Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Aim: Approximately 1500 people attend the Beacon Health Check Department annually involving a panel of blood tests being screened. Our aim was to compare what percentage of this asymptomatic population have diabetes or were pre-diabetic and what percentage of these were undiagnosed and therefore untreated conditions.Methodology: This audit was a retrospective review of data collected from patients attending the Beacon Hospital Health Check...

Introduction: Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) comprise a group of heritable disorders that result from mutations in the RET proto-oncogene on chromosome 10. MEN2 is sub classified into MEN2A and MEN2B; these syndromes are characterised by the development of tumours at multiple sites. MEN2A is characterised by medullary thyroid cancer, phaeochromocytoma, and primary parathyroid hyperplasia.Description/case presentation: The index case is a 49 y...

Background: Chronic hypophosphataemia due to renal phosphorus wasting results in bone disease (rickets and osteomalacia). The principal regulators of renal phosphorous handling are parathyroid hormone (PTH) and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). X-linked hypophosphatemic (XLH) rickets is the most common genetic disorder of renal phosphorus wasting; acquired disorders include tumour-induced osteomalacia (TIO). The aims of this study were: i) to assess the clinical utility of ...

Background: The incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide with recent European data suggesting annual increases ranging from 0.6 to 9.3%, the overall rate being 3.9%. It was thought that the Republic of Ireland (ROI) had one of the lowest disease incidences in Europe. The first Irish study of T1DM incidence which provided a measure of case ascertainment, confirmed a high incidence rate (IR) at 16.6 per 100 000 placing this population, in the upper quartile ...

Raised body mass index (BMI) is seen in 95% of PCOS patients, which is characterised by hyperandrogenaemia, both clinically and biochemically. Weight loss, using calorie restricted diets, have previously been successful in improving androgen profiles and also restoring fertility in obese PCOS patients. A CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist, rimonabant is effective in achieving weight loss in subjects with a BMI >27 kg/m.This study aimed to...

While it is generally acknowledged that hyperthyroidism and Paget's disease are states of increased bone turnover and that treatment reduces this, whether treatment entirely corrects or reverses abnormalities has not been established. A variety of biomarkers for bone formation which include serum levels of bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), osteocalcin (OC) and amino terminal procollagen type 1N propeptide (PINP) and resorption biomarkers which include urinary excretion of deoxy...

The importance of the differentiation between the apparent benign clinical condition of macroprolactinaemia and that of true hyperprolactinaemia, which requires therapy, is becoming widely recognised. Laboratories routinely rely on prolactin recoveries of less than 40 percent following treatment of sera with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to distinguish between the former and latter conditions. However, the 40 percent threshold employed is arbitrarily defined with little scientific...

The index case, a 26-year-old man, presented with a 15-month history of gynaecomastia. Investigations revealed a large left-sided adrenal mass that secreted oestrone and oestradiol, with suppression of FSH, LH and testosterone production. It was removed in 1991 with correction of the hormonal abnormalities and follow-up has shown no recurrence to date.In April 2001 the eighteen-month old daughter of the index case developed greasy skin, acne, pubic hair...

Macroprolactin, a high molecular mass complex of prolactin and an IgG antibody is confined to the vasculature and exhibits limited bioactivity in vivo. Using a panel of sera obtained from 10 subjects whose hyperprolactinaemia was due entirely to macroprolactin this study aims to compare the level of detection of macroprolactin by 9 of the most commonly used prolactin immunoassays.The study involved 24 clinical laboratories employing the following 9 anal...

The adrenal cortex produces aldosterone, cortisol and adrenal androgens. ACTH regulates the production of both cortisol and adrenal androgens. However there are physiological and pathophysiological conditions where the production of these steroids is divergent. We examined the effect angiotension II (A-II) and insulin on the relative production of cortisol and adrenal androgens in the human adrenal H-295 cell line. We determined the ability of these secretogogues to regulate t...