Endocrine Abstracts

A 20-year-old man with a 5-year history of poorly controlled type 1 diabetes presented with epigastric pain, bloating and weight loss. He had attended DAFNE recently and had been commenced on an insulin Pump resulting in improvement of HbA1C from 114 to 76 mmol/mol over a 4-month period. Blood pressure was elevated (157/108 mmHg) with a resting tachycardia of 110. Haemoglobin was elevated at 18.7 g/dl. 24 h blood pressure monitoring revealed an average diastolic blood pressure...

Objective: To assess age- and growth-dependent gene expression in children and correlate this with biological pathways.Methods: We conducted a gene expression meta-analysis on datasets from normal children curated from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Four datasets were combined to form a group of 87 individuals ranging from 0.2 to 29.3 years of age (average 7.7±6.9yr). Analysis of gene expression data was performed using hierarchical cluster...

A large population-based cohort of “diagnosed” primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) (n=2709) was established, 1997–2006, in Tayside, Scotland. We have previously reported on an increasing prevalence and increased risks of mortality and morbidity associated with these patients. In the course of the PEARS, a group of “possible” PHPT cases (n=2950) defined as having persistently elevated serum calcium over several months to years but with no P...

Improvements in real-time intravital imaging techniques and two-photon microscopy make it now possible to visualize the complex tumor microenvironment in vivo, over time and deeply within intact tissues. Using dynamic imaging, we addressed central aspects of tumor progression, including dynamic interactions of invading tumor cells with the tumor microenvironment and the local regulation of tumor infiltrating immune cells in eradicating tumor cells.<p class="abstext"...

Exposure to maternal obesity or overfeeding during early development has lasting effects upon the young adult rat. Maternal cafeteria (CD) feeding during lactation programmes behaviour in the adult offspring, reducing anxiety in males and altering the behavioural satiety sequence in females. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of early exposure to maternal over-nutrition upon bioactive amines in the brain. Lactating Wistar rats were fed either a control chow...

Context: Rising evidence of the increased risk in mild PHPT suggests that serum calcium, which has been a main surgical criterion, maybe not an accurate indicator of disease severity or at least, not a reliable predictive factor of its long-term consequences. This study aims to identify the best biochemical predictor of adverse outcomes in untreated PHPT.Outcome measures and methods: Primary outcomes considered were all-cause mortality, fatal and non-fat...

Proinsulin makes three evolutionarily-conserved disulfide bonds, two of which connect the insulin B and A chains, and one intrachain bond within the A chain. In Type II diabetes mellitus, increasing evidence suggests that insulin-secreting pancreatic β cells show signs of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and an increase in the presence of proinsulin with mispaired disulfide bonds. In addition, heterozygous expression of misfolded mutant proinsulin is known to cause autos...

Authors present a 35-year-old female with thyroid orbitopathy (EO) associated with Graves disease. After initial antithyroid therapy, thyroidectomy was indicated and performed uneventenfully. Due to persisting severe clinically active EO, thyroablative therapy with 131I was performed three years later, intravenous pulse of methylprednisolone was given and consecutive oral therapy with prednisone initiated. This caused weight gain (from 63 to 80 kg) and iatrogenic Cu...

Traditional plant treatments have been used throughout the world for the therapy of diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and mode of action of Emblica officinalis Gaertn (Euphorbiaceae) used traditionally for treatment of diabetes in India. E. officinalis aqueous extract stimulated basal insulin output and potentiated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion concentration-dependently in the clonal pancreatic beta cell line, BRIN-BD...

Traditional plant treatments have been used throughout the world for the therapy of diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and mode of action of Terminalia bellerica Roxb. (Combretacea) used traditionally for treatment of diabetes in India. Terminilia bellerica aqueous extract stimulated basal insulin output and potentiated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion concentration-dependently in the clonal pancreatic beta cell line, BRI...