Endocrine Abstracts

The reproductive system is controlled by (GnRH) secretion from the brain, which is finely modulated by a number of factors, including gonadal sex steroids and inhibins. It was recently claimed that kisspeptin (KP) and gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (GnIH) neurons are regulators of GnRH secretion. Therefore, we have developed highly specific and sensitive fluoro-immunoassays (FIAs) using Eu-labeled antigens for KP 10 and GnIH. In this study, the distributions of KP 10 and GnIH...

Introduction: Bilateral exophtalmoses is common at Graves’ disease diagnosis, but context and clinical abnormalities lead sometimes to consider other diagnosis.Case report: A 52-year-old man had a previous history of pulmonary MALT lymphoma in complete remission and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which were diagnosed simultaneously 6 years before. He presented recently with hyperthyroidism (TSH <0.001 mUI/l; T4=25 pmol/l) after 2 month...

The wide variability of analysis obtained from the fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of thyroid nodules is attributed to experience differences in their interpretation. It is known that reproducibility is a critical parameter for the clinical usefulness of a diagnostic test. However, interobserver and intraobserver reproducibility of cytological examinations of the thyroid has been very little investigated. We studied 74 patients who underwent FNAC and a thyroidectomy. Th...

Objective: To determine the incidence of osteopaenia and osteoporosis in primary hyperparathyroidism.Methods: Retrospective review of 80 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism; Bone densitometry of the femoral neck, lumbar spine and distal ulna was assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) at the time of diagnosis.Results: The median age at diagnosis was 68; The male: female ratio was 1:3; osteoporosis was present in 2...

A 36-year-old gentleman presented to his GP 2 years ago with hypertension and was commenced on valsartan. In January 2008, he was noted to have mildly deranged LFT and abdominal ultrasound scan showed mild fatty liver infiltration and bilateral renal stones. He was referred to Urology for investigation of renal stones and a CT IVU showed multiple renal calculi, a 6×5×5 cm soft tissue enhancing lesion arising from the right adrenal gland and a 7 mm calcified density w...

Renal transplantation is the optimal treatment strategy for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD); few are afforded the opportunity due to limited organ supply. Of the alternatives, peritoneal dialysis (PD) and hemodialysis (HD), it is unclear which confers the greater survival advantage, as prior comparisons have demonstrated conflicting results due to lack of case-mix adjustment, limited follow-up, and failure to consider switches in modality over time.<p class="a...

The influence of the plant lectins on binding of IGF-I, IGF-II and insulin to the cognate receptors from solubilised human placental cell membranes was examined. The lectins (wheat germ agglutinin, WGA; concanavalin A, Con A; phytohaemagglutinin, PHA and Sambucus nigra agglutinin, SNA) were chosen according to their sugar specificity and were expected to bind to the most abundant saccharides present as terminal residues on N-glycan moieties of insulin receptor (IR) and ...

Prior studies have demonstrated that diabetes as a cause of or contributing factor to end stage renal disease (ESRD) has a detrimental impact on survival. What is unclear is whether this effect varies by age and gender.Methods: The objective of this study was to evaluate mortality differences by age and gender among diabetic and non-diabetic ESRD patients in a national cohort. Data on all new ESRD patients (n=451,296) who were initiated on dialysi...

Hypogonadism is the most common non-diabetic endocrinopathy in patients with hereditary haemochromatosis (HH). A recent review suggests a prevalence of hypogonadism in males with haemochromatosis to be 6.4%.1 We report three patients with HH in whom hypogonadism was not due to iron deposition.Patient 1 was homozygous for C282Y and liver biopsy revealed grade III siderosis without cirrhosis. His testosterone was borderline low (6.7 nmol/l), and...

Radioactive iodine (RAI) is a common treatment for hyperthyroidism, but the dosage and cure rates vary between centres. We administer 370 MBq 131I in all cases unless a large goitre is present, and repeat the dose until hyperthyroidism is cured. Patients are considered cured if euthyroid or hypothyroid one year after the last dose of RAI.We audited the outcome of RAI treatment in our institution between January 2000 and March 2002 to 112 patie...