Endocrine Abstracts

This retrospective cohort study examined Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Hospital Pharmacy Audit (HPA) data from 41 hospital trusts to understand how hyponatraemia secondary to syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is currently treated in England, and to understand the associated resource use. Hyponatraemia is the electrolyte disturbance that is most commonly encountered in clinical practice (affecting 10–30% of hospitalised patients), wit...

The epidemiology of hyperprolactinaemia is not well characterised in the literature. Using unique patient identifier we were able to link data from biochemistry, prescribing, hospital admissions, radiology, general registry office and maternity data. Observational data was collected for Tayside Scotland between 1993 and 2013. Any patient with a serum prolactin measurement >1000 mU/l or at least three prescriptions for a dopamine agonist were included. Patients who were pre...

Background: Turner syndrome (TS) is associated with significant morbidity and a reduction in life expectancy. National guidelines have been developed to support the management of adult patients with TS but little is known about their implementation. We therefore sought to compare the management of patients with TS seen within a single tertiary referral centre by endocrinology, either general-purpose or Turner-specific clinics (TSC), or by other specialties.<p class="abstex...

Introduction: Primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) accounts for 5–13% of all hypertension and up to 20% of resistant hypertension. Aldosterone producing adenomas (APA) account for 60% of PHA and surgical resection in these patients can be curative. There is no consensus on the need for and duration of follow-up after adrenalectomy. This study assessed the immediate effect of unilateral adrenalectomy for APA on the serum potassium, renin and aldosterone levels. Acute effects o...

Ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, and nivolumab – novel immune checkpoint blockade drugs – are increasingly used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma and other cancers. Ipilimumab is an anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) MAB and the first drug shown to improve overall survival in metastatic melanoma. Hypophysitis is a widely described side-effect linked with both lymphocytic inflammation and a direct toxic effect on the pituitary in mouse studies, but has been...

Introduction: Primary, non-motile, cilia are microtubule-based organelles that protrude from the cell membrane into the extracellular environment of virtually all nucleated mammalian cells. They function as signalling platforms involved in the transduction of extracellular stimuli and have an important role in cell cycle regulation. Disruption of primary cilia structure and therefore function has been identified in a range of cancers including kidney, breast, pancreatic and pr...

Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are rare tumours that originate from neuroendocrine cells and their incidence has increased for the last 20 decades; partly because of advances in diagnostic tools, which have improved detection rates. Chromogranin A (CgA) is the most widely used biochemical tumour marker for NETs, however, its prognostic utility has been questioned due to several non-neuroendocrine causes of elevated CgA. This is the first study to assess the prognostic utility o...

Extra-cellular nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (eNAMPT; also referred to as visfatin/PBEF) concentrations are elevated in serum of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the relationship between abnormally elevated serum eNAMPT and the pathophysiology of T2D is unclear. eNAMPT circulates in functionally and structurally distinct monomer and dimer forms. eNAMPT-dimer exerts NAD-biosynthetic activity. The role of eNAMPT-monomer is unclear but may exert NAD-independ...

Introduction: The human masculinisation programming window (8–14 weeks of gestation) sees testis-derived androgen drive the foetus towards a male phenotype. However, there are few systematic studies of human foetal gonad development.Aim: To conduct a pilot analysis of the foetal gonadal proteome at the end of the masculinisation programming window (13–14 weeks of gestation).Methods: Twenty-eight electively terminated foet...

Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide. Recent evidence suggests the re-emergence of mild iodine deficiency in the UK. A recent multicentre survey in the UK reported that 68% of school girls were iodine deficient with the lowest levels seen in Northern Ireland (NI). Unlike many countries, the UK does not have a salt or food iodination program. World Health Organisation defines deficiency as follows: mild 50–99 μg/l; mode...