Endocrine Abstracts

TBA...

Oestrogen plays a major role in the regulation of bone turnover during the different phases of life. During puberty, the increase in oestrogen has a bisphasic effect on growth, stimulating the secretion of growth hormone and promoting the closure of the growth plate. It has an effect on modelling to stimulate endosteal apposition and inhibit periosteal apposition. It has an effect on bone remodelling, to decrease the rate of bone remodelling, and possibly to have an anabolic e...

Richard Eastell, Bone Metabolism Group, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK AbstractProfessor Eastell is Professor of Bone Metabolism at the University of Sheffield where he is also Director of Research for Medicine. He is the Research Dean for the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Deputy Director of the Division of Clinical Sciences (North) at the University of Sheffield. He is also the Director for R...

Calcium homeostasis is a key element in bone development and in the maintenance of normal bone architecture. Bone acts in conjunction with the kidneys and the parathyroid glands to maintain circulating calcium levels. In times of excess it functions as a reservoir, but it is also able to donate calcium to the body when circulating levels are low and its structure and mineral content vary accordingly. The calcium sensing receptor (CaR) in both the parathyroid glands and in the ...

Hirsutism is the appearance of terminal hairs in areas of the body that are exclusively 'masculine'. Hirsutism is primarily a sign of an underlying endocrine abnormality, androgen excess. The principal causes of androgen excess are: the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in 80-90%, idiopathic hirsutism (IH) in 5-10%, the Hyperandrogenic-Insulin Resistant-Acanthosis Nigricans (HAIRAN) syndrome in 2-4%, 21-hydroxylase deficient non-classic adrenal hyperplasia (NCAH) in 1-10%, and ...

Distribution of K+ contrasts with Na+: Na+ is predominantly extracellular (EC) and K+ is intracellular (IC ~98% = ~3,500 mmoles). High IC K+ is needed for regulation of cell volume, pH, enzyme function, DNA/protein synthesis, and growth. Low EC K+ (plasma K+; PK), and the associated steep transmembrane K+ gradient, is largely responsible for the membrane potential difference (p.d.) of excitable and non-excitable cells; any change in the gradient (doubling or halving PK) will d...

The statins may act on bone by the inhibition of bone resorption and the stimulation of bone formation. There is some clinical evidence to support these actions. There appears to be a reduction in the risk of fractures in patients taking statins, based on observational studies. There appears to be a small improvement in bone mineral density and a small increase in bone formation markers in patients taking statins. However, in the randomised controlled trials, there appears to ...

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterised by tumours of the parathyroids, pancreatic islets and anterior pituitary, which may occur in 95%, >40% and >30% of patients, respectively. Parathyroid tumours, leading to hypercalcaemia, are the first manifestation of MEN1 in >85% of patients, and amongst the pituitary and pancreatic tumours, somatotrophinomas and gastrinomas are more common in patients above the age of 40 years...

The four parathyroid glands (2 superior and 2 inferior) develop from the third and fourth branchial pouches. The 2 inferior parathyroids develop from the third branchial pouch, which also gives rise to the thymus, whilst the 2 superior parathyroids develop from the fourth branchial pouch. Recent molecular genetic studies have identified some of the genes (eg. GATA3, Gcm2 and Hoxa3) involved in these developmental pathways of the branchial pouches and parathyroids, and these wi...

The number of people world wide with diabetes is predicted to double to 221 million by the year 2010. Diabetes remains the leading cause of blindness, end stage renal disease and lower extremity amputations in the United States but the greatest impact of the disease is the two to four times greater risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. Of the 5102 patients, aged 25 to 65 years with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes recruited into the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKP...