of 14.1 IU/L, LH 2.9 ...

Objectives: To evaluate the precipitants of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and to audit its management in a busy District General Hospital following the introduction of local guidelines.Methods: Data on all patients admitted with DKA between January 2003 and March 2004 were collected and analysed and clinical management was audited against the standards set in the guidelines.Results: Seventy eight episodes were recorded in 70 patients...

The ovarian enzyme 20alpha-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase (20HSD) plays a central role in the termination of pregnancy in rodents. The enzyme which is expressed mainly in the corpus luteum, catalyzes the reduction of progesterone to 20alpha hydropregn-4en-3-one which is biologically inactive and cannot maintain pregnancy. During pregnancy ovarian 20HSD expression is inhibited, activity peaked in the CL of pregnancy about 24 hrs before parturition at the same time that progester...

Objectives: To evaluate the precipitants of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and to audit its management in a busy District General Hospital following the introduction of local guidelines.Methods: Data on all patients admitted with DKA between January 2003 and March 2004 were collected and analysed and clinical management was audited against the standards set in the guidelines.Results: Seventy eight episodes were recorded in 70 patients...

Glucocorticoids may regulate the autoimmune response by influencing the shift in balance between type-1 and type-2 cytokine responses. To investigate the effect of steroids on peripheral cytokine expression in autoimmune thyroiditis we measured dexamethasone (Dex) and progesterone (Prg) inhibition of peripheral CD4+ T lymphocyte expressions of Interferon-gamma (IFN-g) (type-1 response) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4) (type 2 response) in both patients and healthy subjects.<p clas...

At present, the blue fox is extensively studied in connection with the process of domestication and there is a need for a better understanding of endocrine processes associated with reproductive and stress-response development in this species. Plasma concentrations of testosterone, oestradiol, ACTH and cortisol, gonadal in vitro production of testosterone and oestradiol and adrenal in vitro production of cortisol were measured by RIA in foetal (47-48 days of pregnancy, n=69), ...

Peripheral metabolic signals such as leptin, glucose and insulin are integrated by neurons in the hypothalamus to regulate both short and long term energy balance. However, the signal transduction mechanisms by which neurons sense glucose and insulin levels are unclear and specific parts of the pathways may be distinct from those in the pancreas. The aim of this study was to quantitatively analyse hypothalamic expression of genes known to be involved in pancreatic glucose/insu...