Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Thyroxine is essential for growth and brain development in neonates. Early detection of hypothyroidism by measurement of free T4 (fT4) is therefore paramount. Moreover, the initial monitoring of Thyrax suppletion requires accurate fT4 measurements.Methods: In the Maasstad Hospital fT4 has been measured with the Immulite 2500 and from 2010 onward with the Dimension VISTA. Both instruments show good...

Introduction: Sheehan’s syndrome is a rare cause of hypopituitarism secondary to an intra or postpartum severe bleeding. Manifestations are most often caused by deficiencies of hormones of anterior pituitary; involvement of posterior pituitary is rarely described.Case report: We report a case of a 45 years old hypertensive, multipara, premenopausal woman, who underwent fertilization by oocyte donation, that resulted in twin pregnancy. Preterm vagina...

Adrenal incidentaloma is a clinically silent adrenal mass detected on imaging performed for unrelated reasons. The concern is whether the incidentaloma is malignant or hypersecreting. The most comprehensive existing guidelines on investigation and management come from NIH Consensus Development Programme.We aimed to determine how many are identified by radiology over 12 months; how many of these are referred to endocrinology; how many are appropriately in...

The family of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases (CaMK) are major effectors of calcium binding proteins in virtually all systems. Recently, CaMKs have been implicated in regulating pituitary and hypothalamic gene transcription to control the expression of gonadotrophin hormones and adrenocorticotrophin in the pituitary, and as a pivotal protein in the satiety pathway. Despite these observations, the spatial and temporal expression of the CaMKs is poorly documented an...

Introduction: The production of an oocyte competent of fertilisation and normal embryonic development is controlled by a series of highly organised signals and intracellular events which are known to be affected by physiological glucocorticoids. The actions of these adrenal steroids are modulated by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) enzymes and we have recently reported that 11β-HSD activity in porcine oocytes increases 20-fold during meiotic maturation...

Soybean diet could involve in the development of goitre according to antithyroid effects of isoflavones. Isoflavones from Soybean could induce not only inhibition of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) catalyzed reactions but they are allergens for patients suffering from atopic or autoimmune diseases. Two hundred-sixty patients with thyroid autoimmunity (150 with Graves’ disease, 110 with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) were investigated for the sensitization against Soybean. Allerge...

Radioiodine (RAI) has been used to treat hyperthyroidism for more than 60 years. However there is no absolute clarity in the appropriate dose or method of administering RAI. We evaluated the efficacy of RAI therapy and compared our RAI doses with the guide doses suggested by Royal College of Physicians (Graves’ disease 400–550 MBq and Multinodular goitre (MNTG) >550 MBq).We audited 602 hyperthyroid patients treated with RAI between 1994&#15...

It is generally considered that sight-threatening retinopathy is most unlikely within 5 years of diagnosis in a young patient with acute onset diabetes. We present the case of a 27 year old who developed severe bilateral proliferative retinopathy within 6 months of diagnosis.She consulted her about GP about long standing irregular periods. As she was overweight the GP checked a random blood sugar which was16. HBAIC was 9.2%. There was a family history of...

Alterations in the rate of glucocorticoid(GC) metabolism induce compensatory changes in GC secretion under the control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The principal routes of metabolic clearance of GCs are by hepatic A-ring reduction however the regulation of these enzymes is poorly understood. Recently we and others have demonstrated that bile acids act as potent inhibitors of GC metabolism by 5beta-reductase and 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases in vi...

The vasodilator minoxidil is a potent antihypertensive agent. However, its use has been rather limited and it can easily be overlooked in the era of ACE inhibition and angiotensin receptor blockade. It must be used with diuretic and beta-blocker cover.We reviewed 13 male patients with refractory hypertension attending our hypertension clinic from January to July 2004 and currently receiving minoxidil. Analysis was with paired t-tests.<p class="abstex...