Endocrine Abstracts

Familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD, OMIM#202200) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterised by adrenal resistance to the action of ACTH, with isolated glucocorticoid deficiency. Recently, mutations in NNT, encoding the mitochondrial anti-oxidant nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase have been reported to cause FGD.Our index case, from a highly consanguineous Kashmiri family, was diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency during a sep...

Glucocorticoid signalling is essential during embryonic lung development, with both the global and epithelial glucocorticoid receptor (GR) null mice presenting with lung atelectasis and post natal lethality. In this study, we examined the role of glucocorticoid signalling within mesenchymal tissues. To study the role of the GR in mesenchymal tissues during embryogenesis we crossed GRflox mice with Dermo1-Cre mice to generate GRDermo1 mice, where the GR gene was cond...

Background: PCOS is associated with a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors. Increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are thought to be proatherogenic, and have also been found to be elevated in PCOS. This study was undertaken to determine the changes of VEGF in patients with PCOS after rimonabant and/or metformin intervention.Methods: A 6-month randomised open labelled parallel study of rimonabant or metformin in 20 patien...

Background: Recent studies have shown that adult human possess active brown adipose tissue (BAT), which might be important in affecting obesity and related metabolic risk. However, the supporting evidence in large population based studies is sparse.Methods: We studied 4011 (2688 males and 1323 females) tumor-free Chinese adults aged 18–89 for BAT activities, visceral/subcutaneous fat areas and metabolic parameters. In vivo 18F-fluorodeoxygluc...

Background: The serum concentrations of lipoproteins and lipids are heritable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Pregnancy is associated with increases in plasma lipid profiles. Identifying the genetic determinants could provide novel insights into mechanisms of dyslipidemia and reveal avenues for developing new therapies. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on serum lipid levels during pregnancy.<p ...

The purpose of the present study was to elucidate expressions of ERβ1 and ERβ2 expression in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). ER β splicing variants expressions were examined on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded thyroid tissues from 106 PTCs and 30 nodular thyroid goiters (NTGs) by immunehistochemical methods using Elivision plus two-step system. There was significant difference in the subcellular localization of ERβ1 expression (P<0.001), but not...

Objective: Metformin was considered as a weight lowering agent in diabetes patients, while it remained unclear in simple obesity patients. We aimed to investigate if metformin is effective and safe in the therapy of normoglycemic obesity.Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE (1950–2011), EMBase (1950–2011), and CCTR (4th Issue 2011), and collected and screened all randomized controlled trials compared metformin and placebo in obese partic...

Objectives: The most common cause of maternal hyperthyroidism during pregnancy is Graves’ disease (GD). The aim of this study was to investigate the perinatal complications and the risk of thyroid dysfunction at early childhood of mothers with GD during pregnancy.Method: Pregnant women with GD (n=93) and aged-matched randomly selected healthy pregnant women (n=140) were recruited retrospectively. The prenatal and newborn data were coll...

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has shown to be associated with increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study was undertaken to determine the changes of pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with PCOS after rimonabant and/or metformin treatment.Methods: A 3 month randomised open labelled parallel study of rimonabant or metformin in 20 patients with PCOS with a body mass index >30 kg/m2 was undertaken. Subsequen...

Objective: We aim to study whether a difference exists in cardiovascular risk and variability of IR within the hyperandrogenic group of women with PCOS who are ovulatory and anovulatory.Method: Fifty-three women with PCOS were recruited. All subjects were diagnosed to have PCOS by the ESHRE/ASRM Rotterdam criteria where all patients had evidence of biochemical hyperandrogenism and hirsutism, chronic anovulation and polycystic ovaries on transvaginal ultr...