Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In 2007, the Turner syndrome (TS) consensus study group developed an international guideline for clinical care of girls and women with TS. Given emerging concerns of long term cardiovascular complications, the consensus recommends that cardiac MRI should be performed when girls are old enough to tolerate the procedure or at the time of transition and to be repeated at least every 5–10 years.Method: We conducted a survey ...

Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate sitting height (SH) and leg length (LL) in girls with Turner syndrome.Methods: Retrospective study of SH and LL SDS, using SH–LL SDS (~0 in a proportionate child) as a measure of disproportion in 76 girls with Turner syndrome. Eligible girls were aged at least 4 years, had not started recombinant GH, and had no other chronic disease. 40 girls with measurements prior to pubertal induction and at adult height...

Background: Adrenal incidentalomas (AI) are being seen frequently in endocrine clinics due to increased cross-sectional imaging with a prevalence of 4% (7% in patients >70 years) of abdominal CT scans. The majority of these tumours are benign and non-functional, but identifying malignancy and functionality is important. Excess cortisol production is the commonest endocrinopathy associated with AI, with a reported prevalence of ~10%. The overnight 1 mg dexamethasone suppres...

Hyponatraemia is associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospital stays and poor assessment and management. Two audits were performed looking at acute medical unit (AMU) admissions with sodium <130 mmol/l, before and after the introduction of a protocol and regular endocrine nurse specialist ward visits, 3 months apart (58 patients in April and 99 in July 2013).Hyponatraemic patients were older than the AMU population (>...

Osteocytes differentiate from osteoblasts, are embedded in mineralised matrix and are critical regulators of bone remodelling. In vitro osteocyte models are currently limited to cell lines in monolayer, but these do not represent their 3D environment in vivo. We have recently shown that osteoblasts in 3D gels differentiate along the osteocytic pathway. Since retinoic acid (RA) has been shown to stimulate monolayer osteoblast/osteocyte differentiation, we have inv...

Background: Primary or idiopathic empty sella syndrome (ESS) is the herniation of the meninges through an incompetent diaphragma sellae into the sella turcica which pushes the pituitary gland aside so giving the appearance of an empty sella. Secondary ESS is caused by damage to pituitary tissue which results in an empty sella turcica. There is significant lack of agreement in the literature regarding the number of patients with empty sella syndrome (ESS) who suffer from pituit...

Background and aims: Previously we showed that the bioactive liquorice constituent glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) inhibits not only 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase enzymes but also the sulphation of corticosteroids by the enzyme sulphotransferase 2A1 (SULT2A1). Since pregnenolone, 17α-hydroxy-pregnenolone, deoxycorticosterone (DOC) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) are all prime substrates for SULT2A1, GA could have important effects in directing pathways of glucocorticoi...

Based on the hypothesis that ‘incessant ovulation’ and ‘ovulation-related inflammation’ are associated with the development of epithelial ovarian cancer, we have investigated in vitro the role of androgen and progesterone pre-receptor metabolism and steroid receptor signalling in human ovarian surface epithelium (hOSE) wound healing. Ovulation-associated injury was mimicked with exposure of primary hOSE cells to interleukin-1α, whereas post-ovul...

Background: Growth retardation and pubertal delay is frequently encountered in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). There are currently no published data on sitting height (SH), subischial leg length (SILL)and growth rates in relation to pubertal status in these children.Objective: To assess skeletal disproportion and growth rates in children with IBD.Methods: Retrospective study of 40 children (32M):35 Crohn’s dise...

Background: Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may suffer from growth and pubertal delay.Objective: To assess pubertal status and growth in a group of boys with IBD before (T+0) and 6 months after (T+6) initiation of testosterone therapy.Methods: Retrospective study of boys with IBD undergoing pubertal induction. Height (Ht) and pubertal status were obtained at T+0 and T+6. Markers of disease activity and data on concom...