Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Aims: Studies have revealed increased vascular mortality, particularly cerebrovascular mortality in hypopituitary adults. Cranial radiotherapy has been implicated. This study was designed to assess the impact of cranial irradiation upon cerebrovascular function in patients with pituitary disease.Methods: Three groups were studied: - Group 1- (n=12), patients with pituitary disease who have had cranial radiotherapy, Group 2- (n</i...

Uzbekistan is area of low dietary iodide intake (45.5% of population with iodide deficiency) and high goiter prevalence (more then 40%).Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of amiodarone-induce thyroid disorders among patients residence in iodine deficiency region.Patients and methods: We observed 46 patients with supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmias, aged 53±12 years. The mean duration of ...

In euthyroid women normal pregnancy is associated with a rise in free thyroxine and fall in TSH levels attributable to high levels of hCG in the first trimester. In hypothyroid women free thyroxine tends to fall and TSH rises if the dose of thyroxine is not raised, due to further pregnancy - associated changes including a rapid rise in thyroxine-binding globulin and increased renal clearance and placental metabolism of thyroid hormone. Fetal thyroid development occurs by 12 we...

A 76 year old female presented in 2000 with thyrotoxicosis secondary to Grave’s disease. She was treated successfully with propylthiouracil (PTU) for 2 years then opted for and received a standard therapeutic dose of radioactive iodine (131I) in September 2003. Her thyroid function tests (TFTs) normalised in the first 6 months after treatment (FT4 <14 pmol/l) and she was started on replacement thyroxine 50 mcg od for 8 weeks. She presented in March 2004 wit...

Objective: To study serum levels of angiogenic factors: vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), angiogenin and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) and their relationship to metabolic control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and to evaluate whether these angiogenic factors can predict and identify cases at greater risk to develop diabetic retinopathy or persistent microalbuminuria in a follow-up perio...

The major source of neurokinin B (NKB), a peptide of the tachykinin family, is the placenta. Little is known of the regulation of NKB or its preferred hypertensive-inducing receptor, NK3, during pregnancy, nor, the mechanisms leading to elevated NKB associated with pre-eclampsia (PE) during the third trimester. Using the pregnant rat we have looked at the changes in NKB and NK3 expression using real time PCR between day 16 and 21 of gestation in the placenta, brain and differe...

Several studies suggest that mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) are increased in patients with hypopituitarism. We retrospectively assessed the prevalence of known diabetes, treated hypertension and dyslipidemia, known risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), in a large population (n:250) of patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disease. We then prospectively screened 90 such patients for the following CVD risk factors: obesity, diabetes mellitus, smoking...

The basic mechanisms underlying thyroid growth and proliferation in thyroid cancer are still incompletely characterized. Lithium inhibits GSK3beta and affects via phosphorylation the degradation of free beta-catenin, a potent transcription factor. Hence, using lithium as a model to modulate the wnt/beta-catenin pathway, we investigated its potential activation in-vitro in neoplastic human thyroid cell lines (FTC133, NPA).Our results show that lithium fun...

11BHSD1 is a NADP-dependant, bi-directional enzyme which inter-converts the glucocorticoid cortisol with its inactive metabolite cortisone. Follicular fluid (FF) from large antral ovarian follicles contains hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds which stimulate and inhibit 11BHSD1 enzyme activities, respectively. The objective of this study was to assess whether levels of these enzyme modulators change in FF during development of porcine follicles. Pooled samples of FF, aspirat...

Anti-thyroperoxidase autoantibodies (TPOAb) are one of the major secondary autoantibodies associated with AITD. Many endocrine hospital referrals are received for patients with elevated TPOAb levels without other disordered thyroid function tests.This study aimed to investigate the use of TPOAb testing in hospital practice, to determine whether the presence or absence of TPOAb indicates the existence of thyroid disease and the effect of the TPOAb result ...